Discuss India's approach of the disarmoment
Answers
India’s approach to nuclear disarmament is going through a definite shift. India has been calling for global nuclear disarmament since independence. Although, at present, India continues to express its support for any initiative that can lead up to the complete elimination of nuclear weapons, the factors that contributed to its strong support for nuclear disarmament are gradually evolving. Consequentially, this will require India to reconsider its position on nuclear disarmament, a task that New Delhi continues to evade for now. But this change of factors and its consequential impact on India’s commitment to nuclear disarmament is not really a new development. An examination of the development of India’s nuclear weapons programme captures situations that question India’s commitment to nuclear disarmament.
For instance, since independence, India has taken a “‘public and vocal stance against nuclear weapons.” It was Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister, who proposed the idea of a complete ban on tests of nuclear weapons. India’s call for a ban on nuclear testing in 1954 led to the Partial Test Ban Treaty (PTBT). However, in the 1960s, with the security situation deteriorating in its neighborhood, many Indian politicians and bureaucrats felt the need to acquire nuclear weapons in order to deter external nuclear threats. Even Jawaharlal Nehru, who strongly opposed nuclear weapons, considered the role of nuclear deterrence for Indian national security, if the efforts to nuclear disarmament failed. When the NPT was opened for signature, India underlined the lack of a clear plan for nuclear disarmament as a reason to not sign the treaty (Frey 2006, 169). Although Article VI of the NPT mentioned that “each of the Parties to the Treaty undertakes to pursue negotiations in good faith of effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control,” no concrete plans were discussed to take up the task of nuclear disarmament. This simultaneously implied India’s greater inclination towards developing its own nuclear weapons, considering the threat India perceived in its neighborhood and the fact that neither Washington nor Moscow appeared to be willing to provide any form of extended deterrence to cover Indian security concerns. Thereafter, though India continued to remain vocal on the agenda of nuclear disarmament, it went ahead with what was labelled as a ‘peaceful nuclear explosion’ (PNE) in 1974.