Are you in favour of India signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty?
It is a political decision. From purely scientific point of view we have no problem. We want a credible nuclear deterrent. Considering the large number of data we have collected from Pokhran II tests and the fact that there was an excellent match between measured and calculated yields I have no difficulty with the moratorium announced by the Government. After the one test in 1974 we could not have signed CTBT but today after five sophisticated use of modern nuclear tests we can go ahead and sign. Q: What do you mean by credible nuclear deterrent? A: The United States has conducted over a 1,000 tests out of 2,000 nuclear tests done by various countries in the world since 1945. Russia has done about 700, China 40 odd and the remaining couple of hundred by France and other countries. We have done three which is enough for our purposes. Q: How many tests would be needed to prove a credible nuclear deterrent? A: Firstly, the number of tests you do must be proportionate to the number of type
