India and NSG

 

Author:Mr Monkey

India has come a long way from Smiling Buddha, the first Nuclear Test in 1974 to today, bidding for membership of Nuclear Suppliers Group, which was incidentally formed as an answer to boldness shown by India in 1974..

NSG, which stands for Nuclear Suppliers Group, formed in 1974, is a body of 48 nations established to prevent the civil nuclear trade from being used for military purposes. The body seeks to prevent nuclear proliferation by controlling export of materials, equipment, technology that can be used to manufacture nuclear weapons.

As India is looking to become a power surplus nation in coming years, a membership of NSG will help India fulfill her needs of technology, equipment and resources for Nuclear Power generation. With an access to advanced technologies India can start building advanced versions of its own reactor and also start selling to power deficit nations like Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. India, however, has got the NSG waiver in 2008, by which India can buy power plants from other signatories of the NSG but there still are many advanced technologies that NSG denies. The other big benefit that India can get from this membership is manufacturing of reactors for other countries which can give a big boost to the government's flagship programme of "Make In India"..

The recent NSG meet in Seoul rejected India's bid on the grounds that India is not a signatory of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. China is yet another roadblock, considering that it wants its dominance on the Central Asian and South Asian Region. India's reluctance of signing the NPT is totally justified as its nuclear technology is still in adolescent stage and signing it would mean that India should stop its advancement in the nuclear sector. Also, despite not being a signatory of the NPT, India has strictly adhered to the guidelines of NPT.

This is worth noting here, that France which is now an NSG member was also not a signatory of NPT at the time it got its NSG membership. Also, China, being a member of NSG, secretly gave away nuclear technology to Pakistan..

It is high time that NSG recognized the rising global powers. Non-proliferation is what NSG wants and it is in big interest of NSG that it grants India its membership.