At a time when the government of India is churning out one bill after another to place it before the Parliament for approval, there seems little interest in “Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill” that is going to be tabled in the Parliament in a few days of time.
The bill if allowed to be passed without any discussion may have far reaching consequence on the issue of getting compensation in case of a nuclear disaster in the country.
The bill lets U.S. corporations off the hook for any nuclear accidents caused on the Indian soil. They have to pay a meager amount of compensation to the victims in case of such accidents, whereas Indian taxpayers may have to cough off crores of rupees for the nuclear clean up and to compensate its people.
It appears that the US corporations want to reap profits without any responsibility and the government of India is too keen to placate them and thus shying away from any public debate on this issue.
The bill channels all liability stemming from a nuclear accident to the operator of the plant. Even though the maximum liability for an incident is fixed at Rs. 2,385 crore, the liability of the operator, whether public or private, is capped at Rs. 500 crore.
The draft law will enable the country to accede to the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage, without which the United States says its companies will not be able to sell nuclear equipment to India.
The Union Finance and Environment Ministries had strong objections to approving this controversial bill. Their objections related to the impact of the law on safety standards and on providing adequate compensation in the event of a nuclear accident.
The Ministry of Environment and Forests in its comments drew attention to the law’s failure to specify the amount of compensation for death or damage due to an accident. It said nuclear damage to human and animal life and the environment were long-term and needed a thorough understanding of the subject, “especially as the Act is for final compensation and not for interim relief.”
The Ministry pointed out that the law did not specify which agency or entity was eligible to file a claim for compensation for damage to the environment. It further said; in the absence of the Health Ministry batting for its concerns, the 10-year limit for filing of claims was too low “since the nuclear damage involves changes in DNAs resulting in mutagenic and teratogenic changes, which take a long time to manifest.”
Finally the Ministry of Environment and Forest observed that more scientific guidelines were needed to ensure the competent claims authority was able to review these kinds of damage and award compensation “which is just.”
Similar views were expressed by the Finance Ministry that focused its criticism on the central tenet of the law and said the need to limit the liability of private companies involved in the nuclear business to Rs. 500 crore is very low. It noted that the difference between Rs 500 crore and the maximum liability of Rs. 2,385 crore would have to be made good by the government. The Ministry questioned the Department of Atomic Energy’s rationale that the risk of accidents was low and that unlimited liability would hinder the growth of the nuclear industry in the country.
The Finance Ministry in its submission to the cabinet further said limiting the liability in an arbitrary way could “expose the government to substantial liabilities for the failings of the private sector management in such installations.”
However, the Union Cabinet has overrode the strong objections from both the ministries and understood to have approved the draft bill as it is for ratification in the Parliament.
If the bill is passed without constraints on liabilities, the situation becomes graver. India has many nuclear plants and there are obvious risks of accidents taking place there. The cost of clearing up a nuclear disaster could be enormous, far more than being experienced during the Bhopal Gas tragedy in 1984.
The bill it is supposedly trying to set a compensatory amount that’s much lower than the one set for the Bhopal gas tragedy. This is atrocious because even after 25 years, the survivors of the Bhopal gas leak are still fighting for justice and the companies involved are evading the liability.
There seems to be a conspiracy of silence both from the media and the political parties on this issue. As far as Indian media is concerned, baring few English publications, there is absolutely no reportage on this issue in the vernacular press. Public opinion is hardly being made about the damage this bill may cause if it’s passed in its present form.
There can be two reasons for it; either there is lack of understanding of the subject among the media practitioners or the media outlets are asked to maintain silence on this subject similarly on the lines of “paid news” where the news is published in lieu of cash.
As far as political parties are concerned, all appears to be preoccupied with the passing and not passing of the women reservation bill. They really don’t have time nor will nor inclination to go into the intricacies of the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill.
One can understand the lack of interest of certain political partiers as they are unable to understand the nitty-gritty’s of this high end human rights issue. However, the most surprising is the stand of the left parties that are conspicuously silent on this issue. This looks stranger given their strong opposition to Indo- US civil nuclear deal. The apathy of the political parties towards Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage bill shows how much they are committed to the human issues even though they profess to champion it day in and day out.
In this context, the job to put across the point the perils of the bill is left for the non governmental organizations and civil societies. A sufficient public opinion has to be created so that sufficient amendments could be made to the bill to safeguard the victims of nuclear disaster.
The lead in this direction has been taken by the environmentalists who have launched a petition campaign that says "India must hold a public consultation before changing the liability rules for any nuclear accidents caused by U.S. corporations."
If anyone like to join this campaign can petition online following this link; http://www.greenpeace.org/india/stop-the-vote/
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Syed Ali Mujaba is a working journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com