Shashi Tharoor seeks parliamentary scrutiny over risks in SHANTI Bill

New Delhi/Thiruvananthapuram: Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram, Shashi Tharoor, on Wednesday mounted a strong critique of the proposed SHANTI Bill, 2025, in the Lok Sabha, warning that the legislation, in its present form, could compromise public safety and national security.

Calling for a detailed and bipartisan review, Tharoor demanded that the Bill be referred to a Parliamentary Standing Committee for thorough scrutiny.

Participating in the debate, Tharoor acknowledged the importance of energy security but cautioned against what he described as the government’s “haste-driven approach” to privatisation in a highly sensitive sector.

“We are debating a framework that will define India’s strategic foundations for decades,” he said, adding that the Bill introduces ambiguity in areas where absolute clarity is essential.

Flagging multiple structural concerns, Tharoor expressed alarm over provisions that allow for the dilution of safety norms.

He specifically pointed to Section 44, which empowers the government to exempt nuclear facilities from licensing requirements.

Such sweeping discretion, he warned, could create a dangerous regulatory vacuum and expose citizens to unacceptable risks in the absence of robust legal safeguards.

Another major concern raised was the inadequacy of compensation mechanisms.

Tharoor noted that despite global inflation and hard lessons from nuclear disasters such as Fukushima, the compensation cap under the Bill remains pegged at around Rs 3,900 crore.

He also criticised the proposal to limit the period for filing claims to 10-20 years, arguing that radiation-induced illnesses often surface much later, effectively denying victims access to justice.

Tharoor further warned against opening the entire nuclear fuel cycle to private players without strict eligibility and accountability norms.

While investment is necessary, he said, unregulated privatisation could result in “systemic risk”, where profits are privatised but liabilities in the event of an accident are socialised, forcing the state to bear the full burden.

Raising serious civil rights concerns, Tharoor objected to provisions that vest the power to file criminal complaints against defaulting operators solely with the central government.

This, he said, would deny affected communities the right to independently seek legal redress.

“The strength of a law is measured not by intent alone, but by how it protects the most vulnerable,” Tharoor told the House, stressing that justice cannot be constrained by artificial time limits.

Urging Parliament to resist rushed legislation, Tharoor appealed for a careful, non-partisan re-examination of the Bill, placing the safety of future generations above political expediency.

IANS