Prisoners of the Nuclear Dream edited by M.V. Ramana and C. Rammanohar Reddy is perhaps the most comprehensive and persuasive work to have emerged in recent times on the nuclearisation of South Asia, following the Pokharan and Chagai tests of 1998.

An explicit critique of nuclear weapons and its logical corollary, the programme of nuclearisation adopted by India as also Pakistan, this book lays bare the claims by the powers that be that nuclear weapons and the process of weaponisation provide ‘security and stability’. Rather, the nuclear tests of 1998 have had the effect of increasing manifold the insecurities plaguing the nation, as exemplified by the incursions of 1999 in Kargil.

The most remarkable aspect of this book, which is divided into four sections, lies in its selection of essays by eminent scholars, academicians and scientists who examine the impact of this process of nuclearisation and thereby challenge the ongoing attempt by the state to create a consensus about the quest and irrational objectives associated with nuclear weapons.

In the first section titled Issues of Strategy and Foreign Relations, Kanti Bajpai argues that India’s decision to pursue nuclear weapons as a consequence of China’s decision to go nuclear was misguided as it led to the emergence of a nuclear Pakistan, further reinforcing India’s decision to intensify its nuclear programme. By clearly evaluating the Pakistan-China relationship, Bajpai highlights the need for a common strategy with Pakistan in arriving at a decision to do away with nuclear weapons. Shocking as it may seem, neither India nor Pakistan had, at the time of testing their nuclear weapons, an effective command and control mechanism, an issue examined by Admiral Ramdas. His essay evaluates and highlights the need for a national security planning mechanism and brings out the inadequacies of the draft Indian nuclear doctrine. In his essay on managing nuclear weapons in South Asia, Ejaz Haider calls for the linking of Pakistan’s offer of a ‘no war pact’ with India’s offer of a ‘no first use’. The essay by Ye Zhengjia, while elaborating on China’s reaction to the India tests, also highlights the quick rapprochement that followed, with high profile visits by dignitaries which have more or less restored the parity in relations, although a lot remains to be done.

In the second section titled Issues of Science and Ethics, Zia Mian details the workings of a command and control system were it to be in place given the experiences of countries with nuclear weapons who are none the wiser despite decades of handling weapons and the procedures to manage them. He examines the role of delivery platforms and the available hardware with India and Pakistan (an expensive venture), and the callousness involved in the subcontinental version of an arms race despite having perhaps some of the worst social indicators of human development. The wisdom of possessing nuclear weapons and the rationale behind their deployment has always been a ‘grey area’ as it flouts all possible norms and ethics that civilized societies take pride in.

Amartya Sen addresses the ethical and moral questions associated with nukes, highlighting the immorality of designing and manufacturing such weapons that, whether used or not, have the potential of killing hundreds of thousands. Amulya Reddy, in interpreting the harnessing of science and technology to develop weapons of mass destruction, critically evaluates the role of the scientific establishment that, for all practical purposes, appears as the most hawkish amongst all segments of the decision-making class. M.V. Ramana details the mobilizing of the elite by the scientific establishment and the creation of lobbies powerful enough to shape a nuclear and missile policy. Siddharth Mallavarapu interprets the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice that in 1996 ruled that the ‘threat or use of nuclear weapons would generally be contrary to the rules of international law…’ and analyses the implications of the ruling as also the various aspects that precede the ruling.

In the third section, Issues of Militarisation, Politics and Economics of Nuclear Weapons, the dangers of a nationalism gone berserk are brought out in two finely argued essays by Krishna Ananth and Srirupa Roy. While Srirupa Roy bases her argument on the emergence of a post-colonial state that emphasizes nation building through monumental projects such as the acquiring of a ‘nuclear status’, Krishna Ananth traces the decision to go nuclear to the rhetoric of the Sangh Parivar that has consistently called for nuclearisation under the catch phrase of ‘constructing Indian nationalism’. While the true costs of the nuclearisation programme initiated by the Indian state may never be known, Rammanohar Reddy breaks down the financial costs of India going nuclear and estimates that it would cost around Rs 80,000 crore over a decade – all of it to the detriment of social spending that would otherwise have benefited large sections of the society. Jean Dreze too establishes the links between growing militarism and the decline in social indicators. The process of nuclearisation pauperises and constricts future growth by curtailing schemes and programmes that otherwise would have been diverted towards welfare.

In the last section, Issues of Environment and Health, the consequences of a nuclear programme initiated by an irresponsible state and the impact it has on the lives of the people is succinctly brought out by Surendra Gadekar and M.V. Ramana. The last essay of the book by Thomas George details the horrific after-effects of a nuclear explosion and the levels of radiation on human beings.

As a tract that powerfully challenges India’s decision to go nuclear, Prisoners of the Nuclear Dream is a highly recommended book richly deserving the attention of students, academicians and the powers that be, who in their infinite wisdom have thrust our country into a race where there are no winners, only sinners!

Prisoners of the Nuclear Dream, edited by M.V. Ramana and C. Rammanohar Reddy, Orient Longman, New Delhi, 2003, hardback, p.502, Rs. 575.