Finger on the button: When Rao tied his hands in 1995, what was India’s world like

Nuclear environment • May 15, 1995: Days after NPT extension—allowing N-states to keep their weapons but not permitting others to ...

Nuclear environment

• May 15, 1995: Days after NPT extension—allowing N-states to keep their weapons but not permitting others to join the club—China tested. n Sept 5, 1995: Six French tests concluded on January 27, 1996. France agreed to a test ban.

• CTBT being negotiated. Rao may have wanted to offset China, follow French example, test and then sign.

Economy

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• Reforms slowed down following Cong defeat in Andhra and Karnataka in 1994.

• Inflation a worry, with Lok Sabha elections just six months away.

Kashmir

• May 1995: Chrar-e-Sharief shrine burnt down by militants led by Mast Gul, a Pak mercenary. Gul and 30 of his men escaped.

Pakistan

• Benazir into her second term as prime minister, US decidedly friendly, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton visit Pakistan the same year.

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• Clinton’s first term, ‘‘discovery of India’’ was four years away.

• IT boom still in the making; India only a blip on White House radar; terrorism was still somebody else’s problem.

EAM Jaishankar and US Secretary of State Rubio hold bilateral discussions in New York

India30 min ago

Indian Foreign Minister Jaishankar and US Senator Rubio met in New York to discuss the 25% tariff on Indian oil imposed by Trump. This was their first in-person meeting since the Quad Foreign Ministers' Meeting. India and the US also began talks for a trade agreement, with positive discussions during a recent visit by US trade officials to India.

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