19 August,2010

How much is an Indian life worth?
Today, the Union Cabinet will decide whether an Indian life is worth 5 per cent of an American life, 15 per cent of an American life, or somewhere in between. This is one of the crucial issues it will have to consider as it examines the amendments suggested by the Standing Committee on Science and Technology to the draft Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill, 2010.
After the Cabinet examines the amendments and finalises the draft Bill, it will be put to the vote during the current session of Parliament, which ends on 27 August, but may be extended till 31 August. The passing of the Bill into law by Parliament will pave the way to operationalise the India-US civil nuclear deal.
The Bill – which limits the liability of compensation payable by private nuclear power companies, especially those from the United States, in the event of an industrial accident – has thrown up a huge controversy, especially after the shameful verdict on the Bhopal gas disaster of 1984. But it is critically important for private companies whose liabilities are not underwritten by their governments. Compensation claims from a single nuclear accident could effectively bankrupt them, so they are reluctant to enter the Indian market, despite its obvious attractions, until compensation is limited, so that they can get insurance.
The original draft Bill fixed the maximum compensation liability of the operator at Rs500 crore (about $110 million), around 23 times less than that of an operator in the United States. It also did not hold private suppliers liable, raising Bhopal-like fears on whether the government was allowing them to get off easily if there was an accident. When the Left parties raised a huge din about this, the Bill was referred to the parliamentary committee.
The committee has now recommended that the liability cap for the operator be tripled to Rs1,500 crore (about $320 million). It has also suggested extending the liability to cover private suppliers and contractors. While the latter is obviously welcome, all that the wise men in Parliament have done is set a somewhat higher price on an Indian life.
India’s nuclear power market is estimated to be worth up to a staggering $150 billion (Rs705,000 crore) over the next few decades. The main beneficiaries of this bonanza are likely to be US firms like the General Electric Corporation (GE) and Westinghouse Electric, now a subsidiary of Japan’s Toshiba. So far, India’s nuclear power sector has been cornered by Russian and French firms, which have the advantage that their governments underwrite any liabilities.
These US firms may now have to pay more in terms of insurance premiums, but a clear compensation cap will speed up projects. Once the Bill is passed by both houses of Parliament, receives the President’s assent and is notified, US firms can start work in India. At least two sites for building reactors have already been identified for them, in a deal that could earn GE and Westinghouse up to $10 billion (Rs47,000 crore).
However, the question of how much an Indian’s life is worth is still up in the air, for the amounts are gross figures, computed per accident, rather than per life. Since nuclear reactors are pretty much the same everywhere, the greatly higher population density in India, as compared to the US, will further depress the worth of an Indian’s life. Is this what our elected representatives think our lives are worth?
In case you feel this doesn’t concern you, think again. Sitting on Goa’s border in the forests of Dandeli is the Kaiga Atomic Power Station. If, God forbid, it has an accident, the radiation fallout will make three-fourths of Goa uninhabitable for decades, and take thousands of lives.