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Pressure groups on civil nuclear liability bill nullified  Story

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Topics »lobbying|civil nuclear liability bill|business clubs 

NEW DELHI: The business clubs that don the role of saviours of the government and display their

lobbying prowess during the time of crises found themselves reduced to a powerless crowd for once.

With the government striking a deal with the main Opposition party to pass the nuclear liability bill,

they did not get an opportunity to become the vanguard of the ruling regime.

The business club leaders, who invade TV news pit to support policy initiatives of the Centre — to be

fair to them, they never differentiate between parties and their loyalties are firmly with the party in

power — have been quite vocal in their support of the government’s original stand to shield the

nuclear supplier. They had been purveying the exaggerated view of foreign governments that thedeletion of the controversial clause will make India an unattractive destination for those in the nuclear

trade.

Their arguments were familiar. During the WTO negotiations and the discussion on the Patents Act,

these business leaders had claimed that Section 3(d) in the Patents law that prevents evergreeing of

patents would drive the foreign investor away. In the ultimate analysis, sectors like pharma only grew

substantially in the country. Incidentally, many developing countries have now adopted India’s 3(d)

model.

The business clubs had unleashed their entire might during the run up to the discussion on the

nuclear liability bill in Parliament. They went to the extent of claiming that the civil liability bill was“neither implementable nor justified”. In letters to political leaders, they had argued that any claim on

suppliers and service providers beyond the terms of supply would make impossible their participation

in future.

If the denoument of the nuclear liability negotiations is anything to go by, the government itself does

not consider the deletion of the clause as something that would inhibit the foreign investor from

entering the nuclear sector. The protracted negotiations with the Opposition appears to be the

government’s way of telling western countries that difficult clauses cannot be rammed through in a

democracy.

The latest development is a setback of sorts for the business clubs as they have been enjoying amajor say in policy issues. Their leaders were the chief spokesman for the government during the

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negotiations with the Opposition on the Indo-US nuclear deal. Their intervention even caused a minor

rift in BJP when they succeeded in getting one section back their aggressive pro-nuclear deal stand.