ABSTRACT
India's detonation of a nuclear explosive device in May 1974 has engendered fears of widespread proliferation in the coming decades. India's May 1974 nuclear test at Pokharan built upon nearly two decades of Indian atomic energy research and development, dating from the establishment of the Indian Atomic Energy Commission in 1948. India's continuing quest for international recognition as more than a "pawn on a global chessboard," to use Prime Minister Gandhi's phrase, is likely to constitute a growing pressure for a full-blown nuclear-weapon program. Domestic weakness and internal crisis also may contribute to increasing pressures for nuclear weapons. The immediate and public response questioned Indian claims of peaceful intentions and argued that India was seeking a nuclear-weapon capability with which to coerce and intimidate her neighbors. Emergence of a nuclear-armed India and a nuclear-armed Pakistan also will intensify the already-strong status-related pressures for Iranian acquisition of nuclear weapons.
