India on Friday marked the 20th anniversary of the Pokhran nuclear tests, covering a journey from being a sanctions-hit country to getting a special waiver from the elite Nuclear Suppliers Group, paving the way for signing civil nuclear deals with the US and several other countries.
India had conducted five underground nuclear tests on May 11 and 13, 1998, in Pokhran in the Rajasthan desert and declared it crossed the nuclear threshhold.
On the National Technology Day, marking the anniversary of the 1998 tests, President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday said the tests demonstrated the country’s scientific capacity and political will and had a far-reaching impact on how the world came to see India.