BHOPAL WAS NOT ENOUGH IT SEEMS
The central government wants to pass a bill to make the people pay for nuclear damages caused by private companies. Come! Let’s tell the Parliament that in India, Polluters Pay!

Announcing a PUBLIC CONSULTATION on the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill 2010
Venue: Press Club, Basheerbagh, Hyderabad
Day and Date: Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Time: 10.30 am
Some of the eminent people attending the consultation are:

K G Kannabiran, human rights lawyer and President of People’s Union for Civil Liberties.
Dr A Gopalakrishnan, former Chairman, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board.
Dr Surendra Gadekar, former faculty of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and famed for his anti-nuclear work. He is with the Gandhian Institute Sampoorna Kranti Vidyalaya, Surat.
Dr Satyalakshmi, researcher at Central University Hyderabad. She is working on cumulative radiation related issues.
The conclusions made at the consultation will be formally submitted to the Standing Committee. These consultations are also taking place in Mumbai.

For further information please contact:

Shachi Chaturvedi, Senior Media Officer, Greenpeace India
098187 50007, shachi.chaturvedi@greenpeace.org
Saraswati Kavula, National Alliance for People’s Movement – Andhra Pradesh,
9849718364, s_kavula@yahoo.com
Karuna Raina, Nuclear and Energy Campaigner, Greenpeace India
09731399685, karuna.raina@greenpeace.org

CIVIL LIABILITY FOR NUCLEAR DAMAGE BILL, 2010
Peoples / Public Consultation
3:00 PM to 8:00 PM, Wednesday, 7th July, 2010
Convocation Hall, University of Mumbai,
Fort, Mumbai- 400001.

The Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage bill 2010, already tabled before Parliament, now referred to the Standing Committee, will have a profound impact on the democratic and constitutional rights of the people and environment of our country. The bill proposes to cap the amount of compensation in case of a nuclear accident at $ 450 million, which incidentally is below the meagre amount of $ 470 million that was set aside in the aftermath of the Bhopal gas tragedy.

While India plans to increase its installed capacity of nuclear power from 60,000 to 80,000 MW by the year 2030, it will meet only about 5 % of the country’s projected energy needs. Yet nuclear power generation will receive subsidies to the tune of $100 billion from the government. The minimum estimates by the industry on the profits to be made stand at $175 billion. This skewered economics is indicative of the strong industrial lobby that is pushing the nuclear liability bill through Parliament.

The dreams of such quantum leaps in nuclear power capacity are associated with a greatly increased risk of nuclear accidents from cost-cutting and profit maximization by private operators. Dangerous falsehoods seem to be gaining ground that nuclear power is cheap, clean, climate-friendly and a safe energy option.

The ‘community’ in the case of the nuclear industry will be exceptionally large because of the widespread, long-term and generational impact of radioactive contamination of air, soil and water. The nuclear liability bill ensures that the clean up costs and the health burden of a nuclear leak or accident, even if we were to simplistically assume that these can ever be properly calculated, would have to be borne by the government. Essentially, therefore, the bill seeks to shift the financial burden to the taxpayer, i.e., from the perpetrators of the crime to the victim.

The nuclear liability bill undermines the very basis of Indian democracy. It violates the ‘Polluter Pays’ principle and the ‘Precautionary Principle’ and violates in words of the former Attorney General of India, Soli Sorabjee, ‘the Right to Life as enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution of India’. The bill also goes against significant Supreme Court judgments which have ruled that hazardous and dangerous industries owe an ‘absolute and non-delegable’ duty to the community to ensure safety.

The tactics adopted in and out of Parliament confirm fears that the Government of India, intends to torpedo this legislation with minimal public debate. The single voice that dominates is that of the nuclear lobby, impatient to have the bill, the only remaining hurdle in the path of opening up India’s multi-billion nuclear market, passed. The voice of the people of India, whose health, well-being and civil rights will be directly compromised should the bill go through, is being silenced.

The bill has now been referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology for recommendation before it is presented in the monsoon session of the Parliament. Concerned citizens and legal experts in India do not believe that this bill should go through without considering public and expert opinion, as it is prima facie unconstitutional. After several attempts to convince the Standing Committee, it has finally asked people to send in their opinions and views or depose before the committee in Delhi before the 15th of July. The time offered is clearly too limited for a large democracy like ours, making it difficult for real impacted people to go to Delhi, instead of the committee coming to their respective cities and keeping them out of the preview completely as the advertisement was only placed in English dailies.

In this limited time, Human Rights Law Network, Greenpeace and Department of Law, University of Mumbai invite you to participate in a Public Consultation of Democratic Rights Organizations, women’s organisations, students, lawyers, environmental groups, academic institutions, professionals, impacted individuals and other sections of society to collectively understand and discuss the issues of the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill, 2010 scheduled at the Convocation Hall, University of Mumbai on the 7th of July 2010 from 3.PM onwards.

For further inquiries please get in touch with HRLN – Gayatri Singh (9820091871) and Kranti L.C
(9757232347) and Greenpeace – Deven (9731399685).

Human Rights Law Network
409, 4th Flr, Prospect Chamber,
D. N, Road, Fort,Mumbai – 01
Ph:22024467/68
Fax : 22024469
Email Id – kranti@hrln.org

Greenpeace India
15/A, 3rd Flr, Laxmi Bhavan,
3rd Lane, Khar Sabway road, Santacruz (east)
Ph : Karuna Raina – 09731399685
karuna.raina@greenpeace.org
Department of Law,
University of Mumbai,
Fort, Mumbai – 400 001