Photos: India's Turning Points

1998: A New Nuclear Power
With its new Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee (third from left) in attendance, India shocks the world by detonating a nuclear weapon beneath the remote Thar Desert on May 11; two weeks later, Pakistan replies with a weapons test of its own. The prospect of two antagonistic nuclear powers on the subcontinent raises fears of nuclear war, especially after India and Pakistan clash again over Kashmir less than a year later.

• India Charges Ahead
• Three Generations, One India