Recently , Bollywood has given us a movie on India's nuclear tests.. PARMANU -The Real story of Pokhran, which has given us a glance how India became nuclear state. But who were the men behind the success of the operation..
I was asked by my students..Who was Ashmat Raina(lead in movie) and others in reality ..who made India a nuclear state so thought of writing on it.
The nuclear test India conducted in 1998 was known as "operation shakti "
This was not the first time India conducted nuclear test, earlier in 1974 India conducted its first nuclear test.. Known as "smiling Buddha ".
Operation shakti of 1998 was the series of tests that comprised of 1 fusion bomb and 4 fission bombs.
After the successful detonation of all five warheads, Then prime minister of India shri Atal Bihari vajpayee ji declared India a full-fledged nuclear state on May 13,1998.
After its success, India came on par with the other nuclear states like USA.
Many foreign countries viewed it as a threat.. As a result India had to face the sanctions from USA, Japan,etc
But, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul kalam, who was driving force behind the India's nuclear capability, stated in an interview that In the last 2500years India had never invaded any territory, but foreign invaders had laid siege to parts of the Indian subcontinent.
On the national Television then prime minister Atal Bihari vajpayee ji stated that "India would never be the first one to initiate nuclear weapons and would also refrain from using warheads against any countries that had not acquired any of their own nuclear weapons".
This was according to India's foreign policy of "No first use"
India had to conduct this operation without coming into the eye of USA 's Billion dollar satellites which were specially designed to keep an eye on India's nuclear activities in pokhran, rajasthan.
Indian team of 58 Engineers succeeded in completing the operation shakti by utmost secrecy.
When India declared about it's pokhran -2
Operation.. The world was in shock that How India could skip from the high advanced technology satellites of USA??
USA 's 4 satellites were always hovering over pokhran, which were technologically advanced, they could count the number of green patches on Indian Army fatigue.
US senator of that time Richard Shelby said in an interview that it was the biggest failure of USA 's Intelligence Agency (CIA) as it could not identify India's nuclear activity in pokhran.
The fact is that it's not that US satellites were not hovering over the site, they were always on pokhran ... But Indian team involved in the operation had learnt a lot about how to avoid detection by US spy satellites.
A lot of work was done at night and heavy equipments was always returned to the same parking spot at dawn so that image analysts (of USA spy agencies) would conclude that they had never moved.
Piles of sand were shaped to mimic the wind aligned and shaped dune forms in the area.
When cables were laid they were carefully covered and native vegetation replaced to conceal the digging.
Men behind the operation shakti.. Parmanu were
1. Dr. A. P. J. Abdul kalam
During the test, he was the scientific adviser to the prime ministers and was also the head of the DRDO.
He was the driving force behind the India's nuclear capability.
2. Dr Anil kakodkar
With extraordinary competence in his field, he was a part of the core team of architect's during both the nuclear testing.
3 Dr. Rajagopala chidambaram
He was one among the group of scientists involved in all the nuclear tests of India.
He was the chief designer while developing the weapons.
He assisted Indian Army in the test site.
4. Dr. K sanathanam
He acted as a liaison between DRDO and DAE, two scientific organizations of our country during operation shakti.
5 .Dr M. S Ramakumar
This mechanical engineer is also known for being an outstanding roboticist.
He is the key player who gained fame for developing robotics and automation technologies for India's nuclear projects.
With his team, he developed online fueling and coolant channel inspection system for pokhran -2 project.
6. Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Under his prime ministership, operation shakti tests were conducted that raised India to the status of being a nuclear State.
The entire project was carried out secretly and he was one holding the helm of the ship that led us to this great success.
The nuclear tests of 1998 were conducted on the Buddhist festival day of Buddha purnima, the same day on which the 1974 test was conducted.
Note: I didn't included how nuclear activities were performed.. How detonators were brought to the site, etc.. As all this was shown in a movie PARMANU - The real story of pokhran.
