Nuclear weapons testing: India - Revision history

Jyoti: /* The events */

2024-07-30T04:49:55Z

‎The events

Pdewan: /* See also */

2024-05-19T22:28:22Z

‎See also

Jyoti: /* Indira offered to share N-tech with Pak in ’74 */

2023-06-10T15:47:10Z

‎Indira offered to share N-tech with Pak in ’74

Pdewan: Pdewan moved page Nuclear weapons testing: India- Pakistan to Nuclear weapons testing: India

2023-05-18T17:24:44Z

Pdewan moved page Nuclear weapons testing: India- Pakistan to Nuclear weapons testing: India

Jyoti: /* The events */

2021-06-15T05:48:58Z

‎The events

Jyoti: /* The events */

2018-08-25T20:19:32Z

‎The events

Jyoti: /* Pokhran-II */

2018-05-13T20:40:52Z

‎Pokhran-II

Jyoti: /* The events */

2018-05-13T19:40:37Z

‎The events

Jyoti: /* Pokhran I/ 1974 */

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‎Pokhran I/ 1974

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2018-05-13T19:31:58Z

‎Pokhran-II

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 A team of 75 scientists and engineers, led by Raja Ramanna, PK Iyengar, Rajagopala Chidambaram and others had worked on it from 1967 to 1974
 The test was a success but the aftermath of the nuclear test was not an encouraging one
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 To get more updates on Current Affairs, send in your query by mail to education.intoday@gmail.com
 ==Nixon Caught Off-Guard By the 1974 Nuclear Test==

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 ''Nuclear weapons tested by India, Pakistan and other countries, till Nov 2017''
 =See also=
 [[Pakistan- India economic relations]]
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 and many more articles, especially about the 1965 and 1971 wars, [[The Kargil war of 1999]], 1947...

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:47, 10 June 2023
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	But on July 22, 1974, Gandhi was looking ahead, and wanted to ensure that the craters formed by nuclear explosions could be used for strategic storage of oil and gas or even shale oil extraction. In her statement to Parliament, she seemed bemused by the international reaction to the first Pokharan test. “It was emphasized that activities in the field of peaceful nuclear explosion are essentially research and development programmes. Against this background, the government of India fails to understand why India is being criticized on the ground that the technology necessary for the peaceful nuclear explosion is no different from that necessary for weapons programme. No technology is evil in itself: it is the use that nations make of technology which determines its character. India does not accept the principle of apartheid in any matter and technology is no exception.”		But on July 22, 1974, Gandhi was looking ahead, and wanted to ensure that the craters formed by nuclear explosions could be used for strategic storage of oil and gas or even shale oil extraction. In her statement to Parliament, she seemed bemused by the international reaction to the first Pokharan test. “It was emphasized that activities in the field of peaceful nuclear explosion are essentially research and development programmes. Against this background, the government of India fails to understand why India is being criticized on the ground that the technology necessary for the peaceful nuclear explosion is no different from that necessary for weapons programme. No technology is evil in itself: it is the use that nations make of technology which determines its character. India does not accept the principle of apartheid in any matter and technology is no exception.”
		+
		+	==‘Smiling Buddha’==
		+	[https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/kiren-rijijus-tussle-judiciary-mumbai-last-six-months-8616526/ Omkar Gokhale, May 28, 2023: ''The Indian Express'']
		+
		+
		+	Kiren Rijiju was dropped as Union minister for law and justice and replaced by Arjun Ram Meghwal. Rijiju has been assigned charge of the Ministry of Earth Sciences. He took over as the law and justice minister on July 8, 2021.
		+
		+	However, over the last six months, Rijiju has been at the forefront of the tussle between the central government and the Supreme Court collegium over several issues.
		+
		+	In the battle that played out through the speeches and court proceedings in Mumbai since November last year, Rijiju took on the judiciary on several issues and received a response from the judiciary.
		+
		+	On November 4, stating that the collegium system of appointing judges is “opaque” and “not accountable”, Rijiju said he had to work with the present system until the government came up with an alternative mechanism.
		+	On December 14, Rijiju said in Parliament that if the Supreme Court “starts hearing bail applications…all frivolous PILs” it would add “a lot of extra burden on the court”.
		+
		+	In response, while delivering the Ashok H Desai memorial lecture, organised by the Bombay Bar Association in Mumbai, Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud on December 17 stated that citizens can have confidence in judges to be “guardians” of (their) liberties and reiterated that “no case is big or small for the courts, be it the district courts, high courts or the Supreme Court”.
		+
		+	CJI Chandrachud’s comment came a day after a bench of the apex court led by him remarked that “it is in the seemingly small and routine matters involving grievances of citizens that issues of the moment, both in jurisprudential and constitutional terms, emerge”.
		+
		+	On January 21, days after Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar questioned the basic structure doctrine, as laid down by the Supreme Court in the 1973 Kesavananda Bharati case, CJI D Y Chandrachud said in Mumbai that it was “like the north star,” providing invaluable guidance for the interpretation of the Constitution.
		+
		+	A month later, terming Rijiju’s remarks against the collegium system for appointing judges as a “diatribe”, former Supreme Court judge Rohinton Fali Nariman said in Mumbai that if the last bastion of the independent judiciary fell, the country would enter the “abyss of a new dark age”. Nariman, who was part of the Supreme Court collegium before retiring from the apex court in August 2021, also said that “sitting on names” recommended by the collegium was “deadly against democracy”.
		+
		+	Meanwhile, a lawyers’ organisation had filed a PIL petition in the Bombay High Court seeking action against Rijiju and Vice President Dhankhar over their public comments “showing lack of faith in the Constitution by attacking institutions, including the Supreme Court”.
		+
		+	However, a bench of Acting Chief Justice Sanjay V Gangapurwala dismissed the plea observing that “the credibility of Supreme Court of India is sky high and it cannot be eroded or impinged by the statements of individuals”.
		+
		+	The bench noted that the constitutional authorities cannot be removed by the court as suggested by the petitioner and that “fair criticism of the judgment is permissible”, adding that it was a “fundamental duty of every citizen to abide by the Constitution” and to “respect the majesty of law”.
		+
		+	On May 2, Rijiju, while addressing an event organised by the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa in Mumbai, said the Centre had not done anything to undermine the independence and authority of the judiciary ever since Narendra Modi became prime minister.
		+
		+	Asked whether the government was interfering in the functioning of the judiciary, Rijiju remarked on a lighter note that the question that should be asked was whether the judiciary was interfering in the government’s work.
		+
		+	On May 15, a Supreme Court bench led by Justice S K Kaul dismissed an appeal filed by the Bombay Lawyers Association against the high court order on its PIL against comments by Dhankhar and Rijiju.
		+
		+	The apex court upheld the Bombay high court’s view. “If any authority has made an inappropriate observation, then the shoulders of the Supreme Court are broad enough to deal with the same, is the correct view,” it said.
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	=Pokhran I/ 1974=		=Pokhran I/ 1974=

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	On May 13, 1998, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee announced India's new status as the world's sixth nuclear weapons armed power. Two days before the prime minister's announcement, on May 11, 'Operation Shakti' had been initiated. India had stunned-and somewhat alarmed-the world community with a series of five nuclear weapons tests. The weapons were of three different kinds-one fusion or thermonuclear weapon, two fission devices and two sub-kiloton devices-which indicated the flexibility and range of India's nuclear arsenal, slowly built up over the years. Pokhran-II was the first Indian test of a nuclear weapon since 1974. Post-1974, bomb technology had been placed on the backburner, until Pakistan came close to acquiring a nuclear weapon with Chinese assistance. Faced with the twin threats of a Chinese and Pakistani nuclear weapons arsenal and a closing global window-the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty was opened for signatures in 1996-the strategic community was left with no other option but to hit the test button.		On May 13, 1998, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee announced India's new status as the world's sixth nuclear weapons armed power. Two days before the prime minister's announcement, on May 11, 'Operation Shakti' had been initiated. India had stunned-and somewhat alarmed-the world community with a series of five nuclear weapons tests. The weapons were of three different kinds-one fusion or thermonuclear weapon, two fission devices and two sub-kiloton devices-which indicated the flexibility and range of India's nuclear arsenal, slowly built up over the years. Pokhran-II was the first Indian test of a nuclear weapon since 1974. Post-1974, bomb technology had been placed on the backburner, until Pakistan came close to acquiring a nuclear weapon with Chinese assistance. Faced with the twin threats of a Chinese and Pakistani nuclear weapons arsenal and a closing global window-the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty was opened for signatures in 1996-the strategic community was left with no other option but to hit the test button.
		+
		+	== Kalam, atomic panel differed on Pokhran-II tests: AEC chief==
		+	[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2019%2F11%2F06&entity=Ar01412&sk=6C328CE6&mode=text Srinivas Laxman, Nov 6, 2019: ''The Times of India'']
		+
		+
		+	A hitherto unknown aspect of the 1998 nuclear tests at Pokhran was that Abdul Kalam, then chief of DRDO, differed with scientists at Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) about conducting a thermonuclear test (hydrogen bomb) over safety concerns.
		+
		+	The experiments, codenamed ‘Operation Shakti’ consisted of testing an atomic bomb, hydrogen bomb and small devices. The tests were held on on May 11 and May 13, 1998. The differences have been revealed for the first time by former AEC chief Anil Kakodkar in his autobiography, which has been co-authored with Suresh Gangotra of department of atomic energy (DAE).
		+
		+	Speaking to TOI on Tuesday, Kakodkar recalled that Kalam had expressed reservations about detonating a hydrogen bomb because he feared it could cause damage to the village of Khetolai, not far from the Pokhran weapon test site. Due to Kalam’s fears, Kakodkar said differences cropped up between DRDO and DAE regarding the testing of a hydrogen bomb.
		+	In his autobiography, Kakodkar says Kalam asked him for a written undertaking that the hydrogen bomb test with a yield close to 45 kiloton would not cause any damage to the village, Khetolai. “I agreed to put my neck on the block and gave a duly signed written note…,” he writes. The test was carried out successfully and there was no damage to Khetolai .
		+
		+	[[Category:India\|N
		+	NUCLEAR WEAPONS TESTING: INDIA- PAKISTAN]]
		+	[[Category:Pages with broken file links\|NUCLEAR WEAPONS TESTING: INDIA- PAKISTAN]]
		+	[[Category:Pakistan\|N
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	==Col. Kaushik’s details==		==Col. Kaushik’s details==

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:19, 25 August 2018
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	On May 13, 1998, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee announced India's new status as the world's sixth nuclear weapons armed power. Two days before the prime minister's announcement, on May 11, 'Operation Shakti' had been initiated. India had stunned-and somewhat alarmed-the world community with a series of five nuclear weapons tests. The weapons were of three different kinds-one fusion or thermonuclear weapon, two fission devices and two sub-kiloton devices-which indicated the flexibility and range of India's nuclear arsenal, slowly built up over the years. Pokhran-II was the first Indian test of a nuclear weapon since 1974. Post-1974, bomb technology had been placed on the backburner, until Pakistan came close to acquiring a nuclear weapon with Chinese assistance. Faced with the twin threats of a Chinese and Pakistani nuclear weapons arsenal and a closing global window-the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty was opened for signatures in 1996-the strategic community was left with no other option but to hit the test button.		On May 13, 1998, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee announced India's new status as the world's sixth nuclear weapons armed power. Two days before the prime minister's announcement, on May 11, 'Operation Shakti' had been initiated. India had stunned-and somewhat alarmed-the world community with a series of five nuclear weapons tests. The weapons were of three different kinds-one fusion or thermonuclear weapon, two fission devices and two sub-kiloton devices-which indicated the flexibility and range of India's nuclear arsenal, slowly built up over the years. Pokhran-II was the first Indian test of a nuclear weapon since 1974. Post-1974, bomb technology had been placed on the backburner, until Pakistan came close to acquiring a nuclear weapon with Chinese assistance. Faced with the twin threats of a Chinese and Pakistani nuclear weapons arsenal and a closing global window-the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty was opened for signatures in 1996-the strategic community was left with no other option but to hit the test button.
		+
		+	==Col. Kaushik’s details==
		+	[https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/camouflage-cricket-and-sandy-cues/articleshow/64991434.cms Chethan Kumar, July 15, 2018: ''The Times of India'']
		+	[[File: Members of 58 regiments with scientists.jpg\|Members of 58 regiments with scientists <br/> From: [https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/camouflage-cricket-and-sandy-cues/articleshow/64991434.cms Chethan Kumar, July 15, 2018: ''The Times of India'']\|frame\|500px]]
		+	[[File: One of the blasts site in Pokhran.jpg\| One of the blasts site in Pokhran <br/> From: [https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/camouflage-cricket-and-sandy-cues/articleshow/64991434.cms Chethan Kumar, July 15, 2018: ''The Times of India'']\|frame\|500px]]
		+	Pokhran II: 'Cricket to trick spy satellites, billiards to keep bombs safe'
		+
		+	It’s been 20 years since India stunned the world with Pokhran II. It wasn’t the fact that India had nuclear technology, but the realisation that India was able to conduct these tests without the rest of the world not having a clue as to what was going on in a remote location in Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer, despite having the place under constant satellite surveillance. In an exclusive interview with Chethan Kumar, Colonel Gopal Kaushik, formerly of the 58th Engineering regiment, talks about those groundbreaking tests.
		+
		+	“Before we start, I want you to assure me that my location won’t be made public,” Colonel Gopal Kaushik (retired) said, sitting in his living room, somewhere in South India. Twenty years after the regiment he was commanding – the 58th Engineers Regiment – ensured the successful nuclear tests that put India on the map of nations with nuclear arms capability, he still has some untold stories.
		+
		+
		+	Code named Operation Shakti, the 1998 tests in Pokhran were the second time India tested its nuclear capability, following on from the failed efforts in 1995-96 when the country had to put off the tests owing to international pressure led by the US as details of the tests got leaked.
		+
		+	The challenges, therefore, were many, unlike in 1974 when India under Indira Gandhi carried out the first test – code named ‘Smiling Buddha’. In 1974, India’s intention and capability were unknown, the test location preparations remained unknown, and the US did not have satellites that could keep an eye on developments around the world.
		+
		+	But by the time Atal Bihari Vajpayee occupied the Prime Minister’s chair, India had demonstrated that it had nuclear capability—although the 1974 tests were officially never meant for weapons—and the entire world knew of Pokhran as the test site and powerful US satellites were already in the sky.
		+
		+	So, when “Buddha Smiled” again on May 11 and 13 of 1998, there were a lot of stories. And, of the many stories around Operation Shakti, the most popular has been how India handed US’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) its significant defeat, keeping the spying agency completely in the dark.
		+
		+	But some of the little known facts about the tests are here: The 58th Regiment that was responsible for carrying out the tests and keeping it a secret used cricket, practically a religion in India and billiards, to deceive spying satellites and saving the bomb, respectively.
		+
		+	“The security of information and activities from satellites, spies on the ground and even the general public and our troops was paramount given the leaks earlier, but along with that we also had to create and maintain six shafts as opposed to one in 1974,” Kaushik said.
		+
		+	About a hundred scientists, led by the former chairman of the atomic commission, R Chidambaram, former Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) chief Anil Kakodkar, former president and then Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) chief APJ Abdul Kalam, and DRDO adviser K Santhanam, Kaushik and his men worked cautiously.
		+
		+	The 58th Regiment had a vast high security area with periphery of outer fence measuring 24 km, with an intermediate fence of 11 km and inner fence of 6 km. Everything was on a need-to -know basis as they knew that they were being watched.
		+
		+	From code names to decoy security posts and from carrying out work in the night and returning equipment to their spots before the satellites came back to track in the morning, the army was literally working in camouflage in extreme weather conditions—temperatures going up to 51 degrees Celsius in summers and minus three in the winters — in a place infested by snakes and scorpions.
		+
		+	There were plenty of challenges that gave rise to several innovations and strategies, Kaushik said, as he collected water apples from his garden tree to offer. As he washed the apples, he said that one important strategy was to make the spies and satellites believe that everything they did was routine.
		+
		+	“Among the things we did was routinely play cricket, although it isn’t really a troops sport like football or hockey. That was done purely to attract people to watch and mislead the satellites that nothing significant was happening in Pokhran,” Kaushik said.
		+
		+	There were also several innovations. “One was to channelise the sub-soil water entering and getting collected in the shafts meant for the tests. There were some shafts that were already built as early 1981, and the 58th Regiment too built shafts in record time. In one of the older shafts, at about 100 metres inside we found a lot of groundwater collected. This meant that our men had to wear special raincoats to go inside and work, which was extremely difficult given the heat. The brackish water also meant corrosion of the metal used inside the shafts. We knew we couldn’t stop the water but we had to prevent it from raining inside. So, my company commander Major (now Brigadier) Suneeth Sharma and I executed a plan, which involved creating channels at every 100 metres of the 800-odd feet shaft. The water would then collect in the well below the canteen (a storage place built to hold the bombs) that had to be pumped out every day,” he said.
		+
		+	But that didn’t solve the problem completely as the pumped out water could not be released onto the sand as it would have changed colour which would be observed by the satellites.
		+
		+	“We couldn’t let the satellites see that we were pumping out water as it would indicate activity. Therefore, we had to bury a host of pipes under the sand to carry the pumped water away from the shafts and to sand dunes as they absorbed the water,” Kaushik said.
		+
		+	There were several other innovations, but the one without which there would be no Operation Shakti, was the “Billiards Sticks Concept”
		+
		+	With most things ready, it was time to fill up the shaft, up to the level of the canteen with sand. However, the team could not just drop sandbags from the mouth of the shaft as it could potentially damage the canteen, even the bomb, with its impact. So, in January 1998, Kaushik had conducted an experiment of lowering sand bags using a cage.
		+
		+	“...We’d found that it took us about one minute to place one bag. We needed to place 6,000 bags, which meant it would have taken at least six or seven days if we worked normally and five days if we worked without breaks. We didn’t have that luxury as the satellites would pick it up. In 1995-96 the satellites had picked up half-a-day’s work,” he said.
		+
		+	When the time arrived, Kaushik and Sharma came up with the “Billiards Sticks Concept”. “The name was given later by Santhanam, as what we did was inspired by the way cue sticks used to be arranged in Billiard parlours,” Kaushik recollected.
		+
		+	What the team did was to arrange six metal pipes—filled with sand to make them strong—at the door of the canteen as a barricade allowing sand to be dropped from the mouth of the shaft. “We had barricaded the canteen with these pipes after the bombs were placed and then dropped the sand down. Without this, the Buddha wouldn’t have smiled again,” Kaushik said.
		+
		+	A lot has happened since the Summer of 1998, but the stories from Pokhran in that year never fails to capture the audience.

	=2017/ number of nuclear weapons tested=		=2017/ number of nuclear weapons tested=

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 = Pokhran-II =
 ==The events==
 [http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/india-today-41st-anniversary-science-technology-progress/1/834949.html India Today.in , Building up a nuclear muscle “India Today” 15/12/2016]

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:40, 13 May 2018
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	To get more updates on Current Affairs, send in your query by mail to education.intoday@gmail.com		To get more updates on Current Affairs, send in your query by mail to education.intoday@gmail.com
		+
		+	==Nixon Caught Off-Guard By the 1974 Nuclear Test==
		+	[https://www.asianscientist.com/2011/12/topnews/national-security-archive-nixon-admin-caught-off-guard-by-india-pokhran-1974-nuclear-test/ Srinivas Laxman, Declassified: Nixon Caught Off-Guard By India’s 1974 Nuclear Test, December 7, 2011: ''Asian Scientist'']
		+
		+	[[File: The Nixon administration in the 70s was caught off-guard by India’s first nuclear weapon test on May 18,1974, say declassified intelligence documents made public by the American National Security Archive..jpg\|The Nixon administration in the 70s was caught off-guard by India’s first nuclear weapon test on May 18,1974, say declassified intelligence documents made public by the American National Security Archive. <br/> From: [https://www.asianscientist.com/2011/12/topnews/national-security-archive-nixon-admin-caught-off-guard-by-india-pokhran-1974-nuclear-test/ Srinivas Laxman, Declassified: Nixon Caught Off-Guard By India’s 1974 Nuclear Test, December 7, 2011: ''Asian Scientist'']\|frame\|500px]]
		+
		+	The Nixon administration in the 70s was caught off-guard by India’s first nuclear weapon test on May 18,1974, say declassified intelligence documents made public by the American National Security Archive.
		+
		+	The Nixon administration in the 70s was caught napping while India was making preparations to conduct its first nuclear weapon test at Pokhran in Rajasthan on May 18,1974. This startling revelation has been made in declassified intelligence community staff post mortem documents which were made public on December 5, 2011 by the American National Security Archive and the Nuclear Proliferation International History Project.
		+
		+	“India’s peaceful nuclear explosion on 18 May, 1974 caught the U.S. by surprise in part because the intelligence community had not been looking for signs that a test was in the works,” the documents state. According to the documents which number more than 20, Nixon administration policy makers had given a low priority to the Indian nuclear weapon program, with intelligence production (analysis and reporting) “falling off” during the 20 months prior to the tests. The first Indian nuclear weapon test – codenamed “Smiling Buddha” – was conducted at 8.05 a.m. on May 18, 1974 at Pokhran. Its key players were Raja Ramanna who lead the atomic bomb team, R. Chidambaram, and P. K. Iyengar.
		+
		+	The documents state that in early 1972, two years prior to the test, the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) had predicted that India could make preparations for an underground test without detection by the U.S. intelligence. The INR report warned that the U.S. government had accorded a “relatively modest priority to relevant intelligence collection activities,” which suggested that a concerted effort by India to conceal such preparations may well succeed.
		+
		+	According to the documents, the Nixon White House was focused on the Vietnam War and a grand strategy towards Beijing and Moscow. The documents also suggest that Nixon’s trip to China during that time may have also prompted India to conduct the nuclear weapon test. Significantly, the INR had prepared its India report at a time when secret sources were telling U.S. intelligence that New Delhi was about to test a nuclear device. The small spate of reports about a nuclear weapon test had such “congruity, apparent reliabity and seeming credibility” that they prompted a review of India’s nuclear intentions by INR and other American government offices. “In the end government officials could not decide whether India had made a decision to test although a subsequent lead suggested otherwise,” the documents state. Relations between New Delhi and Washington were already cool during the Nixon administration which treated India as relatively low priority.
		+
		+	“That India refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was a non-issue for Nixon and Kissinger, who had little use for the NPT and treated nuclear proliferation as less than secondary. While the State Department cautioned India against nuclear tests in the late 1970, concern did not rise to the top of the policy hill,” the documents stressed. ——
		+
		+	'''Source: The National Security Archive.'''

	= Pokhran-II =		= Pokhran-II =

@@ Line 34: / Line 34: @@
 =Pokhran I/ 1974=
 ==The events==
-[https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/pokharan-i-324141-2016-05-18  Pokhran I: India's first ever hands-on with nuclear technology, May 12, 2018: ''India Today'']
+[https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/pokharan-i-324141-2016-05-18  Pokhran I: India's first ever hands-on with nuclear technology, May 18, 2016: ''India Today'']
-[[File: Mrs. Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister overseeing the status (Pokhran- I).jpg|Mrs. Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister overseeing the status (Pokhran- I) <br/> From: [https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/pokharan-i-324141-2016-05-18  Pokhran I: India's first ever hands-on with nuclear technology, May 12, 2018: ''India Today'']|frame|500px]]
+[[File: Mrs. Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister overseeing the status (Pokhran- I).jpg|Mrs. Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister overseeing the status (Pokhran- I) <br/> From: [https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/pokharan-i-324141-2016-05-18  Pokhran I: India's first ever hands-on with nuclear technology, May 18, 2016: ''India Today'']|frame|500px]]
 [[File: Pokhran-I, the test.jpg|Pokhran-I, the test <br/> From: [https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/pokharan-i-324141-2016-05-18  Pokhran I: India's first ever hands-on with nuclear technology, May 12, 2018: ''India Today'']|frame|500px]]

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 But on July 22, 1974, Gandhi was looking ahead, and wanted to ensure that the craters formed by nuclear explosions could be used for strategic storage of oil and gas or even shale oil extraction. In her statement to Parliament, she seemed bemused by the international reaction to the first Pokharan test. “It was emphasized that activities in the field of peaceful nuclear explosion are essentially research and development programmes. Against this background, the government of India fails to understand why India is being criticized on the ground that the technology necessary for the peaceful nuclear explosion is no different from that necessary for weapons programme. No technology is evil in itself: it is the use that nations make of technology which determines its character. India does not accept the principle of apartheid in any matter and technology is no exception.”
 = Pokhran-II =
 ==The events==
 [http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/india-today-41st-anniversary-science-technology-progress/1/834949.html India Today.in , Building up a nuclear muscle “India Today” 15/12/2016]
-[[File: One of the five atomic weapons that were tested on May 11, 1998, being lowered into the test shaft , India Today .jpg| One of the five atomic weapons that were tested on May 11, 1998, being lowered into the test shaft , India Today |frame|500px]]
+[[File: One of the five atomic weapons that were tested on May 11, 1998, being lowered into the test shaft , India Today .jpg| One of the five atomic weapons that were tested on May 11, 1998, being lowered into the test shaft , ''India Today'' |frame|500px]]