BANGLADESH INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AND STRATEGIC STUDIES

INDIA AND THE COMPREHENSIVE NUCLEAR TEST BAN TREATY

Author: Bhumitra Chakma

DOI Link: https://www.doi.org/BIISSj2002v23n3a1

ABSTRACT

This article examines India's changing CTBT postures and the motivations underlying these policies from the mid•1950s to date. Although India was the first country to propose for a nuclear test ban in 1954, it eventually rejected the CTBT when it was readied for signature in 1996 after three years of intense negotiations. This article explains this U-turn in India's nuclear test ban policy. It argues that basically it was ''politics of national security and survival" which guided India's policy that eventually led it to reject the treaty in 1996. The same factor still guides New Delhi's CTBT policy.