Nuclear Bill ‘bulldozed’ in Parliament to help Modi restore ‘SHANTI’ with ‘once good friend’: Congress

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Saturday alleged that the SHANTI Bill was “bulldozed” in Parliament only to help Prime Minister Narendra Modi restore SHANTI with his “once good friend”.Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the SHANTI Bill does away with key provisions of the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, a concern raised in the United States’ National Defence Authorisation Act for 2026.Stating that US President Donald Trump has just signed the National Defence Authorisation Act for the US fiscal year 2026, Ramesh said in a post on X, “The Act is 3,100 pages long. Page 1,912 has a reference to the joint assessment between the United States and India on Nuclear Liability Rules.””Now we know for sure why the Prime Minister bulldozed the SHANTI Bill through Parliament earlier this week that, among other things, did away with key provisions of the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010, that had been passed unanimously by Parliament. It was to restore SHANTI with his once good friend,” the Congress leader said, attaching a copy of the US Act in his post.”The SHANTI Act may well be called the TRUMP Act – The Reactor Use and Management Promise Act,” Ramesh claimed.The US Act on page 1,912 has a section under the heading ‘Joint assessment between the United States and India on Nuclear liability rules’.It says: The Secretary of State, in consultation with the heads of other relevant Federal departments and agencies, shall establish and maintain within the US-India Strategic Security Dialogue a joint consultative mechanism with the Government of the Republic of India that convenes on a recurring basis: (A) to assess the implementation of the Agreement for Cooperation between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of India Concerning Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy, signed at Washington, October 10, 2008 (TIAS 08–1206); (B) to discuss opportunities for the Republic of India to align domestic nuclear liability rules with international norms; (C) to develop a strategy for the United States and the Republic of India to pursue bilateral and multilateral diplomatic engagements related to analysing and implementing those opportunities.



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