Credible Minimum Deterrence is the principle on which
IndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
's nuclear doctrine is based.
It underlines
no first useNo first use refers to a pledge or a policy by a nuclear power not to use nuclear weapons as a means of warfare unless first attacked by an adversary using nuclear weapons...
(NFU) with a
second strikeIn nuclear strategy, a second strike capability is a country's assured ability to respond to a nuclear attack with powerful nuclear retaliation against the attacker...
capability, and falls under
minimal deterrenceIn nuclear strategy, minimal deterrence is an application of deterrence theory in which a state possesses no more nuclear weapons than is necessary to deter an adversary from attacking...
as opposed to mutually assured destruction. India's tentative nuclear doctrinewas announced on August 17, 1999 by the then secretary of the National Security Advisory Board, Brajesh Mishra.
Later this draft was adopted with some modifications when the
Nuclear Command AuthorityThe Nuclear Command Authority of India is the nodal agency for all command, control and operational decisions regarding India's nuclear weapon stockpile.- Introduction :...
was announced on January 4, 2003. A significant modification was the dilution of the NFU principle to include nuclear retaliation to attacks by biological and chemical weapons.
Indian
National Security AdvisorThe National Security Advisor of India is a member of the National Security Council , and the primary advisor to the Prime Minister, the Indian Cabinet and the NSC on internal and international security issues.-Overview:...
Shri
Shiv Shankar MenonShivshankar Menon or Sivasankara Menon is the present National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of India. He previously served as the Foreign Secretary, the Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan and in China and Israel as ambassador and diplomat...
further signaled a significant shift from "no first use" to "no first use against non-nuclear weapon states" in a speech on the occasion of Golden Jubilee celebrations of
National Defence CollegeThe National Defence College of India, located in New Delhi, is an institution of higher learning of the defence forces of India. The institution was inaugurated on 27 April 1960 and is the only military institution in the country that imparts knowledge on all aspects of national security and...
in New Delhi on October 21, 2010, a doctrine Menon said reflected India's "strategic culture, with its emphasis on minimal deterrence."