1998 Pokhran Nuclear Tests

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday lauded then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's handling of the diplomatic situation following the nuclear tests in 1998 and said that within a space of two years India had engaged all the major countries of the world. Presiding over the third Atal Bihari Vajpayee memorial lecture that was delivered by former Singaporean diplomat Bilahari Kausikan here, Jaishankar also hailed Vajpayee's stint as an external affairs minister, and his role in strengthening India's ties with the US and Russia. The external affairs minister said the fundamentals of mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interest that are talked about now in terms of the modus vivendi with China, a lot of it is credited to Vajpayee. Asserting that Vajpayee was never "impervious" to the challenges of terrorism, Jaishankar hailed his realism in using all instruments at his command to actually try to forge a basis of relationships in this region which would very ...

National Technology Day marks the anniversary of the successful nuclear tests conducted in Rajasthan's Pokhran under the leadership of then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and former President APJ Abdul Kalam

President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday said the 1998 Pokhran nuclear tests demonstrated the country's scientific capacity and political will and had a far-reaching impact on how the world came to see Ind