Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology and Atomic Energy Jitendra Singh on Wednesday responded to questions raised by opposition MPs regarding the recently introduced ‘Sustainable Exploitation and Development of Atomic Energy for India’s Transformation Bill, 2025’. Participating in the debate in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, Singh said some opposition MPs were presenting “contradictory” facts and statements.
He said many of the provisions mentioned in the new bill were already present in the previous law. “Some objections were raised by some people which were contrary to what was contained in the bill itself, and some comments were self-contradictory,” Singh said while addressing the Lok Sabha.
Explaining the rationale for bringing a new Bill instead of amending existing laws such as the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010, the Union Minister said that the Government considered it appropriate to bring a new law to give space to address the issues in modern times, while also retaining the essential earlier provisions.
The Union Minister said, “There were two laws related to nuclear energy, the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010. In between, the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board was constituted through an executive order, which is now being given the status of a statutory body. Instead of amending the existing laws, it was thought that a comprehensive new bill should be brought in, which would also have space for the previous laws and also address contemporary issues.”
He further said, “There are many things in this bill which already exist, and in our haste to protest against the ruling party, we (the opposition) sometimes forget that the protest is being done on issues which we had raised.”
According to the Union Minister, India will have to adopt “global strategies” to become a global leader and achieve the target of 100 GW nuclear power. Citing the example of the space sector inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he noted “miraculous results”.
Jitendra Singh said in Parliament “If we plan for 100 gigawatts by 2047, so that we can get as close as possible to the use of clean energy sources, that will increase our self-reliance and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. I had said in the morning that if we have to imagine a global role for ourselves, we will have to follow global strategies. The era of isolation is over. If we think that we can make separate laws and enforce them, “If you can, then this is a misunderstanding, which has been happening. The space sector was opened up under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, and the results are miraculous.”
Responding to concerns raised over environmental damage and adequate compensation, the Minister said the Bill already includes ecological damage and economic loss in the definition of damage, and it also expands the regulatory scope to support nuclear medicine and related sectors.
He said, “Someone had asked, what about the environment? For the first time, the Bill mentions environmental damage and economic loss as part of the definition of overall damage. The regulatory area has also been defined, which includes agriculture, medicine, industry and ionizing radiation, because we have made considerable progress in the field of nuclear medicine… We are among the first countries to develop nuclear medicine for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (a type of blood cancer) in children.”
He further said, “Since we are signatories to the CSC (Convention on Supplementary Compensation), additional compensation will be available through that source.” Speaking on doubts over insurance coverage for commercial nuclear reactors, Singh noted that the Congress party under Jawaharlal Nehru had not insured India’s first reactor, Apsara.
Jitendra Singh said, “Many times it has been explained why government reactors are not insured. But in 1956, India’s first reactor, the Apsara reactor, was built at the Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC). We all know who the Prime Minister was at that time (Jawaharlal Nehru), and it was decided that it would not be covered under insurance. At that time it might have been thought that it was a research reactor and not for commercial purposes.”
Speaking on the issue of allowing entry of private companies in the nuclear sector, Singh highlighted that the current government has increased the budget of the Department of Atomic Energy by more than 100 per cent since 2014.
“Now the question asked is why does the government need private companies? Why can’t it do it alone? The 2014 budget of the Department of Atomic Energy was Rs 13,879 crore.”
“Today the budget is Rs 37,483 crore, which is an increase of about 117 per cent over the last 10 years. So when it is criticized that the government is not doing enough, perhaps we are not able to show our figures,” he said.
This morning Singh introduced the Peace Bill in Parliament, an important step towards updating India’s legal framework governing nuclear energy. The proposed bill proposes to repeal the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010 and replace them with a comprehensive law tailored to India’s current and future energy needs.
