India: N-liability Bill to come up before Parliament

The much-debated Nuclear Liability Bill, crucial for operationalising the India-US civil nuclear deal, would be tabled in the Upper House of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, on March 15, Minister of State for Atomic Energy Prithviraj Chavan has said.

He added that though the government and the Prime Minister were keen to pass the Bill as soon as possible, the expectation was that it would go to Standing Committee for scrutiny. Chavan said the government would, however, approach Speaker Meira Kumar to have a discussion on it immediately.

Explaining the provisions, he said the Bill was envisaged a cap the liability of a private operator in the civil nuclear energy sector. Several investors in the emergent energy sector were chary of having to bear the kind of ruinous liability that Dow Chemicals had to face when a gas leak from its Union Carbide plant in Bhopal in December 1984 killed and injured thousands of families.

The domestic nuclear energy sector is yet to be opened to the private sector as there are only two operators — the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd and the Bharatiya Navikiya Vidyut Nigam.

While nuclear power for civilian purposes will be subject to government contracts, sub-contracts will have to be signed between the Indian government and the private operators, fixing a cap on the liability of an operator in case of an nuclear accident.

The Nuclear Liability Bill envisages setting up a Commission which will investigate and decide, if there is an accident, who was responsible for the error and fix responsibility.

Both the Houses of Parliament were back to normal business on Friday with the Rajya Sabha even resolving to extend its sittings till March 18 from March 16 when it was previously expected to go into recess. The Lok Sabha is expected to sit till March 16, although there is a demand from some MPs that it be adjourned a day before so that Ugadi, Gudi Padva and the Hindu new year festivities can be observed.

Meanwhile, reiterating that Washington remains "very much committed" to the nuclear deal with India, a US official sees "good progress" on crucial talks on reprocessing and hopes an accord would emerge well before the August deadline.

"So, we're now in the process of implementing that agreement," Robert O Blake, assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian Affairs, said in Washington on Saturday.

An agreement on reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel eluded officials during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's November state visit. But officials on both sides have been at pains to stress that under the landmark nuclear deal the reprocessing talks have to be completed within one year of their start at India's instance last August.

Blake said on its part US was also "very much hoping that the Indian government will proceed with very important legislation on nuclear liability, that will be very important protection for American companies who are seeking to do more business in the civil nuclear area, in India."

The US was quite willing to provide India nuclear technology, Blake said. Asked if the US would try to convince India and Pakistan to join the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT), Blake said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has already endorsed President Barack Obama's vision of working towards a nuclear weapons-free world.

"We think India can be a very important partner in this whole effort," Blake said while acknowledging, "India, of course, lives in a 'sensitive region' - where both China and Pakistan also have nuclear capabilities. So, this agreement will have to be pursued with those countries as part of any such effort."

- Asian Tribune -