BASIC FACTS

India occupies a major portion of the south Asian subcontinent, bordering Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal and Bhutan to the north, and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. India shares a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia, and is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. India gained its independence in 1947 and is currently a sovereign socialist secular democratic republic with a parliamentary system of government. The nuclear arms race between India and Pakistan, neither of whom is a signatory to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), is a major cause of concern for the international nonproliferation regime.

Capital: New Delhi 

India has 22 operational nuclear power reactors, and another 7 under construction. Most of the operational reactors are of the pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR) type, with only few boiling water reactors (BWR) and the pressurized light water reactors (PWR). The reactors under construction are mostly PHWR, with the exception of one fast breeder reactor (PFBR) prototype. In 2018 nuclear power produced 3.13% of India’s electricity.

India has 5 operational nuclear research reactors: Apsara-U pool type reactor, Dhruva heavy water reactor, FBTR fast breeder reactor, KAMINI U-233 fueled, and critical facilities for an advanced heavy water reactor (AHWR) and a pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR). Additionally, India has another 2 research reactors planned for construction: a high flux research reactor and a thermal research reactor.

India tested its first nuclear weapons in May 1998. It was the second instance of Indian nuclear testing; the first, named Smiling Buddha, was cited as a peaceful nuclear explosion and was conducted in May 1974. India has signed an item-specific safeguards agreement with the IAEA that currently applies to only six of its reactors. India is not a signatory to the NPT and it does not have a Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement with the IAEA.

TREATIES AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS

• Joined the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in 1961
• Signed the 1925 Geneva Protocol in 1925
• Ratified in 1930
• Signed the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in 1993
• Ratified in 1996
• Signed Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) in 1973
• Ratified in 1974
• Signed the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons in 1981
  • Ratified in 1984
• Signed the Convention on Environmental Modification Techniques (ENMOD)
  • Ratification 1978
• Signed and ratified the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism (ICSANT) in 2006
  • Ratified in 2006
• Acceded to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM) in 2002
  • Ratified the 2005 CPPNM Amendment in 2007
• Signed the Outer Space Treaty in 1967
• Ratified in 1982
• Signed the Partial test Ban Treaty in 1963
• Ratified in 1963
• Acceded to the Sea-bed Treaty 1973
• Acceded to the Antarctic Treaty in 1983
• Signed the Moon Treaty (Celestial Bodies) in 1982

 

REGIONAL GROUPS

• Member of the Conference on Disarmament
• Member of the G-21
• Member of the G-77
• Member of the Asia-Pacific Group

 

RECENT REPRESENTATION IN INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS

• Member of the Australia Group since 2018
• Member of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) since 2016
• Member of the Wassenar Arrangement
• Member of the 1540 Committee in 2011 and 2012
• Member of the UN Security Council in 2011 and 2012
• Chair of the 1983 NAM Summit

 

LINKS

Ministry of External Affairs

Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations

Indian Department of Atomic Energy

UN State Summary

Ratification of Treaties & Membership in International Organizations Related to Disarmament