What is/are the consequence/consequences of a country becoming the member of the ‘Nuclear Suppliers Group’?
- It will have access to the latest and most efficient nuclear technologies.
- It automatically becomes a member of “The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT)”.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
[UPSC Civil Services Exam – 2018 Prelims]
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer: (a)
Explanation:
Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG)
- NSG is a multilateral export control regime and a group of nuclear supplier countries that seek to prevent nuclear proliferation by controlling the export of materials, equipment, and technology that can be used to manufacture nuclear weapons.
- The getting of NSG membership means access to technology for a range of uses from medicine to building nuclear power plants for India from the NSG which is essentially a traders’ cartel.
Non-Proliferation Treaty
- Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonly known as the Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT, is an international treaty having three objectives of non-proliferation, disarmament and peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
- India always considered the NPT as discriminatory and had refused to sign it.
- India has opposed the international treaties aimed at non-proliferation since they were selectively applicable to the non-nuclear powers and legitimized the monopoly of the five nuclear weapons powers. Hence, statement 2 is not correct.
