Lok Sabha passes nuclear bill after government drops contentious clause

Ending months of wrangling between treasury benches and the opposition,  the Lok Sabha today passed the civil nuclear liability bill after government dropped the contentious provision of "intent" in the case of accident adopting a BJP amendment, paving the way for nuclear commerce with the world.

The Civil Liability for the Nuclear Damages Bill, 2010 was adopted by the House by a voice vote after it rejected a CPI(M) amendment that sought to fix the liability cap on suppliers in case of accidents at Rs10,000 crore instead of the Rs1,500 crore proposed in the measure.

The House nod came not before prime minister Manmohan Singh made a spirited intervention in the four-hour long debate rejecting allegations that the bill was brought to advance the interests of the United States and its corporations.

He described the measure as a completion of journey to end apartheid against India in the field of atomic power.

The CPI(M) amendment was negatived in a division pressed by its parliamentary party leader Basudeb Acharia with 252 voting against and 25 voting  for it.

A total of 18 official amendments were adopted by the House including the one the rephrased clause 17(b) which read "the nuclear incident has resulted  as a consequence of an act of supplier or his employee, which includes supply of equipment of material with patent or latent defects or sub-standard services."

The BJP's support, which was articulated by senior member Jaswant Singh, came after the official amendment reflected the formulation of the amendment proposed by him.