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PSIR Optional PYQ Solutions · Model answer

India’s reluctance to perceive any ‘existential threat’ inevitably made the multilateral path to nuclear security a ‘default option’ until it decided to cross the nuclear Rubicon in 1998. Identify and analyse some of the major reasons behind this shift in India’s position on the nuclear question.

  • UPSC 2025
  • 20 marks
  • India and the Nuclear Question

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The premise reflects a realist argument made by Rajesh Rajagopalan (2019): states that fear a non-nuclear threat to their survival, such as Israel and Pakistan, need nuclear weapons for first use; India, the preponderant power of its region, did not. Universal disarmament was therefore its cheapest security. May 1998 is best explained not by a…

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What the full answer covers

  • The default option and how it worked
  • Major reasons behind the shift
  • Weighing the reasons
  • Conclusion
PSIR Optional PYQ Solutions

PSIR Optional PYQ Solutions

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