The UPA government has been tying itself up in knots on the nuclear issue, especially with regard to the India-US civil nuclear deal. Prime minister Manmohan Singh and his colleagues in government and in the Congress Party have been putting up a brave front that Indian moves on the nuclear power front are not US-specific and that India is open to do nuclear deals with others as well.
But every move seems to be a direct, or an indirect, nod to Washington. It was not surprising then that the Nuclear Liability Bill, which was to be introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday, had to be deferred as the BJP, the principal opposition party, and the CPI-M refused to oblige.
The tactical retreat exposes the vulnerability of the UPA. Its comfortable position in the aftermath of last summer’s Lok Sabha election seems to have melted away because of the fractious fallout of the Women’s Reservation Bill that was passed in the Rajya Sabha last week. Its allies, the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal have turned hostile. But there is more at stake than the treacherous numbers game in parliament.
There is no doubt that if India plans to expand its nuclear power generation in a big way there is need for legislation on liability. What is both surprising and intriguing is that the liability is with the operator. The company that supplies the components of the reactor is left out. Government has not made clear whether private operators — Indian or foreign — will be allowed into the sector.
The opposition criticism that the government is soft on private multinational companies, especially American ones, by capping the liability at Rs 500 crore will hold good only in the case of private operators. For this to happen, the Atomic Energy Act will have to be amended. Today, it is the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) that is the sole operator and it is NPCIL that will have to pay out compensation in case of an accident. Government will pay the additional amount up to Rs2,100 crore.
Critics ought to be cornering the government not on the measly liability figure of Rs500 crore payable by an operator but on the issue of keeping out suppliers altogether. It is common sense that in civil aviation as well as in defence deals suppliers are answerable for the quality of wares they sell and there are liability clauses. Why then should suppliers of nuclear reactors be given an exemption?
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