Ramanna, Raja

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10 We've now completed whole spectrum of tests: Ramanna " ground BANGALORE: Nuclear scientist Raja Ramanna has said India appears to have completed the "whole spec-trum" of nuclear tests with two under-nucleaT explosions in the Pokhran range on Wednesday. "It appears that they have com-pleted the whole range of tests and I think there will not be further tests," Mr Ramanna, who had played a very important role in India's first nuclear test at Pokhran in 1974, said. On sanctions against India in the wake of the nuclear tests carried out on May 11 and on Wednesday, a confident Ramanna said: "Our country will survive whatever hap-pens." Mr Ramanna had hailed Mon-day's tests, saying the world should realise that India's nuclear technol-ogy is very advanced. Mr Ramanna had complimented the scientists for "doing an excel-lent job of a very difficult assign-ment"! -PTl Homi Bhabha was denied Bharat Ratna: Ramanna New Delhi, May 15: As the nation exults over its underground nuclear test trium-phs at Pokhran this week, comes the revel-ation of how a former government refused to award Bharat Ratna to Homi Bhabha, the Father of India's Nuclear Programme. The reason the Government in 1966 "ref-fcused" to give a Bharat Ratna to Bhabha "after his death was that "he was not big en-ough", Raja Ramanna, former Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and one of the key brains behind India's first nuclear test at Pokhran in 1974, told a priv-ate television channel in an interview tele-cast on Thursday night. "When he (Bhabha) died, we went and said he had done so much for the country uniquely that he should be given a Bharat Ratna, Ramanna said. But the Government refused, Ramanna said, adding "most of these things were be-ing given to political people at that time". Asked specifically whether it was dur-ing Indira Gandhi's tenure, Ramanna said yes, "but probably she was not consulted at that time". Ramanna lauded Bhabha's contributi-ons not only in visualising the need for building nuclear power plants and resea-rch facilities in India, but also his excell-ence in administration and training. Reminiscing on the first Pokhran test, Ramanna dismissed criticism from some quarters that India cannot afford to cond-uct such expensive tests. Many of the equipment needed for Pokh-ran were by-products of the nuclear indus-try itself, Ramanna pointed out. They are not as expensive as people make them out to be, unless "you are go-ing to make an armoury" of nuclear devi-ces. Ramanna also described as an "unfortu-nate paraphrase" the code "Buddha is smi-ling" to indicate that the 1974 test was a success. "I have great respect for Buddha," he said, adding that the code was not his idea. Ramanna who was among the only five persons to know about the top-secret 1974 Pokhran mission, said no one had a clue to what was in the offing. Scientists only knew about the task or project they were assigned to. Secrets usually do not leak out of labs, he added. Ramanna also emphasised that embargoes would not work on a big coun-try like India. "In the last few years all our power reac-tors are working at full power. And that means the embargo does'nt play any part," he said. "There is no point in putting embargo on a big country like India. They can grad-ually do these things themselves." .PTI 

We've Now Completed Whole Spectrum of Tests: Ramanna - Homi Bhabha was Denied Bharat Ratna: Ramanna

http://eprints.nias.res.in/1694/1/1998-May14-TOI-We%27ve-now-completed_2%20Titles_Same%20Publisher.pdf

We've Now Completed Whole Spectrum of Tests: Ramanna - Homi Bhabha was Denied Bharat Ratna: Ramanna

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