FINALLY, with safeguards the Lok Sabha passed the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill, 2010 on Wednesday. Even the CPI(M), which had pulled out of the UPA-I government opposing the signing of the Indo-US nuclear deal, did not oppose the bill, notwithstanding the threat of its general secretary, Mr Prakash Karat earlier during the day to do so: “we would oppose it both in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha as it compromises on the citizens’ right to life and health.”
The legislation is aimed to pave the path for India to participate in the international civil nuclear market and symbolises completion of a journey to end the ‘apartheid’ against India in the field of atomic power, but there is no denying that the government still has to ensure that this should not end up promoting American interests. The fears expressed by the MPs experts are not unfounded and these ought to be taken seriously. Though the government under pressure from the BJP and Left dropped the contentious provision of “intent” as a precondition for holding suppliers liable for a nuclear accident caused by defective equipment, the bill still has some loopholes. And these need to be plugged. The basic thing is the accountability. Who is to be held accountable for supply of defective equipment? The government instead of putting of cap of ` 1500 crore should have accepted the suggestion of fixing the liability cap on suppliers in case of accidents at ` 10,000 crore. The amount of ` 1500 crore is too small a figure.
The Bhopal tragedy is still fresh in the minds of the people. In spite of having a number of legal provisions to protect the interest of the people, the fact remains till today even after nearly three decades, they are yet to get justice and the compensation the victims deserve. A nuclear disaster would be of a much greater magnitude than the Bhopal gas tragedy. The government should have taken care to spell out this aspect clearly in the nuclear bill. Though the Minister of State, Mr Prithviraj Chavan tried to argue that the criminal liability laws were always there to protect victims and that the amount of compensation they would be entitled to was “unlimited” since the government would accept whatever amount was decided by the Claims Commissioner, there was no harm in making a specific provision.
Nuclear power is an energy option that India cannot ignore. But the government at the same time should be conscious about its ill-effects and also must not allow any feeling grip the psyche of the people that the bill was America-favouring and would make India dependent on imports from the US. The nation’s nuclear research programme should not be compromised by the passage of the bill. Let us hope what the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh says–“the government was doing ‘everything’ to ensure safety of nuclear plants and utilisation of nuclear energy was a serious issue that could not be ignored”–comes true.
