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Obama vs India on nuclear non-proliferation
NDTV Correspondent, Thursday September 24, 2009, Washington
The United Nations Security Council has unanimously passed Barack Obama's resolution, calling on all countries to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), a sort of global pact to get rid of nuclear weapons.

India says this doesn't change its stand. "There is no question of India joining the NPT as a non-nuclear weapon state. Nuclear weapons are an integral part of India's national security and will remain so, pending non-discriminatory and global nuclear disarmament. We remain committed to a voluntary, unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing."

Non-proliferation is expected to be high on the agenda when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh meets Obama in Washington in November.

India's policy has been that it supports non-proliferation in principle, but it will not sign the treaty because it's unfair. Countries like the United States, Russia, and China have atom bombs, but want to keep other countries from joining the 'nuclear league'. Countries that sign on have to agree to not pursue nuclear weapons.

But what exactly are India's nuclear abilities? Hours before Obama's resolution was unanimously passed at the United Nations, India's top atomic scientists, led by Anil Kakodkar, dismissed accusations that their nuclear tests in 1998 were a flop. Defence scientist K Santhanam has said that the hydrogen bomb was of low yield and did not accomplish India's goal.
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Tags: NPT, nuclear, treaty, UN, USA
Comments
Posted by Ajay David on Sep 27, 2009
It is a great decision taken by the Indian Govt. The countries who are asking for this should dump their nuclear weapons first and then start talking to others to do so. The ongoing political scenario in India's neighbouring countries definitely does not encourage the NPT. Kudus once again. No one has the right to dominate our great country.
Posted by Niyati Thakur on Sep 25, 2009
I support the decision of Indian officials at the UN for communicating the clear message. It's true that Nuclear arms are a threat to the world but, what about the threat that poses in many forms from across the Indian frontiers. Not signing NPT is in the interest of our nation and for the protection of our people. US can not enforce us to sign this treaty...could US please stop policing around while it itself has done things in the past that remain an example of absolute destruction of human population in the history. It is ethical perhaps not to produce such arms, but, producing nuclear arms for the protection of a country's people may not be termed inethical. We should remain clear about our stand on NPT as we've always been in the international community.
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