Indian Nuclear Program

Prime Minister

Jawaharlal Nehru

August 1947 - May 1964

Lal Bahadur Shastri

June 1964 - January 1966

Indira Ghandi

January 1966 - March 1977

Morarji Desai

March 1977 - July 1979

Indira Gandhi

January 1980 - October 1984

Rajiv Gandhi

October 1984 - December 1989

P.V. Narasimha Rao

June 1991 - May 1996

Atal Bihari Vajpayee

March 1998 - May 2004

Manmohan Singh

May 2004 - May 2014

Narendra Modi

2014

Nuclear Reactors + Energy

Aspara - First Asian Research Reactor Goes Critical

1956

Canadian-Indian Reactor, U.S. (CIRUS) goes critical

1960

First Nuclear Power Facility - Tarapur Atomic Power Station (TAPS)

1965

Boiling Water Reactors

Dhruva Reactor goes critical

1985

Nuclear Weapons

Weapons Grade Plutonium Extracted from U.S. Designed Phoenix Reactor

1964

Peaceful Nuclear Explosion (Smiling Buddha)

1974

Launch of the Medium Range Agni Missile

1989

India tests Prithvi II Missile

1996

5 Nuclear Explosion Tests on May 11 and 13

1998

India Announces Moratorium on Testing

May 21, 1998

Decision-Making Institutions

Founding of Atomic Energy Commission

1948

Atomic Energy Establishment named Bhabha Atomic Research Center

1967

Nuclear Power Corporation of India (PCIL) takes over production of electricity

1987

External Relations

France-India Nuclear Cooperation Agreement

1951

U.S.S.R.-India Nuclear Cooperation Agreement

1961

China-India War

October 1962 - November 1962

Attempt to obtain Nuclear Security Guarantees from the U.S. and U.S.S.R

1964 - 1965

China Conducts First Nuclear Weapons Test

October 1964

Indian-Pakistani War of 1965