Pokaran means “the place of five mirages. It located in Jaisalmer district in Rajasthan. It is an apex research and testing site of the Indian nuclear programme and has served as the test site for India's first underground nuclear weapon detonation.
The site was built by Indian Army Corps of Engineers. It is unclear when the site was built but it shot into the international limelight on 18th May 1974 when the then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi verbally authorized scientists at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) at Trombay to detonate a small and miniaturized nuclear device.