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The government is going all out to get the Civil Nuclear Liability Bill passed in Parliament, even if it means making changes to the Bill.
Leader of the Lok Sabha Pranab Mukherjee met Left leaders on Thursday and also had a long session with the Bharatiya Janata Party top brass a few days ago to personally listen to their objections.
In a bid to be accommodative on the Bill, the government has agreed to meet the opposing leaders half way and has arranged a meeting of the standing committee on science and technology on August 17. The government is expected to bring in a redrafted bill to satisfy the opposition leaders at this meeting.
A senior BJP leader said the government might go all out to pass the Bill, even though it is difficult without the BJP and the Left's support in the Rajya Sabha.
The government has hinted that if necessary it would convene a joint sitting of both the Houses of Parliament, as it did on the issue of Prevention of Terrorism Act when it did not have the required numbers to pass the Bill in the Rajya Sabha.
The government's decision to extend Parliament by a week, sources say, is also a linked to the urgent need to pass the Nuclear Bill -- which sources say is the topmost priority of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, who is under pressure from the US to make the bill into law at the earliest.
The government's eagerness on the bill can be gauged from the fact that Mukherjee will visit Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee at her Kolkata residence on Saturday to enquire about her health after her convoy met with an accident last week.
Sources say the government needs the support of Mamata's 20 MPs in the Lok Sabha for the key bill. Mukherjee also wants that Mamata, being an Union minister, must give an explanation on the allegations of her supporting Maoists and the Lalgarh rally comments.
He has denied writing to Mamata, but sources say he would meet her personally to discuss all issues including the Bill.
In case of the BJP, the party is in a dilemma as the Bill was originally drafted during the Vajpayee government and it does not want to be seen as anti-US unlike the Left parties, who make no bones about their anti-US policies.
The BJP has, therefore, limited its objections to certain provisions in the Bill, claiming that they are fighting to ensure it is India-specific and are pressing the fact that 13 countries in the world have a national legislation but have not joined any international convention -- this group includes Japan, China and Canada.
The BJP is also demanding that there should not be any capping on the operator liability and that there is no need to oblige operators.
There are apprehensions that despite the stiff denials, the government might bring in private players in the nuclear power market.
Proposed changes in the Bill
The government is working on the proposed changes in the bill that would enable global firms to access India's $150 billion nuclear power market.
Efforts are on to amend provisions to incorporate stiffer compensation in case of industrial accidents and extending liability to cover private suppliers.
The changes in the Bill, if approved, would mean higher costs for firms such as US-based General Electric Co and Westinghouse Electric Co, a subsidiary of Japan's Toshiba Corp, which would have to pay higher insurance premiums.
US companies lag behind Russian and French firms, whose governments underwrite their liability, in doing business in India -- the Russians and French are already working to set up nuclear reactors in India.
The revised draft is an instance of policy climb-down by the United Progressive Alliance government in face of political pressure.
Government officials now say the revised bill could now set the compensation liability of an operator up to $400 million, with an additional provision for the government to alter this amount.
The new draft will also make private firms responsible if a fault is found with their equipment or services.
The original draft had suggested capping the liability at about $110 million on state-run reactor operators and no compensation burden on private suppliers and contractors.
The state compensation was capped at up to $300 million with special drawing rights.
However, opposition leaders have pointed out that the liability of a US operator under US legislation is $12.5 billion. There are signs that the opposition parties have forced the government to do a rethink.
The report by a parliamentary panel on the Bill will be submitted on Tuesday.
The government had introduced the bill in Parliament earlier this year but opposition protests forced it to be referred to a parliamentary panel for scrutiny.
"The idea was to cover all the possible areas of conflict and disagreement and any escape hatches in the event of an accident," a member of the panel said off the record.