How Modi learned to love the bomb

Narendra Modi is the first Indian prime minister ever to not be on record on nuclear disarmament. His attention has been devoted to building our nuclear capabilities and delivery systems without mentioning universal disarmament.

- MANI SHANKAR AIYAR

The authoritative International Panel on Fissile Materials has estimated, mainly on the basis of Indian government data, that we now have approximately 680kg (plus/minus 160kg) of weapons-grade plutonium in addition to highly enriched uranium to make 130-210 nuclear warheads, although our capacity to launch them is limited to an estimated 172. We are, however, rapidly developing missile delivery systems. Agni-V is in the final stages of operationalisation. Its unique feature is that it can be stored in canisters to enable the pre-mating of missiles and warheads, besides perhaps taking our range to 6,000km (from Prithvi-II’s 350km). Next in line is the medium-range Agni-P, which replaces the first three Agni missiles. It can be equipped with Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicles or variations thereof to match Pakistan’s medium-range Ababeel, which is armed with MIRVs. Long-range Agni-VI, an inter-continental ballistic missile, follows. This arguably presages the “decoupling” of our nuclear strategy for deterring China, which involves long-r