The global nuclear order is facing unprecedented challenges in contemporary times. Specifically, there are four.  First, the major concern is clandestine development of nuclear weapons by non-nuclear weapon states like North Korea and Iran. Second, the challenge arises from the nuclear energy renaissance and the proliferation risks it engenders.  Third, and most dreaded, is the threat of use of weapons of mass destruction by non-state actors, especially by millennial actors like al Qaeda. However, the defining factor challenging the established nuclear order is the power transition which the international system is witnessing in the post-cold war era. India, along with China and Brazil, are pivotal to this power shift. Consequently, the global nuclear order envisioned by the 1970 Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT), reflecting the power balances of the Cold War, is increasingly becoming archaic.

India is fully committed to complete Nuclear Disarmament. India supports complete disarmament within a specified timeframe which distinguishes its stance from Nuclear Weapon States (NWS) which have an ambiguous stand regarding timeline for disarmament.

India also insists that disarmament must be ‘non-discriminatory’ and pursued ‘on the basis of equality’ i.e., there must be no discriminatory provisions in favor of NWS as is the case with the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The NPT call for ultimate elimination of nuclear weapons but hasn’t put on timeframe for the same. India calls for complete disarmament despite being a non-signatory of the NPT.

The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) was created following the explosion in 1974 of a nuclear device by a non-nuclear-weapon State (India), which demonstrated that nuclear technology transferred for peaceful purposes could be misused. It is a group of nuclear supplier countries that seeks to contribute to the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons through the implementation of sets of Guidelines for nuclear exports and nuclear-related exports. The NSG takes decisions by consensus. India is keen to become a member of NSG as it seeks to significantly expand its nuclear power generation and also enter the export market in coming years.

Areas of Focus for India

• Enhancing Nuclear Power:India must recognise and adapt to the changing global nuclear discourse as major instruments of great power military strategy. It must also examine the potential of its nuclear weapons, if it is capable of deterring the expanding atomic arsenal of its rivals.
  • After 1998, India premised its strategy on building “credible minimum deterrence”.
    • The time has come to reflect on the “credible” side of that strategy and redefine what the ‘minimum’ might be.
  • Also, India must gradually revise its posture of ‘active deterrence’ to ‘dissuasive deterrence’by building up its infrastructure along the border and improving the surveillance and warning capabilities among other things.
• Enhancing Nuclear Energy Potential:India, which commissioned Asia’s first nuclear power station more than 50 years ago, is currently stuck with a total generating capacity of barely 7,000 MW.
  • India must find ways to end the current dormancy in its civilian nuclear power generation,especially at a time when it has outlined an ambitious programme to reduce the share of fossil fuels in its energy consumption.
• Revisiting Civil Nuclear Liability Act:India’s civil nuclear initiative was meant to open up international collaboration to boost the production of atomic electric power.
  • However, the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act of 2010 made it impossible for private players — internal and external — to contributeto the programme.
  • Revisiting that law is an urgent imperativefor any Indian strategy to rapidly raise the contribution of nuclear power to India’s energy mix.