India and its Obligations
Compiled by: Monalisa Joshi
India is an original signatory to the CWC, which it signed on January 14, 1993.
In June 1997, it became one of six states that declared possession of chemical weapons stockpile and production facilities.
After its declaration about possession of chemical weapons, initial inspections have taken place at pertinent military and industrial sites.
Immediately after India’s admission, a four-person OPCW (Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons) inspection team visited a laboratory in Gwalior to verify India’s compliance with the CWC in July 1997.The OPCW reported that India is in compliance.
Again, in early August 1997, a ten-person team of inspectors from OPCW conducted an inspection of a DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) facility involved in chemical weapons production located at Ozar (near Nashik, Maharashtra).
Currently, India is in the process of destroying its stockpile in accordance with its obligations to the CWC.
By 2005, of the six states that possessed chemical weapons, India was the only one to meet its deadline for verified destruction and for inspections of facilities by the OPCW.
As reported, India has a declared stockpile of 1,044 metric tons of sulphur mustard. Less than 2 per cent of the agent was filled into artillery shells and the remainder stored in bulk containers.
As of March 2006, India had destroyed 53 per cent of its stockpile, including all of the filled munitions.
By the end of 2006, India had destroyed more than 75 per cent of its chemical weapons/material stockpile. India had asked for and was granted a two year extension for destroying all its chemical weapons (till April 2009), and is expected to achieve 100 per cent destruction within this timeframe.
Apart from its commitment to the OPCW, domestically India has taken all efforts to strengthen its commitment to the CWC. It has put in place an act called the ‘CWC 2000 Act’. As per the ‘2005 WMD Bill’, proliferation is a crime and private companies are liable for prosecution under this bill. India has a well established export control mechanism in place with updated guidelines related to export of Special Chemicals, Organisms, Materials, Equipment and Technologies (SCOMET) items.
