Listing its agenda of seven concrete proposals at the Conference of Disarmament — the lead global forum on these issues — in Geneva last week, India as a nuclear weapon state has formally proposed two multilateral agreements and two global conventions in a detailed framework for nuclear disarmament. This includes conveying India’s willingness as a nuclear weapon state to turn its policy of no-first use into a multilateral legal commitment.

With US seeking to build a new consensus on disarmament around the idea floated by the likes of Henry Kissinger, George Shultz and others, India has realised that it needs to move fast as the effective fallout of a US-led effort would be a far more restrictive technology-denial regime with universal disarmament still remaining a distant goal.

While the best way forward for India is to go ahead with the nuclear deal and still pursue its policy objectives, delay on the deal means New Delhi must come up with a back-up plan to ensure that it reclaims its position in setting the disarmament agenda than finding itself at the receiving end of stricter controls.

As a result, the Manmohan Singh government did not only seek to revive the 1988 Rajiv Gandhi plan for universal disarmament as the final objective, but also called for reducing the importance of nuclear weapons in security doctrines as one key step to this end.

India’s seven-point agenda for disarmament is as follows:

• Reduction of the salience of nuclear weapons in security doctrines.

• Negotiation of an agreement on no-first use of nuclear weapons among nuclear weapon states.

• Negotiation of a universal and legally binding agreement on non-use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapon states.

• Negotiation of a convention on the complete prohibition of the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons.

• Negotiation of a nuclear convention prohibiting development, stockpiling and production of nuclear weapons, moving Make no-first use of n-weapons binding: India towards a global, non-discriminatory and verifiable elimination of these weapons.

• Unequivocal commitment of all nuclear weapon states towards the goal of completely eliminating nuclear weapons.

Adoption of additional measures by nuclear weapon states to reduce risks and dangers arising from possibility of accidental use of these weapons.

In another significant move, India also welcomed the joint Sino-Russian draft treaty on Prevention of Placement of Weapons in Outer Space. This move by Russia and China at the Conference of Disarmament earlier last month was seen as a way to check US efforts at developing its missile defence programme.

However, the focus of Indian Ambassador to the CD Hamid Ali Rao was largely on nuclear disarmament as he called the Conference to appoint a Special Coordinator to start consultations on these proposals so that a consensus can be forged on disarmament. “We recognize that these are complex issues... but that should not deter us from taking the first steps towards meaningfully addressing the priority of nuclear disarmament,” he said.

India’s approach would currently stand somewhat in divergence to other nuclear weapon states part of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, particularly US. While Washington would be keen on translating this fresh momentum on disarmament into stricter technology controls, giving teeth to IAEA for more intrusive inspections and tightening the NPT regime, New Delhi views this as an opportunity to lock bigger nuclear weapon states into specific commitments towards giving up nuclear weapons, reduce emphasis on nuclear deterrence in military doctrines and making it difficult to even threaten the use of these weapons.