NPT Full Form

What is the full form of NPT?

The Non-Proliferation Treaty also referred to as the NPT or Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, is an international agreement with the goals of halting the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, fostering cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, and advancing the cause of nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament. The agreement was negotiated between 1965 and 1968 by the United Nations organization's Eighteen Nation Committee on Disarmament, which has its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

This Story also Contains

1. What is the full form of NPT?
2. NPT Structure
3. India and NPT
4. Drawbacks of NPT

According to the treaty, Nuclear-Weapon States(NWS) is termed for those countries who developed and tested a nuclear explosive device before January 1, 1967. These states are China (1960), France (1960), the United Kingdom (1952), Russia (1949), and the United States (1945). (1964). All other nations were under category of Non-Nuclear Weapon States. Four other states are known to have nuclear weapons or are suspected of doing so: Israel is purposefully vague about its nuclear weapons status, while North Korea, Pakistan, and India have publicly tested and admitted to having nuclear weapons. Iran is also suspected of developing nuclear weapons.

NPT Structure

• First pillar: Non-proliferation

According to Article I of the NPT, nuclear-weapon states promise not to transfer nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices to any receivers or to assist, encourage, or in any other way pressure any non-nuclear-weapon state into developing or obtaining a nuclear weapon.

Non-nuclear-weapon nations are bound under the NPT's Article II to refrain from acquiring or controlling nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices and from soliciting or accepting assistance in their production.

Non-nuclear weapon states agree to adopt IAEA safeguards to confirm that their nuclear activities are only carried out for peaceful purposes under the terms of Article III of the Treaty.

The five governments recognised by the NPT as nuclear weapon states (NWS) are China (signed 1992), France (1992), the Soviet Union (1968; obligations and rights now taken by the Russian Federation), the United Kingdom (1968), and the United States (1968). These five states also happen to be the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.

• Second pillar: Disarmament

According to Article VI of the NPT, all Parties agree to conduct sincere talks on concrete steps for ending the nuclear arms race, achieve nuclear disarmament, and achieve total, all-encompassing disarmament. The NPT's Article VI is the only multilateral pact that makes the nuclear-weapon nations' disarmament a legally binding commitment.

The preamble of the NPT contains language affirming the desire of the treaty's signatories to lower tensions abroad and build up global trust to one day establish the prerequisites for a treaty on general and complete disarmament that eliminates, in particular, nuclear weapons and their delivery systems from national arsenals.

The NPT's Article VI, states that, "Each of the Parties to the Treaty undertakes to pursue negotiations in straightness on effective measures relating to stoppage of the nuclear arms race at an early date and nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament," undoubtedly only imposes a hazy obligation on all NPT signatories to move in the general direction of nuclear and total disarmament. According to this understanding, Article VI does not strictly mandate that all parties reach a disarmament agreement. Instead, it merely demands that they "bargain in good faith".

• Third pillar: Peaceful use of nuclear energy

All parties are recognised under NPT Article IV as having the right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful reasons and to profit from global cooperation in this area as long as they uphold their nonproliferation obligations. Such cooperation is also encouraged under Article IV. This so-called third pillar permits the transfer of nuclear technology and materials to NPT Parties in order for those countries to build civilian nuclear energy programmes, subject to IAEA safeguards to demonstrate that their nuclear initiatives are not being utilised to produce nuclear weapons. Since enriched Uranium fuel is used in the commercially successful light water reactor nuclear power plant, states must be able to enrich uranium or buy it from a global market.

The proliferation of enrichment and reprocessing capabilities has been referred to as the "Achilles' heel" of the nuclear non-proliferation system by Mohamed ElBaradei, the former Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency. 13 states have the capacity to enrich as of 2007.

The United States Atoms for Peace programme and a related Soviet Union programme sent research reactors powered by weapon-grade highly enriched uranium (HEU) to nearly 60 states between the 1960s and 1970s. Due to worries about proliferation, a programme to convert HEU research reactors to low-enriched fuel was initiated in the United States in the 1980s. However, as of 2016, there were 60 tonnes of HEU in civilian research stockpiles, and 74 research reactors were still using HEU. In 2015, 26 states had more than 1 kg of civilian HEU.

India and NPT

According to the Indian government's position, the treaty is unfair in its current form because it essentially declares that the five World War II winners have the right to own nuclear weapons while holding the other countries without such weapons responsible for the whims and fancies of those who do. The deal creates a nuclear "have" and "have-not" world.

The five countries must either denuclearise, in India's view, or everyone should have the same rights as those who already hold them. India's initial nuclear tests were primarily motivated by the increase of tensions with one of its nuclear-armed neighbours, namely China. In response to what Pakistan saw as India's "naked aggressiveness," and in response to India's escalation, Pakistan carried out its own nuclear test.

India is one of only five nations that either did not sign the NPT or signed it but later withdrew, joining the likes of Pakistan, Israel, North Korea, and South Sudan on this list.

India has consistently refused to sign the NPT because it views it as discriminatory.

India has rejected international accords meant to stop the spread of nuclear weapons because they only occasionally applied to the non-nuclear powers and validated the monopoly of the five nuclear weapon states.

Drawbacks of NPT

The drawbacks of NPT are:-

• The treaty's primary shortcomings are that it never held the five countries that had nuclear weapons at the time it was signed accountable. The treaty's enforcement is also a major source of worry at the same time. Despite the threat of international economic sanctions and other catastrophic consequences, North Korea detonated its first bomb in 2006 of international economic sanctions and other dire consequences. Even Iran is now prepared to take the same path.

• The treaty even features significant gaps that other countries could use to establish their own nuclear weapons programme.

• Whatever the case, it is undeniable that the Non-Proliferation Treaty has made the world a better place. According to predictions, roughly 25 countries will have nuclear weapons. However, its mere existence has decreased it to 9.

• Although the NPT was not the only cause of this, the safeguard's mere existence can at least promise a period of peace, and if the current flaws are closed, it will fulfil this promise.