India has made great progress as a nuclear power. Indian nuclear scientists can compete with the best experts and technicians in the western world.
But the Government of India is dedicated to using atomic energy for peaceful purposes. India has no intention to make an atomic bomb for the destruction of mankind.
There are few countries in the world, which have the know-how for nuclear energy. These form what is known as the ”Nuclear Club”. USA, Russia, United Kingdom, France, and China are considered members of the Nuclear Club, India joined this Nuclear Club on May 18, 1974 when Indian scientists made their first successful explosion in the Rajasthan Desert near Pokharan.
It was an underground explosion. It caused no radioactive fallout because it took place inside the earth. It was of fifteen-kilo tons magnitude.
The Pokharan nuclear explosion marked India’s advance into the nuclear age. It was the achievement of Indian scientists and involved lot of research in the field of technology. First India expressed its desire in 1971 to conduct experiments for the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
The then Defence Minister, Mr. Jagivan Ram, declared that the Indian scientists were studying nuclear energy for underground experiments for peaceful purposes. But scientists in other countries took the announcement lightly. They could not believe that India could do any such thing.
