“This is
where the key to the modern world order lies-superiority through technology.
Deprive the opponent of the latest technology and then dictate your terms in an
unequal contest.” This line from Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam’s autobiography ‘Wings
of Fire’ can clearly signifies the formation of Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
What led it to the formation? Why India’s entry in it is talk of the town? All
the threads are woven in this post.
On May 18, 1974, India did its first nuclear bomb
test which was code named in ‘Smiling Buddha’ in Pokhran, Rajasthan. The
nuclear bomb project was Dr. Raja Ramana, Indian physicist who was the guiding
spirit of the Pokhran Test .Since the nuclear weapons decides the ‘modern world
order’ , Nuclear supplier group was formed
to prevent proliferation of
nuclear technology which include resources
such as enriched Uranium and Plutonium, that can
be used to manufacture nuclear
weapons and run nuclear reactors. This cleverly undermined any probability of any developing country (in
this case India) to change the existing ‘world order’.
The reaction of this test was outrageous and
the world criticized it. International reaction was negative, and protests and
rallies were taken out to oppose this move. In
1974, almost 15 years after the CIRUS reactor went critical; India detonated a
nuclear weapon at their Pokhran test site using plutonium that was believed to
have been produced by the CIRUS reactor. Canadian-Indian Reactor, U.S. (CIRUS)
reactor, a collaborative effort between Canada and the United States to supply
nuclear reactor technology to India in the hopes of alleviating the stresses of
India's growing energy demand. After the nuclear test, Canada cut off virtually all nuclear assistance. Also, USA and United Kingdom
imposed sanctions on us but we even sailed through that.
NSG started with 7 members-Canada,
France, U.K, USA,, West
Germany, , Japan, the Soviet Union,. Now, it has 48 members and it works
on unanimous vote procedure. In 2003, North Korea got out of this club. In1998,
India conducted its second Pokhran test-II headed by A.P.J Abdul Kalam. After
that test, it had to face negotiations with Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban
Treaty (CTBT) , which was opened for signature in 1996.
The CTBT aimed to eliminate the use of nuclear explosives in both the military
and civilian sectors.
In 2008, India granted waiver from
NSG due to US-India Nuclear deal agreement. It meant that India—a state known
to possess nuclear weapons—was allowed to buy and sell nuclear fuel and
technology with the rest of the world for civilian purposes, without having to
join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) or dismantle any of its
existing nuclear weapons or its nuclear weapons-making program. The point here
t o be highlighted, in 2011, after this wavier was granted, the rules for being
member of NSG was revised and a new criteria was added as a compulsion to be a
signatory of Non Proliferation Treaty(NPT) if a nation wants to trade ‘reprocessing and
enrichment material’ with another nation by revising the paragraphs 6 and 7 of
its guidelines.
Since then, India pitched for a
seat in NSG. Point to be noted here, India bid for second class membership
which exclude it from ‘reprocessing and enrichment material’ such as Uranium,
Polonium during nuclear cycle. This is one of the most important things used in
nuclear reactors and this is what Canada refused when it called off CIRUS
reactor in 1954.
In 2016, again India tried to be member of NSG group
as it is trying to do from quite past few years. China presented its same stand for not supporting India’s
membership that is it is not in accord
with the criterion process and rules shouldn’t be comprised otherwise Pakistan
and Israel , who are also pitching for the membership, should also be granted
seats. The meeting in Seoul was hyper and mattered to large extent because of
the way the Modi’s government has been in news for its the foreign policies and
Foreign tours to gather support to crack this deal and also Shanghai Corporation
Organization (SCO) was took place during
this event.
It is crystal clear, we didn’t get the seat. But we
made it to the MTCR club. It is one of the major export regimes for missile and
arms power. The MTCR was created in order to
curb the spread of unmanned delivery systems for nuclear
weapons, specifically delivery systems
that could carry a payload of 500 kg for a distance of 300 km.
Now, India has joined this
34-nation MTCR regime which china is not the part of and China is also putting
efforts to get in. The oldest issue in diplomacy – give and take. Now, India
has something to offer to China and in exchange, China can give its support for
the Indian application of NSG membership.
And this is what we call diplomacy!
