After facing criticism at home for purportedly diluting provisions in the Nuclear Liability Act, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday took a finely-tuned balanced approach when meeting US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the Asean and East Asia summits.
“I explained to him that we have a law in place and rules have been formulated,” Singh said after holding talks with Obama, which were their first after the US president visited India last November.
“Therefore, we have gone some way to respond to concerns of American companies and within the four corners of the law of the land, we are willing to address any specific grievances” he added, indicating that, while Indian laws would take primacy, the government may take an accommodative stance to ensure that apprehensions of foreign nuclear suppliers are dealt with.
It emerged yesterday that the Department of Atomic Energy has notified rules to the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010, specifying that the provision for an operator’s right to recourse would be for the duration of the initial licence issued, which is typically for five years, or the product liability period agreed with the supplier, whichever is longer.
These rules are likely to go down favourably with international suppliers of nuclear equipment, who have in the past expressed reservations about the broad scope of the initial liability framework, and have cited it as a reason for being hesitant to enter the Indian market.
After the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan earlier this year, there have been renewed concerns about the safety of the technology available and the liability provisions pertaining to nuclear equipment suppliers and operators have come under the spotlight.
However, India seemingly is unwilling to review the right of ordinary citizens to file tort claims for damages due to a nuclear accident, another measure that the US has been uncomfortable with.
Although the India-US nuclear agreement has been in place for some time now, the liability issue has constrained its full implementation.
‘NO IRRITANTS’
Meanwhile, reviewing bilateral ties between the two countries, Singh remarked that there were now “no irritants whatsoever in our working together”, while Obama said that the “world’s two largest democracies” had continued to strengthen commercial, security and strategic relations since his visit to India last year.
At their meeting, which took place before the crucial East Asia Summit tomorrow that the US is joining for the first time, the leaders maintained that the 18-member forum “should respect the centrality of Asean and it should be Asean-led,” the Ministry of External Affairs’ Secretary (East) Sanjay Singh said.
On the economic front, the Prime Minister referred to the US-India CEO Forum, which comprises 10 CEO from both countries, as “being very useful” and hoped for more US investment into India’s capital-hungry infrastructure sector.
“Both of them have been at Cannes for the G20 (meetings) and they exchanged views on the present state of the global economy, the developments in the euro zone and the need for concerted global action to deal with the challenges that arise,” added Singh.
