Warning against the possibility of terrorists and non-state actors acquiring atomic weapons, India has sought total elimination of nuclear arms backed by a security system in which states do not feel the need to develop, produce or stockpile them.
"India has remained steadfast to the goal of a nuclear weapon-free world, to be achieved through global, verifiable and non-discriminatory nuclear disarmament," its delegate Sushma Swaraj told a UN committee adding, that New Delhi's responsible nuclear doctrine is based on no first use and non-use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapons states.
Urging all nations to work together to achieve the goal of nuclear weapon-free-world, Swaraj, a member of Parliament, told the UN General Assembly's Disarmament and International Security Committee that atomic weapons stockpiles, both strategic and non-strategic, are too large and mostly on hair-trigger readiness.
"The threat of a nuclear war remains real," she told the delegates.
While the international consensus to ban nuclear weapons develops, Swaraj said India proposes to table again the resolution on reducing nuclear dangers, which offers modest and practical proposals, calling for a review of nuclear doctrine and urgent steps to reduce the risk of unintentional and accidental use of such weapons through de-alerting and de-targeting them.
The vision for nuclear free world presented by former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi to third special session of the General Assembly on Disarmament two decades ago not only remain undiminished today, but has become more relevant given the fact of increasing use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, Swaraj said.
While maintaining a credible minimum nuclear deterrent, she said, New Delhi remains committed to nuclear disarmament, which enjoys strong domestic consensus.
"We are prepared to turn these commitments into multilateral, legally-binding obligations," she told the delegates.
The doctrine, she said, also reaffirms India's readiness to join multilateral negotiations for the reduction and elimination of nuclear weapons.
India has continued to observe a moratorium on nuclear explosive tests.
"We are ready to participate in negotiations, in the conference, on a non-discriminatory, multilateral and internationally and effectively verifiable treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices, subject to its meeting India's national security interests," she said.
India also believes that the Conference on Disarmament must find practical ways of addressing the issue of nuclear disarmament in a comprehensive and non-discriminatory manner.
India, Swaraj said, is convinced that a multilateral, universal and binding agreement prohibiting the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons under any circumstances would contribute to the elimination of the nuclear threat and create a climate for negotiations for an agreement on the prohibition of nuclear weapons.
"We, therefore, intend to once more table the resolution that requests the Conference on Disarmament to begin negotiations on such a convention," Swaraj said.
As a "responsible nuclear power", India stands for strengthening global non-proliferation, as proliferation has already affected its security interests adversely, she said adding, that a constructive dialogue needs to be evolved for stemming proliferation without unduly constraining peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
New Delhi, she said, also remains constructively engaged in collateral disarmament processes, including on small arms and light weapons, the Biological and Chemical Weapons Conventions and the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons.
India, she told the delegates, has completed destruction of 84 per cent of its chemical weapons stockpile and is committed to destroying its entire stockpile by April 2009.
