21 December, 2009

To
Dr. Manmohan Singh
Hon’ble Prime Minister,
Government of India,
South Block, New Delhi.

Sub: Appeal against the Proposed Civil Nuclear Liability [Cap] Bill

Respected Sir,

We, the undersigned, on behalf of the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP), note
with some satisfaction that, despite motivated media leaks and rumours doing regular rounds, the
proposed Bill has not been placed before the Parliament in the just over Winter Session.

In this context, in continuation with our earlier appeal handed over to your goodself on December
15 last, we would like to further request you that no attempts ought to be made to bring the pro-
posed Bill into force via the Ordinance route as the Parliament now stands prorogued till the forth-
coming Budget Session. That would be a travesty of democratic principles. So we again urge that
your government must not proceed with the Bill without larger and open consultations with the
Indian people, all the stakeholders.

A copy of our last appeal is annexed herewith for your kind reference in this regard.

Hope you would give due consideration to our appeal and confirm acceptance.

Yours sincerely,

Praful Bidwai
Achin Vanaik
J Sri Raman
N D Jayaprakash
Sukla Sen
Anil Chaudhary

Cc:
Smt. Sonia Gandhi
Chairperson,
United Progressive Alliance,
28 Akbar Road, New Delhi

——————————————————————————————————————————————
Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament & Peace (CNDP)
A-124/6, First Floor, Katwaria Sarai, New Delhi - 110016, Ph: 011-65663958, Telefax: 011-26517814
E-mail: cndpindia@gmail.com, tenthanniversary@cndpindia.org Website: www.cndpindia.org
 Annexure
15 December, 2009
To
Dr. Manmohan Singh
Hon’ble Prime Minister,
Government of India,
South Block, New Delhi.
Sub: Appeal against the Proposed Civil Nuclear Liability [Cap] Bill

Respected Sir,
We, the undersigned, on behalf of the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP), hereby express
our grave concern that though media reports as regards the above Bill are regularly making rounds for quite
a while, there is as yet no official word on it despite its profound likely implications.
We would, in this context like to put on record, our strong apprehensions that the proposed Bill is meant to
open the Indian nuclear market for the US companies at the cost of the potential Indian victims of an
accident, which by definition can neither be predicted nor completely avoided, and common Indian taxpayers.
We would also like to record our strong objections to any move to bring in private players as “operators” in
the arena of nuclear industry, as this would further escalate the probabilities of catastrophic accidents
(something like Chernobyl on April 26 1986) and surely raise the levels of routine hazards as private
operators would be essentially propelled by profit making motive constantly inducing them to cut corners
as regards “safety”. A regulatory mechanism would at best mitigate but can by no means eliminate that
innate tendency. And, considering the uniqueness of nuclear industry in terms of its devastation potentials,
this is a road that we must not travel.
We do, hence, strongly urge that the draft Bill after tabling before the Parliament ought to be referred to the
appropriate Standing Committee and the Standing Committee must initiate the process of larger public
consultations, as in case of the Communal Violence Bill 2005 for example, involving all stakeholders.
Under no circumstances it be hurriedly passed as in case of the SEZ Act 2005 or the UAPA Act 2008. That
would be against the very grain of Indian democracy given the deep and widespread concerns as regards the
said Bill.
Hope you would give due consideration to our appeal.
Yours sincerely,

Praful Bidwai
Achin Vanaik
J Sri Raman
N D Jayaprakash
Sukla Sen
Anil Chaudhary

Cc:
Smt. Sonia Gandhi
Chairperson,
United Progressive Alliance,
28 Akbar Road, New Delhi
——————————————————————————————————————————————
Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament & Peace (CNDP)
A-124/6, First Floor, Katwaria Sarai, New Delhi - 110016, Ph: 011-65663958, Telefax: 011-26517814
E-mail: cndpindia@gmail.com, tenthanniversary@cndpindia.org Website: www.cndpindia.org