With the clearing of the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damages Bill, 2010 by the Lok Sabha, India has completed the all important steps to opening itself to nuclear commerce. What is more significant is the bipartisan atmosphere in which the Bill was cleared. Minister of state (independent charge) for science and technology Prithviraj Chavan spoke to FE?s Nistula Hebbar on how the consensus was generated and how it took a little help from his Cabinet colleagues for the final push…
The government chose a path of consensus on the Bill, going great lengths to accommodate the BJP, why?
Well, I was of the opinion that the bitterness which had been fostered during the last Lok Sabha on the nuclear Bill should not continue, and my effort to get the BJP to support the Bill was aimed at the same. The PM?s directive was also that there should be, as much as possible, consensus on the Bill. I?m proud to say that except for two amendments, the one which raised the liability cap to Rs 1,500 crore and the one which delinked supplier liability from intent were oppositions ideas, but brought in as government amendments.
The Opposition still accused you of a sleight of hand towards the last lap, when the words ‘and’ and ‘intent’ were slipped into the Bill cleared by the Cabinet, but which had not been agreed to by the standing committee?
I?m not owning the word ?and? we?re still trying to find out how it slipped into the draft cleared by Cabinet. I do own up to the word ?intent? which was brought in after after looking at comparative legislation the world over. In fact, the word intent is in Article 10 of the Convention on Supplementary Compensation (CSC) own charter. There was no sleight of hand, and we wanted everyone on board.
Some say that the government-opposition consensus was because of the generation change in the BJP. Did you find it easier to deal with them than the older lot?
We dealt with much of the older generation actually. I do admit that when it came to legalese I did take a lot of help from Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley. But I would like to say here that the ice between the two was really broken when Prananbabu held a meeting last week with LK Advani, Jaswant Singh, Yashwant Sinha, Murli Manohar Joshi, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley. That was the biggie, thats when it came together.
Has this been your toughest challenge yet?
In politics you keep dealing with things as they come at you, I was clear on the way forward and was not afraid to ask for help. For example, when the Bill got stuck over the weekend when all the confusion over the words ?and? and ?intent? started, I asked Kapil Sibal during the Cabinet meeting about finding a way out. He looked at the Bill and drew a line across the word ?intent?. He said that if that was the only sticking point, it had to be done away with. I still have that draft of the Bill with me (smiles).
The Indian industry bodies have been vocal in protesting the clauses which bring in supplier liability. What are you going to do about that?
I am willing to meet them and soothe their fears. I hope that in the next 8-10 years, Indian companies would be able to provide that technology domestically, so that the huge investment could accrue to Indian companies.