Science, politics and the Indian bomb: Some preliminary considerations

This article addresses three important issues concerning Indian science and technology, particularly the nuclear energy and defense research sectors, in relation to the Indian nuclear weapons tests of May 1998 and their aftermath. The first issue is whether India has acquired a "credible nuclear deterrent" after the tests and whether on that basis India can now sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty The author argues that official claims about India's nuclear weapons capabilities are in fact exaggerated. Such inflated claims are politically driven with a view to justifying the current government's desire to come to an accommodation with the discriminatory global nuclear order while hanging on to nuclear weaponization at all costs. The author also contends that there is little objective basis for the euphoria over the so-called "scientific achievement" of conducting these tests and that such euphoria stems more from jingoism and ultranationalist feelings The article discusses as well the political role of the scientific establishment in the atomic energy and defense research sectors in helping to turn the original peace-oriented nuclear policy of the Indian government into a hawkish, pro-weaponization one. The author points out the implications of such a political stance on the part of the atomic energy and defense research establishments for science and technology policy in India.