<P> On 7 September 1972, near the peak of her post-war popularity, Indira Gandhi authorised the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) to manufacture a nuclear device and prepare it for a test . Although the Indian Army was not fully involved in the nuclear testing, the army's highest command was kept fully informed of the test preparations . The preparations were carried out under the watchful eyes of the Indian political leadership, with civilian scientists assisting the Indian Army . </P> <P> The device was formally called the "Peaceful Nuclear Explosive", but it was usually referred to as the Smiling Buddha . The device was detonated on 18 May 1974, Buddha Jayanti (a festival day in India marking the birth of Gautama Buddha). Indira Gandhi maintained tight control of all aspects of the preparations of the Smiling Buddha test, which was conducted in extreme secrecy; besides Gandhi, only advisers Parmeshwar Haksar and Durga Dhar were kept informed . Scholar Raj Chengappa asserts the Indian Defence Minister Jagjivan Ram was not provided with any knowledge of this test and came to learn of it only after it was conducted . Swaran Singh, the Minister of External Affairs, was given 48 hours advance notice . The Indira Gandhi administration employed no more than 75 civilian scientists while General G.G. Bewoor, Indian army chief, and the commander of Indian Western Command were the only military commanders kept informed . </P> <P> The head of this entire nuclear bomb project was the director of the BARC, Raja Ramanna . In later years, his role in the nuclear programme would be more deeply integrated as he remained head of the nuclear programme most of his life . The designer and creator of the bomb was P.K. Iyengar, who was the second in command of this project . Iyengar's work was further assisted by the chief metallurgist, R. Chidambaram, and by Nagapattinam Sambasiva Venkatesan of the Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory, who developed and manufactured the high explosive implosion system . The explosive materials and the detonation system were developed by Waman Dattatreya Patwardhan of the High Energy Materials Research Laboratory . </P> <P> The overall project was supervised by chemical engineer Homi Sethna, Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India . Chidambaram, who would later coordinate work on the Pokhran - II tests, began work on the equation of state of plutonium in late 1967 or early 1968 . To preserve secrecy, the project employed no more than 75 scientists and engineers from 1967--74 . Abdul Kalam also arrived at the test site as the representative of the DRDO . </P>

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