Question

The Indian state in which first nuclear tests were conducted is:
A.Gujarat
B.Maharashtra
C.Rajasthan
D.Himachal Pradesh

Answer 1

Hint: Smiling Buddha was the assigned code name of India’s first nuclear bomb test that was successfully carried out in May 1974 at Pokhran.

Complete Step by Step answer: The development and use of nuclear weapons in 1945 marked a major turning point in the history of warfare. Very quickly, enough nuclear warheads had been created and stockpiled to destroy civilization many times over, giving humanity, for the first time, the capacity to end its existence. The massive destructive capacity of nuclear weapons means that they have affected international and domestic politics in a way that no other weapons ever have. During the Cold War, sometimes seen as the ‘first nuclear age’, nuclear proliferation was primarily vertical rather than horizontal. The greatest attention was given to restricting the spread of nuclear arms beyond the ‘big five’ (USA, Russia, China, France and UK), particularly through the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which was introduced in 1968 and extended indefinitely in 1995. Almost all states have signed this treaty, with the notable exceptions of India, Pakistan and Israel.
Let's examine the options :
Options A and B: are incorrect.
Option C: is correct. The site of the first nuclear test in India was at Indian Army’s test range in Pokhran, Rajasthan and was thus codenamed Pokhran-I. It was one of the first confirmed nuclear tests being carried out by a country apart from the Big Five. The second series of tests were carried out in 1998 in Pokhran itself which were called Pokhran-II.
Option D: is incorrect.

Hence, The correct answer is Option C i.e Rajasthan.

Note: Although India has not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty, it has declared a no-first-use policy. This means that nuclear weapons that have been developed in India are solely for deterrence and that India will not be the first to initiate a strike and will pursue a "retaliation only”.