Remembering Pokhran-II: PM Hails Scientists for 1998 Nuclear Tests

On National Technology Day, PM Modi lauded the scientists whose stellar work had made Pokhran-II a possibility.

On the occasion of National Technology Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded the scientists who had successfully conducted India’s second round of nuclear tests in Pokhran, Rajasthan, on May 11, 1998.

The Prime Minister took to Twitter to praise the stellar work of the scientists.

India had conducted a series of five nuclear bomb test explosions in 1998.  It consisted of five detonations, of which the first was a fusion bomb and the remaining four were fission bombs.

These tests were given many names – as wide-ranging as Operation Shakti–98 to Shakti-I through Shakti-V. Today, the operation as a whole is known as Pokhran-II.

The Pokhran-II tests were carried out during the rule of the NDA government under the leadership of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

The first nuclear weapon explosion in India – code named Smiling Buddha – was conducted on May 18, 1974. The device was detonated on the army base of Pokhran Test Range, Rajasthan, by the Indian Army under the supervision of several key Indian army personnel.