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India first exploded a nuclear bomb in 1974 and exploded several more in
1998. Ostensibly, all of them were necessary for maintaining national security.
Itty Abraham, in his The Making of the Indian Atomic Bomb, does not think so. He
suggests, like others before him, that the tests were more to do with India
wanting to display independence and power. But established nuclear nations can
hardly criticise. Abraham presents a convincing case, based on exhaustive
documentary research. Published by Zed Books, £13.95/$19.95, ISBN
1856496309.

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