The Delhi Policy Group has started a new initiative on Pathways to Nuclear Disarmament. This project will be conducted during 2010-2012. The project is being supported by Nuclear Threat Initiative's Nuclear Security Project.
The disarmament initiatives proposed by Schultz, Perry, Kissinger and Nunn (Quartet), and the developments in the disarmament/ proliferation field in 2009-2010 would form the basis of the project. The project's work will combine the aims of NTI's Nuclear Security Project and the Delhi Policy Group's commitment to nuclear disarmament.
India, even when it was not in possession of nuclear weapons, has been at the forefront of the movement to eliminate nuclear weapons that was in some measure reiterated by the Indian Prime Minister at an international conference in New Delhi in June 2008. In keeping with India's commitment, India has submitted Working Papers to the UN General Assembly and made regular submissions at the sessions of the CD in Geneva. The cumulative impact of worldwide disarmament ideas, proposals and exhortations in the new milieu, has been to throw up fresh question on the relevance of nuclear deterrence and utility if nuclear weapons against the new types of threats faced by states today. The changing of mindsets, amounting to delegitimising of nuclear weapons can be seen in one argument made that in arriving at the goal of global zero, wherein proponents of abolition lay too much faith in U.S. leadership given the current trends in military matters. The UK while it considers disarmament to be workable goal, has decided to maintain the Trident for decades, implying that it is not in a particular rush to arrive at Zero. Russia has recently increased the role of nuclear weapons in its defence policy. France considers nuclear weapons to be critically essential to its security and is not too convinced about moving to Zero. While North Korea and Iran have neared the nuclear threshold, Israel appears to be moving to wards a second-strike capability. Pakistan and India are viewed as building up their capabilities too. In the light of this background, there is a need to extrapolate the understanding these nations have on disarmament and what it actually means in arriving at lower levels.
Thus, the central issue in the disarmament discouse today is related on how to lower or arrive at zero arsenal levels by nuclear weapons states and the speed with which such lower levels can be attained. Delhi Policy Group's project - Pathways to Nuclear Disarmament, aims to examine positions taken by governments and international non-government groups to find viable paths to disarmament. |
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| PROJECT PROJECTION |
| The development of new ideas on the concept and implications of global zero and examination of political, doctrinal and technical challenges on the pathways to nuclear disarmament are some of the themes that the project would examine in widening awareness in the Indian public and policymaking circles. |
| "Nuclear Deterrence: Impact on Military Operations" - the first in a series of Public Lectures was delivered by the Project Director, Lt. Gen. (Retd.) V.R. Raghavan to a military audience comprising more than a 150 officers of India's Northern Command in Jammu on 7th September 2010. |
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A Round Table meeting with a Five-member German Parliamentarian delegation hailing from five different political parties and DPG team members was held on 18 October 2010 in New Delhi. The participating German delegation comprised:
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Mr. Juergen Klimke
(Christian Democratic Party), Member of Foreign Affairs Committee, Committee on UN affairs. |
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Mr. Sebastian Edathy
(Socialist Party for Democracy) (Chairperson,
German-Indian Parliamentary Forum in the German Bundestag. |
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Dr. Bijan Djir-Sarai
(Free Democratic Party) Member of Foreign
Affairs Committee, Committee on UN affairs. |
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Mr. Uwe Kekeritz
(Greens) Member of Committee on Economic Development. |
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Mr. Stefan Liebich
(The Left) Member of Committee on Foreign Affairs. |
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A special Round Table meeting was organized with H.E. Mr. Peter Varghese AO, Australian High Commissioner to India, as the guest speaker on 3rd November 2010. He addressed the subject of "Nuclear Non-Proliferation Today" to a select audience in New Delhi.
 Summary of Talk
L to R: H.E.Peter Varghese,
K.Shankar
Bajpai and
V.R. Raghavan |
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A meeting of the K. Subrahmanyam Award Committee was held on 4th November 2010 at the Delhi Policy Group.
The Award has been instituted to encourage and recognize upcoming Indian scholars in the strategic affairs arena. Indian strategic thought has been dominated by the nuclear dimension in the Command and Control, Deterrence, Disarmament and the geopolitical aspects. The meeting looked on a number of contending names and decided to grant the Award to Dr. Srikanth Kondapalli. He was recognized for his sustained and insightful work on China and it’s Military.
Bio of Kondapalli |
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"India & the Non-Proliferation System" as the theme of an Interactive Dialogue with Ambassador Teresita Schaffer as the guest speaker. The discussion was based on a Working Group report and statement in June 2010, as part of a project sponsored by CSIS and NTI. The working group included experts in international nuclear affairs and in foreign policy from both India and the United States. The experts from India include P.R. Chari, C. Raja Mohan, Lalit Mansingh, K.C. Singh, T.P. Sreenivasan, M.R. Srinivasan and V.R. Raghavan.
Press Release of the Working Group Statement issued on 30 June 2010
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"Nuclear Disarmament: Time Line Challenges" the first in a three Seminar series was held on 24th February 2011.
The two principal themes that were under consideration were a) Nuclear Base Camp-The Numbers Conundrum and b) Through the Techno-Political Maze. The noted scholar, Mr. Sverre Lodgaard, Senior Research Fellow at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs provided the Keynote Address and Ambassador K.S. Bajpai, Chairman (DPG) made the inaugural remarks.
PDF invitation card with programme
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At a Public Lecture hosted by the Centre for Security Analysis, Chennai on the subject "Effects of Internal Conflicts on Defence Forces", Lt. Gen. (Retd.) V. R. Raghavan in his introductory remarks laid special emphasis on the consequences of internal conflict on the security of nuclear assets. The seminar was held from 15-16 March 2011 in Chennai.
Programme of Seminar
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The Delhi Policy Group invited former Foreign Secretary, Ambassador Kanwal Sibal to be the guest speaker at a Round Table on the subject - "New START: Russian Perspectives" on 18 March 2011 in New Delhi.
EXERPT: There has been much debate worldwide whether the treaty actually created the possibility of expansion of nuclear warheads rather than limited its use and numbers. The other refrain is that it does not cover tactical weapons. The New START Treaty does however; limit the number of strategic nuclear warheads in the U.S. and Russian arsenals to lowest levels since the 1950s. The Treaty also includes a strong and effective verification regime, which further stabilizes the relationship between Russia and the U.S. as well as reduces the risks of miscommunication or miscalculation.
Guest Speaker: Ambassador Kanwal Sibal |
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The Delhi Policy Group held an Interactive Dialogue on 14 April 2011 with a delegation from the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) led by Prof. Malcolm Chalmers, Fellow at the RUSI Centre for Defence and Security Studies. The Indian participants drew representation from the academic fraternity and serving and retired defence officers.
Interactive Dialogue: led by Prof. Malcolm Chalmers, Royal United Services Institute, UK. |
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| THE TEAM |
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V.R. RAGHAVAN
LT. GEN. (RETD.)
Director
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Expertise: Security & Peace Studies, Nuclear Deterrence and Non-Proliferation, CBMs, Non-Traditional Security, South Asia, Military History & War Studies.
Gen. Raghavan has been an Advisor to the International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation & Disarmament. He was a Council Member, International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS), London and a Commissioner of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission chaired by Dr. Hans Blix; Visiting Fellow at CISAC, Stanford University and the Henry L. Stimson Centre. He is an elected member of the Council of United Services Institution of India. He was a member of the Committee to review the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. |
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PRADEEP RAO
Coordinator
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Pradeep Rao has been with the Delhi Policy Group as a Director, since 1995 and involved in the coordination of many projects of the national security programme that the DPG has completed. Prior to joining the Delhi Policy Group, he was General Manager with the State Trading Corporation (STC) of India from 1975 to 1993. He was based in Frankfurt as STC Resident Manager for Western Europe from 1983-1988. After graduating from the University of Oxford in 1964 he began his working career with ICI (India). |
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NIDHI BHATNAGAR
Manager & Research Fellow
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Expertise: Security Studies, Nuclear & Non-Proliferation issues, South Asia.
Nidhi Bhatnagar joined Delhi Policy Group in 2003, after a three year stint with the International Centre for Peace Initiatives (ICPI) where she was Assistant Director, and Assistant Editor of the Journal, Peace Initiatives. Prior to joining ICPI she worked with a public relations company, 20:20 Media, in providing expertise for technology related companies. |
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