Q. ‘Smiling Buddha’ was the codename of which first-of-its kind operation of India?
Answer: First nuclear test
Notes: India recently observed the 46th anniversary of its first nuclear test in Rajasthan’s Pokhran, conducted on May 18. The peaceful first nuclear was codenamed the ‘Smiling Buddha’, which proclaimed India as a nuclear power. As the test was conducted on the Buddha Poornima of that year, the event was codenamed after Buddha. Indira Gandhi was the Prime of Minister of India during the tests and it was the first confirmed nuclear test by a country that was not a permanent member of the UNSC.