JAI VIGYAN

On 20^th May 1998, at a historic address from the site in Pokhran where 5 nuclear tests were conducted by India a week earlier, our Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee recognised the contributions of Science & Technology for India by adding “Jai Vigyan” to former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri’s famous slogan of “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan”.

Addressing a Sainik Sammelan in the Pokhran field firing range, Vajpayee commended the feat achieved by the scientists, engineers and armymen through teamwork that resulted in the successful conduct of the tests. Congratulating the scientists and engineers for the feat, he expressed confidence that they would also succeed in achieving such success in other walks of life. Vajpayee reiterated that ”the government will accord topmost priority to national security and we will preserve it at any cost.” He said, ”We have conducted the nuclear tests in view of the atmosphere of insecurity prevailing around the country.”

On 11^th and 13^th May 1998 India conducted five underground nuclear tests (code named “Operation Shakti”) in the Pokhran desert in Rajasthan, 24 years after its first nuclear test (code named “Smiling Budha”) in 1974. The first three of the five nuclear bomb explosions were initiated on 11^th May 1998 with the detonation of one fusion bomb and two fission bombs. On 13^th May 1998, two additional fission bombs were detonated.

The international sanctions imposition that followed failed to sway India from weaponising its nuclear capability. The sanctions were eventually lifted after just six months.

On 3^rd January 2019, our Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji, added “Jai Anusandhan” to former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri’s famous slogan of “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan” and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s “Jai Vigyan” when he spoke on “Future India: Science and Technology” while giving the inaugural address at the 106^th Indian Science Congress at the Lovely Professional University (LPU) in Phagwara near Jalandhar, Punjab. The new slogan for New India becomes “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, Jai Vigyan, Jai Anusandhan” going forward to building an India of our future.