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Ishtiaq
Ahmed
ON the whole, Singapore’s approach to prevent radicalisation of society is to actively engage
with the religious communities, maintain close
link with their organisations and allow
unrestricted religious freedom to them, yet put
limits to such freedom when national interest is
adversely affected.
In this essay I would like to share with the
readers the very positive views on the Singapore
model of religious pluralism that I formed during
my recently completed 3-year stay in that country.
The religious composition of the 4.8
million-strong Singapore population is currently
as follows: 42.5 percent Buddhist, 14.9 percent
Muslim, 14.6 percent Christian, 8.5 percent Taoist
and 4 percent Hindu. There are more than a million
foreigners who also work in Singapore. Singapore
bases it policy of religion on the assumption that
most of its population is deeply religious. Such a
disposition must be respected, but on a
non-discriminatory basis. Therefore,
constitutional measures as well as public policy
must ensure that the multi-religious and
multi-ethnic character of society is expressed
fairly and peacefully. In symbolic terms it has
meant that religious festivals of all the major
communities are public holidays.
The state does not interfere with the beliefs of
its citizens and each individual is free to
practise his/her faith. What the state has done,
instead, is to ensure that no religious community
is involved in politics. Politicisation of
religion is considered the major threat to the
Singapore model of religious pluralism. The state
monitors and regulates religious freedom on the
realistic assumption that religious harmony cannot
be taken for granted. It has to be maintained
through a diverse range of government inputs
including pre-emptive measures to see to it that
social cohesion and harmony are not jeopardised.
More crucially, while the constitution provides
for absolute religious freedom, including the
right to convert to another religion, the
government maintains an important distinction
between belief and action. The position taken is
that whereas beliefs pertaining to spiritual
values and principles are to be enjoyed by all
without interference by the state, the citizens
and foreigners are to be held accountable for
actions they may claim were inspired by their
beliefs. Any action, including verbal action that
sows discord among the citizens, can be
legitimately prohibited. Therefore, the government
curtails and constrains religion-inspired actions
that adversely affect the integrity and security
of the state and subvert peace and harmony among
the various religious communities.
Thus several measures have been undertaken to
ensure that religious freedom is not abused to
preach hatred or incite violence against other
religious and ethnic groups. Under the Sedition
Act, it is clearly laid down that it is an offence
“to promote feelings of ill-will and hostility
between races or classes of the population of
Singapore”. In 2005, three bloggers were convicted
under the Sedition Act for posting anti-Muslim
comments.
The principle is that communal harmony and peace
are paramount and enjoyment of human rights can be
qualified and restricted with a view to
maintaining communal amity Thus, The Satanic
Verses by Salman Rushdie was banned because the
book was considered scurrilous to Islam. The
government also banned Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Last
Temptation of Christ’ because Christian sentiments
were hurt by it. Such proactive monitoring of
freedom of religion and expression has earned
Singapore the reputation of an authoritarian
regime, but the government defends its policies by
arguing that the overall advantages from such
regulation of freedoms has been greater than the
disadvantages of selectively restricting some
freedoms.
Although secular laws regulate public life in
Singapore, religious law applies to the personal
affairs of members of the various communities.
With regard to Muslims, marriage, divorce and
inheritance are regulated by shariah injunctions.
However, neither polygamy nor child marriage is
permitted. In adopting such policy, the government
takes the position that that religious law should
not adversely affect the status and rights of any
section of a religious community.
On the whole, Singapore’s approach to prevent
radicalisation of society is to actively engage
with the religious communities, maintain close
link with their organisations and allow
unrestricted religious freedom to them, yet put
limits to such freedom when national interest is
adversely affected. In this connection, the
government overruled the wearing of headscarves by
minor Muslim girls in government schools,
asserting that all children must wear the same
uniform and learn to mix with each other. However,
at university level, Muslim girls are free to wear
the headscarf. The assumption is that as grownups
they have consciously chosen to wear the headgear
and, therefore, it is an expression of free choice
by a person who has already been groomed to
appreciate and internalise the Singaporean
approach to multiculturalism.
The question now is: how is such a model relevant
for a 96 percent Muslim-majority state such as
Pakistan? First of all, the 4 percent minorities
out of 170 million, means nearly seven million
non-Muslims. Moreover, the 96 percent Muslim
population comprises different sects and
sub-sects. Therefore, it is equally relevant that
the state should adopt such constitutional
provisions and public policy that ensure that all
religious and sectarian groups enjoy full
religious freedom, but none is privileged to
impose its dogma or beliefs on others. This is
only possible if Pakistan becomes a secular state.
I do not understand why its Muslim identity would
be compromised if the state becomes a neutral
protector of all communities. Given the
religiously motivated terrorism that is now
endemic in Pakistan, it is imperative that the
state remains neutral on the matter of belief of
its citizens.
As a concrete measure, I would propose that all
places of worship in Pakistan — Muslim and
non-Muslim — should be brought under direct state
control. The priests who work in them should
become state employees drawing a government
salary. Their function should be strictly to lead
prayers and nothing more. There should be a
complete prohibition on fatwas by the clerics.
Instead an official fatwa or among non-Muslims, if
there is any such practice, a corresponding
ethical edict should be presented to the
worshippers. In these official statements derived
from religious sources, emphasis should be on
promoting communal harmony and voluntary work to
serve people in need. I am sure the Quran, Bible,
Gita and other holy books have enough material to
support peace and harmony, and social service to
humanity.
State control of religion may sound authoritarian,
but Singapore is a brilliant example of freedom of
religion being sharply distinguished from abuse of
religion for preaching hatred of others and thus
undermining national solidarity and unity.
[The writer is a Professor Emeritus of Political
Science, Stockholm University. He is also Honorary
Senior Fellow of the Institute of South Asian
Studies, National University of Singapore. He can
be reached at billumian@gmail.com]
BACK
India's Sham Nuclear Liability Bill
BRITISH Petroleum (BP) is facing a bill
of up to $34 billion from the Gulf of Mexico oil
spill disaster. After US senators demanded, the
oil company deposited $20 billion (about Rs 92000
crores) into a ring-fenced account to meet
escalating compensation costs but the way Indian
legislators are agreeing to a Rs 1500 crore cap on
nuclear disaster from large nuclear power plants,
Rs 300 crore cap for institutions involved in
reprocessing fuel and Rs 100 crore cap for small
research reactors is unacceptable and condemnable.
Srikumar Banerjee, Chairman, Atomic Energy
Commission and ex-officio Secretary, Department of
Atomic Energy, one of the drafters of the Bill is
guilty of ignoring the consequences of possible
nuclear disaster because his text has privatized
profits and made liabilities public. Mamohan Singh
who is in-charge of Department of Atomic Energy
appears to be guilty of dereliction of duty as
well.
The Report of the Parliamentary Standing
Committee on Science & Technology, Environment &
Forests chaired by T Subbirami Reddy reveals their
culpability quite categorically. This report was
tabled in the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha on 18th
August, 2010. Report attached What else can
explain their indifference towards other concerned
ministries like health, agriculture, labour, water
resources etc. Aren’t they relevant? What can
explain the lack of consensus among the committee
members even in matters of national interest?
India’s Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill,
2010 is meant to pave the way for India to sign
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)’s
Convention on Supplementary Compensation (CSC) for
Nuclear Damage, 1997. The question that stares
citizens in the face is: whether or not the
proposed liability Bill and the pre-existing
IAEA’s compensation treaty in the supreme interest
of present and future generation of Indians? If
India decides to join the CSC, it will be an
exercise in surrendering its sovereignty to a
conflict of interest ridden regime like IAEA which
is both the promoter and regulator of nuclear
commerce. Like IAEA, Indian the Atomic Energy
Regulatory Board (AERB) is dependent on the
Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) whose mandate is
charged with promoting nuclear power in India.
The Parliamentary Committee enquired from Nirupama
Rao , the Foreign Secretary that “whether there
are other considerations apart from the legal
requirements that necessitated the Bill.” She
informed that “since the Government is operating
within the ambit of international agreements and
on the basis of certain principles the nation
should have provisions of the nuclear liability
Bill.”
This is further corroborated by two members of the
Parliamentary Standing Committee namely, Saman
Pathak and Barun Mukherji. Both have observed
categorically that the provisions of the Bill will
unduly favour the foreign suppliers of nuclear
equipment and it is being done to make the
provisions compatible with the Convention on
Supplementary Compensation (CSC). Like all Indians
both these members are not convinced with the
rationale of India joining the CSC because this
legislation on civil nuclear liability does not
“keep the interests of the Indian people, who may
be affected in a nuclear accident, as its core
concern'.
In its 25 page report on Civil Liability for
Nuclear Damage Bill, 2010, Parliamentary Standing
Committee on Science & Technology, Environment &
Forests observes, “When the Committee inquired
from the Secretaries of Ministries/Departments of
Government of India who appeared before the
Committee as to whether the draft nuclear
liability Bill was referred to them for their
views/comments, some of them viz. Ministries of
Health & Family Welfare, Agriculture, Labour &
Employment, Food & Public Distribution, etc.
replied in the negative. The Committee is of the
opinion that Government must have sought the
opinion of Ministries which are even distantly
related to any provision of the legislation. The
Committee, therefore, recommends that in future
Government should consult all such Ministries/
Departments which are even remotely concerned with
the provisions of a proposed legislation.”
It is noteworthy that the 25-member working group
on civil nuclear energy-2009 constituted by the
Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and
Industry (FICCI) under the chairmanship of Dr S K
Jain, chairman and managing director, Nuclear
Power Corporation of India Limited came out with a
57-page report with the format of the proposed
Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill. Dr Jain
was present during the testimony of the experts
and citizens to the Parliamentary Standing
Committee on Science & Technology, Environment &
Forests. The government of India has an ambitious
target "to increase our installed capacity more
than seven fold to 35,000 MWe by the year 2022,
and to 60,000 MWe by 2032." Established in
pre-independent India in 1927, FICCI is the
largest and oldest apex business organization of
the country. It claims to be a “non-government,
not-for-profit organisation”.
FICCI has direct
membership from the private as well as public
sectors, including SMEs and MNCs, and an indirect
membership of over 83,000 companies from regional
chambers of commerce. As part of its corporate
lobbying, “FICCI works closely with the government
on policy issues, enhancing efficiency,
competitiveness and expanding business
opportunities for industry through a range of
specialised services and global linkages. It also
provides a platform for sector specific consensus
building and networking.” In such conflict of
interest ridden circumstances, Dr Jain claimed
that the health hazards from Chernobyl nuclear
disaster is no more visible. Therefore, he implied
that the questions of intergenerational adverse
effects do not arise. Are his claims factual and
trustworthy?
Under the influence of FICCI and US nuclear
industry, Dr.T. Subbarami Reddy, Dr Mammohan Singh
and Dr Srikumar Banerjee have chosen not learn
from the mistakes of US firms who embarked on a
nuclear power strategy under the assumption that
the radioactive waste management problem was not
difficult and would be solved relatively quickly.
Subsequent events have proved otherwise because
radioactive waste management efforts are quite
different from industrial and municipal waste
management.
Observations of G K Pillai, Secretary, Ministry of
Home Affairs illustrate how Banerjee has not been
rigorous in the drafting of the Bill. While
commenting on the conditions in which the operator
of a nuclear power plant, who could be made liable
for nuclear damage, Pillai stated that the Bill
contains such terms as armed conflict,
hostilities, civil war, insurrection or an act of
terrorism that have wide meanings but have not
been defined in the present Bill. Therefore there
is a need for inserting meanings of these terms
from other laws, in Section 2 of this Bill. Such
vagueness in connotations can make the operators
negligent in observing security procedures and can
create situations of disputes between the operator
and the central government.
It is frightening to know that any nuclear
incident may induce radioactive contaminations in
surface, ground water bodies, and other water
resources. U N Panjiar, the Secretary, Water
resources was of the opinion that the Ministry
does not have any facility for testing water
quality, from point of view of nuclear
contamination because this work has been done by
the Department of Atomic Energy. The efficiency of
Department of Atomic Energy gets routinely
revealed in issues ranging from radioactive steel,
ship breaking industry, Mayapuri scrap market,
Kaiga incident etc. Didn’t AERB reveal its
incompetence when it declared Mayapuri scrap
market radiation free when it was proven later
that the radiation still existed in the area?
Didn’t it do the same after inspecting the
obsolete ship Blue Lady?
While Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy
responded by saying that Ministry of Water
Resources has not been involved in checking and
monitoring the quality of water because this job
is done by the Environmental Survey Laboratories
of the Department of Atomic Energy, the fact
remains the Bill should have been sent to the
Water Resources Ministry as well because
Department of Atomic Energy deals with point
source of radioactive pollution and not with
non-point source of pollution. It is saddening
that Ministry of Water Resources conceded that
since expertise is available in DAE alone, the
Ministry need not be consulted. Panjiar rightly
stressed upon the need to study the impact of
nuclear contaminated water on human beings,
animals, plants and crops. The Bill does not make
any provision for such efforts. In such a context
it is germane to recollect that more than 51 years
ago, on 28 May 1959, the World Health Organisation
(WHO)'s assembly voted into force an agreement
with the IAEA, a UN agency that prevented the WHO
from investigating, warning and revealing the
dangers of nuclear radiation on health. The
agreement is attached.
Coincidentally, K Sujata Rao, Secretary, Ministry
of Health and Family Welfare while deposing before
the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science &
Technology, Environment & Forests mentioned that
“while drafting the Bill the Dept. of Atomic
Energy did not consult them. Since the response
system to deal with any kind of emergency of such
type, the hospitals are not well-equipped, it is
natural that mortality and morbidity due to
multiple burn, blasts, radiation injuries and
psycho-social impact could be on very high scale
and medical tackling of such a large emergency
could have enough repercussions in the nearby
areas of radioactive fallout. She also mentioned
that in the entire Bill, there is not a single
clause which speaks about taking health care
during radiological emergencies. It reflects only
about payment of compensation due to health
impacts of such radiation.
She suggested while
setting up nuclear plants consideration may also
be given to the fact that there should be hospital
having trained doctors near such establishments
and arrangements should also be made for free
treatment of people who are affected by serious
nuclear fallout.” She confessed that her Ministry
is nowhere to meet an eventuality that may arise
out of nuclear and radiological emergencies.
Present and future generation of India would slaute Sujatha Rao for her exemplary conduct to
safeguard her compatriots.
Clearly, objectives of Health Ministry and
Department of Atomic Energy are at loggerheads in
the same way as objectives of WHO and IAEA are.
The former is dedicated to promoting health and
the latter exists to promote nuclear commerce.
Under the agreement between WHO and IAEA, the two
agencies must "keep each other fully informed
concerning all projected activities and all
programs of work which may be of interest to both
parties". Notably, probe into the health impacts
of the Chernobyl nuclear accident in Ukraine on 26
April 1986 was taken over by IAEA and dissenting
voices were suppressed. The health effects of the
nuclear accident were the subject of two major
conferences, in Geneva in 1995, and in Kiev,
Ukrain in 2001. The full proceedings of those
conferences remain unpublished. The programme and
conclusions of the Kiev Conference is attached.
The Kiev conference was organised by WHO
Association of "Physicians of Chernobyl" in
co-operation with UN agencies. There is no
evidence to suggest that our Department of Atomic
Energy or the Parliamentary Standing Committee had
accessed the documents of these conferences and
drew lessons from it.
IAEA’s International Conference on Chernobyl -
Looking Back to Go Forwards Towards a United
Nations Consensus on the Effects of the Accident
and the Future, Vienna, September, 2005 was a
public relations exercise by the nuclear industry
that promoted such risk models for nuclear
radiation that understated the true hazards. Chris
Busby, the scientific secretary of European
Committee on Radiation Risk (ECRR) and visiting
professor at the University of Ulster's school of
biomedical sciences observes, "The subordination
of the WHO to IAEA is a key part of the systematic
falsification of nuclear risk which has been under
way ever since Hiroshima, the agreement creates an
unacceptable conflict of interest in which the UN
organisation concerned with promoting our health
has been made subservient to those whose main
interest is the expansion of nuclear power.
Dissolving the WHO-IAEA agreement is a necessary
first step to restoring the WHO's independence to
research the true health impacts of ionising
radiation and publish its findings."
Disregarding lessons from 26 years of Bhopal
disaster, even in the 24th anniversary year of the
Chernobyl disaster the WHO-IAEA Agreement is yet
to be abandoned. ECRR has called for its
abandonment. India too should call for freeing WHO
from hiding facts about health effect from nuclear
hazards due to the agreement.
Amidst public relations blitzkrieg of nuclear
companies, it is not surprising that Banerjee,
Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy expressed
his touching faith in the nuclear power companies
of all ilk and informed the Parliamentary
Committee that the “Reactor at Chernobyl did not
have a containment, while old reactors in India
have containments and, therefore, Chernobyl type
incident can never take place in India.” Is it
because of such divine belief in the nuclear
technology that he was starkly negligent in
choosing not to consult revenant ministries while
drafting the Bill? Is it for this very reason that
doctrine of “absolute liability” for the operator,
supplier, builder and owner has been subverted?
Business enterprises are “strictly and absolutely
liable to compensate all those who are affected by
the accident and such liability is not subject to
any of the exceptions which operate vis-à-vis the
tortuous principle of strict liability,” as per
Supreme Court’s order. The liability of the
operator should be made “absolute” to ensure that
there are no exceptions.
The Bill ignores the fact that Union Carbide
Corporation was also in the business of nuclear
power and its current owner The Dow Chemicals
Company (since February 6, 2001) too offers a
range of nuclear grade resins that are designed
and manufactured to meet the requirements of the
nuclear power industry. As part of its ‘policy
perspectives’ for ‘Accelerate Development of
Alternatives and Renewable Energy’, Dow calls for
“An increased reliance on safe nuclear power and
technologies for effectively managing nuclear
waste”. Radioactive waste is not a single "thing"
that can be isolated and dealt with.
Reddy, Singh and Banerjee should have recommended
more openness, increased public access to
information so that no agency hides problems to be
solved by the future generations. Current draft of
the Bill is leaving the nuclear waste problems for
future generations.
This is illustrated by what Alka Sirohi,
Secretary, Department of Food & Public
Distribution informed the Parliamentary Standing
Committee , while explaining the functioning of
her Ministry, she emphasized the ill-effects of
nuclear radiation on food items and its subsequent
repercussions on human health and safeguards to be
taken to prevent nuclear contamination of food
during radiological accidents. She further
mentioned although radiological damage to food
items may fall within the generic definition of
the property as mentioned in Clause 2f (ii) of the
Bill, it would be better if the said Clause could
provide a separate definition food grains along
with of storage of foodgrains.
Additionally she
also mentioned that safety norms, distance,
location and operating procedure, which should be
defined in the Bill during the construction of the
warehouses for foodgrains storage to be followed,
near a nuclear facility. She also mentioned about
the establishment of laboratories for the standard
testing of food articles to ascertain radiation
levels. Sirohi merits appreciation for her
considered submission before the Parliamentary
Standing Committee.
The Bill remains silent on the grave issues raised
by Prabeer Kumar Basu, Secretary, Agriculture who
mentioned before the Committee that the disaster
management structure in the country is oriented in
such a manner that emergencies arising out of
floods, earthquakes and droughts could be managed
in an efficient manner. However, on the other
hand, unfortunately the disaster management
structure in the country, as per his opinion, is
not well tailored in meeting radiological fall out
and more unfortunate to mention that even educated
section of the people is not well aware about the
implications of a serious nuclear disaster. He
therefore, felt that more public awareness needs
to be built in respect of nuclear disaster and its
hair-raising impact on biological population.
He
further pointed out that as a consequence of a
nuclear disaster of the Chernobyl type, it is
quite possible that agricultural crops around 30
to 100 kms. from the site of the incident could be
wiped out total. This may affect seriously the
biodiversity of the crops in the radiation area
and the farmer may loose their traditional variety
of crops. In this connection he mentioned that the
National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources and
Gene Bank in the country who are keeping a sample
of each variety of crops can preserve these
varieties which could be planted for further
production if a variety of crops is entirely lost
due to radiological emergency. He however,
mentioned that there should be suitable rules,
regulations and guidelines and compensation model
for agricultural damage that could be inserted at
an appropriate place in the legislation which may
work after a radiological eventuality takes place.
Further revealing the criminal negligence of the
drafters of the Bill, Prabhat C Chatirvedi,
Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment while
referring to Clause 5 (1)(i) which provides for
non-liability of operator for any nuclear damage
arising out of a grave natural disaster of an
exceptional character pointed out that grave
natural disaster should not include earthquakes or
floods. He advised the Committee that if nuclear
plant is placed in a seismic zone, it should be
properly designed to withstand earthquake of
severe character. The word natural disaster is too
general. He further mentioned that concept of
absolute liability of the operator in case of a
nuclear damage whether it is on worker or someone
else should be invoked in the Bill. The Secretary,
while referring to Clause 39 (1) of the Bill, drew
the attention of the Committee that no specific
monetary quantum has been mentioned in regard to
the fine to be imposed under the chapter on
offenses and penalties. He therefore, suggested
that specific quantum of fine in monetary terms
should be defined in the Bill. Chaturvedi merits
plaudits for his considered submission before the
committee.
In compliance of the suggestion of Chairperson,
Parliamentary Standing Committee Science &
Technology, Environment & Forests during my
testimony on 3rd August, 2010 and pursuant to my
written submission dated 7th July, 2010,
Toxicswatch Alliance (TWA) had specifically drawn
the attention of the Parliamentary Standing
Committee with regard to the narrow definition of
the word “installation” and conflict of interest
ridden existence of Atomic Energy Regulatory Board
(AERB). In a letter to the Parliamentary Standing
Committee dated August 12, 2010, TWA has
highlighted the backdrop of the deliberations on
Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill. Meera
Shankar, Indian Ambassador to the US, and William
Burns , the Under Secretary of State for Political
Affairs of the United States signed the Agreement
on Arrangements and Procedures for Reprocessing on
July 30, 2010 in pursuance to Article 6(iii) of
the Agreement for Cooperation concerning Peaceful
Uses of Nuclear Energy between India and the US.
TWA has questioned the merit of centralised power
stations like nuclear given 35-40 percent
transmission and distribution loss from power
grids.
R.Gopalan, Secretary, Financial Services submitted
before the Parliamentary Committee that “any
increase in premium of insurance will lead to
increase in the cost of production of electricity
for nuclear power. It is argued that higher the
liability limit higher will be the insurance
premium and subsequently higher will be the cost
of electricity production.” Unmindful of such
concerns its business as usual for the US nuclear
companies and FICCI. A press release from the
Indian Embassy in Washington, DC noted, "The
historic bilateral cooperation agreement for
peaceful uses of nuclear energy, the 123 Agreement
that we signed two years back provided for
reprocessing of US obligated nuclear material in
an Indian national facility under IAEA
safeguards."
It observes, "The government of India has already
designated two sites for nuclear power plants to
be established in cooperation with the US and the
companies of the two countries are now engaged in
discussions" as a follow up of the last month's
Strategic Dialogue and the meeting of the CEO's
Forum prior to the visit of President Barack Obama
to India in November 2010.
Reddy, Dr Singh and Banerjee have failed to
discourage nuclear power companies to locate
"sinks" like deep waters of ocean, sea, rivers,
air and landfills etc in which it could dump,
flush, or vent radioactive waste products. They
have skirted the issue of India’s radioactive
waste management and it should desist from NIMBY-ism.
NIMBY stands for "Not In My Back Yard". The US
state of Nevada is fighting a classic NIMBY battle
against the Yucca Mountain facility. In India too
communities should be empowered and not harassed
for asserting their right to safe environment and
the rights of future generations. It was once
argued that reprocessing spent nuclear fuel was
another important waste management strategy
although the act of reprocessing still generated
volatile waste products which exacerbated the
waste management problem even as it reduced the
overall volume of radioactive waste material but
it only made radioactive waste problem a long-term
disposal option. Notably, US itself has stopped
reprocessing nuclear fuel during the late 1970s by
order of President Jimmy Carter.
Reddy, Singh and Banerjee do not realize that the
difficulties with radioactive waste cannot be
dealt with by imposing a legislative fix on a
problem that has not been clearly defined or fully
understood. Such legislative fixes are hardly a
solution as became evident from US Nuclear Waste
Repository Act of 1982 and a 1987 Congressional
amendment to the Act which mandated consideration
of only one location, Nevada's Yucca Mountain as a
permanent repository leading to major litigation
as well as significant opposition from people in
the US state of Nevada. Nuclear power cannot and
should not expand in India as is the case with the
US until the problem of where to dispose of
radioactive waste is solved.
P Umashankar, Secretary, Ministry of Power
apprised the Committee about the Clause 3 of the
Bill, wherein the notification regarding the
occurrence of a nuclear incident is to be issued
within 15 days by the AERB. According to him, “the
nuclear power station incharge/ director will
immediately declare nuclear emergency, and
forthwith the disaster management plan will start,
without waiting for the publication of the
notification and the 15 days time-period also
needs to be reduced. “ This is quite sensible but
it appears that Department of Atomic Energy did
not consult even the Power Ministry.
Testimony after testimony before the Committee had
asked for deletion of the word terrorism from the
Bill but the same is not reflected in the
Committee’ s report despite the fact that Pradeep
Kumar, the Defence Secretary, who also appeared
before the Committee categorically stated, “under
different layers of protection, nuclear assets
including nuclear installations are being
protected through Defence. However he admitted
that absolute and fool proof protection cannot be
guaranteed for any nuclear or other assets in the
country during peace or war.” Exceptions for acts
of terrorism can easily be used by the supplier
and the operator to wash their hands off any
nuclear disaster.
In view of the above observations, there is a very
urgent need for a Joint Parliamentary Committee
(sans conflict of interest) to probe and examine
the current liability regime in general and
nuclear liability regime in particular in the
developed countries besides a High Powered
Trans-disciplinary Independent Experts Committee
to study the status of adverse enviro-occupational
hazards world over. Human cost of industrial
disasters have created a compelling logic to do
away with the idea of limited liability to
companies, the proposed Companies Bill should make
a beginning in order to make these
legal-artificial persons accountable to our
legislature.
[For Details: Gopal Krishna, ToxicsWatch Alliance,
Email-krishna2777@gmail.com, Mb: 9818089660, Blog:
toxicswatch.blogspot.com, Web: www.toxicswatch.com
Countercurrents.org]
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