Say  No to Nuclear Weapons 

August 6 2023 marks the 78th anniversary of the US atomic bombing on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.  It is pertinent to note that this day also marks 529 day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.  We heard with shock that a blood transfusion centre, a university and an aeronautics facility in Ukraine were   damaged in deadly air raids by Russia. What we are witnessing is escalation of conflicts and deadly attacks.  The  report of  the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons  (ICAN) viz. "Wasted: 2022 Global Nuclear Weapons Spending" shows in 2022, the year that marked  the Russian invasion of Ukraine, nine nuclear-armed states spent $82.9 billion on their nuclear weapons, an overall increase of $2.5 billion from 2021.   Nuclear spending   by these countries is more than $157,000 per minute.  This is somewhat shocking for people who are aspiring for a peaceful world.  According to the ICAN report the United States spent more than all of the other nuclear armed states combined, $43.7 billion.   In the case of China and Russia, the figures were $11.7 billion, $9.6 billion respectively .

 Therefore it is significant to reiterate the significance of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.  On 7 July 2017, 122 nations, comprising almost two-thirds of the total UN membership voted to adopt the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. It means majority of the countries are not in favour of nuclear weapons. It was a landmark agreement that outlaws the weapons of mass destruction and established a pathway to their elimination. In 2017 hopes were created that this treaty will become a reality in the near future. However, it took more than three years to realize the goal.  Fifty countries were required to ratify the treaty  and waiting period of 90 days were mandatory.The 50th country-Honduras ratified the treaty on October 24, 2020. It was the UN day of that and coincided with the 75th anniversary of the ratification of the U.N. Charter which officially established the United Nations and is celebrated as U.N. Day.   After 90 days  the treaty came into force. As per  thecurrent data there are currently 92 signatories and 68 states parties to the treaty.

 On the other hand at present there are 9 countries in the world that possess nuclear weapons. They are Russia,the United States, China, France, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, India, Israel and North Korea. Put together, these states have 12,700 nuclear warheads, of which 9,400 are in active military stockpiles. This is the scenario even after the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) came into force in January 2021. It is reported that detonating just one  nuclear weapon alone over New York would cause an estimated 583,160 fatalities.  Most of the nuclear warheads which  were in the possession of these countries   are more powerful than the nuclear weapon dropped on Hiroshima. Thirty-two other states are also part of the nuclear alliance, with 5 nations hosting nuclear weapons, and a further 27 endorsing their use. Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey all host U.S. nuclear weapons.

Source:ICAN 

  In June 2023 following the  policy of US, Russia also started hosting nuclear weapons. The precise data   of Russian tactical nuclear weapons hosted in Belarus is not available.   But it was reported that these were three times more powerful than the atomic bombs the US dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

 As it was rightly pointed out by Prof. Sudharshan Iyengar it is the arrogance of humanity.  It is high time the whole world work towards the elimination of nuclear weapons.   India has not yet signed or ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). It is the duty of all peace loving people to create pressure on governments of respective countries including  India to sign  TPNW.  We have noticed that in the midst of the Corona pandemic the nuclear weapons states failed miserably to   provide adequate medical facilities to the people.  The need of the hour is not nuclear weapons but better medical facilities, education and fulfilling the basic needs of the people.  We should pledge on this auspicious day  to raise  our voices against  the irresponsible behaviour of all nuclear-armed states to pour money on  their nuclear weapons . It is the normative barricade against threats to use nuclear weapons.  Only through sustained efforts all countries would   be pursued to join this landmark treaty which  prohibits the development and maintenance of nuclear weapons and prevent their eventual use by ensuring their elimination.

Note

This is an abstract of the speech delivered by Dr.Siby K.Joseph, Director Sri Jamnalal Bajaj Memorial Library and Research Centre for Gandhian Studies Sevagram Ashram Pratishthan in a Webinar organized by Indian Council for Nuclear Disarmament  coinciding with Hiroshima day on August 6,2023.

Link of the article written by the author on related matter

http://mainstreamweekly.net/article10331.html

Mainstream, VOL LIX No 5, New Delhi, January 16, 2021

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) will come into force in January 2021 | Siby K. Joseph

Friday 15 January 2021

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by Siby K. Joseph

It is an irony of history that a person who invented dynamite in 1867 and other terribly dangerous explosives later became a champion for promoting peace. It is the story of the Swedish scientist, Alfred Nobel, a scientist turned arms dealer who owned more than 90 factories manufacturing explosives and ammunition, when he passed away in 1896 in San Remo, Italy. [1] If he had not instituted in his will the idea of Nobel Prize and decided to use his dynamite fortune for the cause of peace, his label in history would be different. It remains as a fact that he had kept a long distance from the ideas of peace maintained by international peace activists. It is evident from the letter he wrote to Bertha von Suttner, authoress of the famous anti-war novel Lay down Your Arms in 1891 “Perhaps my factories will put an end to war sooner than your congresses: on the day that two army corps can mutually annihilate each other in a second, all civilised nations will surely recoil with horror and disband their troops." [2] Further, he said “Let the sword of Damocles hang over every head, gentlemen, and you will witness a miracle—all war will stop short instantly if the weapon is bacteriology.” [3] From these statements, it is clear that he held the view that weapons and explosives have a deterring effect on war or it could be called as the Balance of Terror theory. Thus it gives us an impression that he was not a pacifist or a humanitarian to create an endowment for the prestigious Nobel prizes.