Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG), the Wassenaar Arrangement and the Australia Group and India

Civil Services Main Examination

General Studies (Paper - 3) : Model Question & Answers


Question: “Once treated as an outsider by the global non proliferation and export control bodies including the Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG), the Wassenaar Arrangement and the Australia Group, India has travelled a long way to now becoming a stronger partner of the same community.” – Discuss.

Answer: The efforts began right after its nuclear tests in 1998, when India expressed its support for the basic objectives of the NPT—marking a complete turnaround from the approach it had previously demonstrated. The United States, one of the founding designers of the existing global non-proliferation architecture, realized that while India would not join the NPT, it could play a crucial role in strengthening other non-proliferation and export control bodies.

This understanding resulted in the first phase of India’s acceptance into global non-proliferation architecture, channelled via the waiver from the NSG’s full-scope safeguards requirement in 2008 and a special safeguards agreement signed with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for India’s civilian nuclear facilities, allowing India to engage in global nuclear commerce.

India’s entry in the four export control bodies, including the NSG, the Wassenaar Arrangement, and the Australia Group, is the next phase of India’s integration into the global non-proliferation community and New Delhi’s application for membership to the MTCR is the first step of this phase. India’s entry into the regime will benefit both India and the MTCR. Membership in the regime will allow India to better contribute to the global non-proliferation cause. It will also enhance the level of understanding between MTCR members and India, allowing the latter to import dual-use technologies and items for peaceful purposes. On the other hand, by including India, MTCR members will ensure that all supplies of sensitive missile and related technologies that India exports will adhere to MTCR guidelines and that the same rules will apply to New Delhi as they do to other MTCR suppliers.

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