Govt considering amendments to Atomic Energy Act, nuclear liability law
Government is considering amendments to the laws governing the
nuclear power
domain, including the sectoral regulator, to allow participation of private sector as India eyes to produce 100 GW atomic energy by 2047. Government sources said amendments were being considered to the
Atomic Energy Act
to allow private sector participation and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act to limit the liability on suppliers of equipment to build atomic energy plants.
The government is also considering regulatory reforms and is evaluating the model of Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (INSPACe) which acts as the promoter and regulator for the space sector that was opened up for private participation in 2020.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced opening up of the nuclear power sector which has been restricted to public sector companies. The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited operates atomic power plants across the country that contribute 8.7 GWe to the country's energy mix.
Sitharaman also announced the Nuclear Energy Mission for research and development of Small Modular Reactors (SMR) with an outlay of Rs 20,000 crore and to operationalise five indigenously developed SMRs by 2033.
The Department of Atomic Energy officials has recently said that the Nuclear Energy Mission aims to leverage private sector participation, streamline regulatory frameworks, and scale up nuclear power production to meet India's increasing energy demands.
Foreign nuclear power firms had evinced interest in setting up atomic power plants in India after it secured a waiver from the Nuclear Suppliers Group to engage in global nuclear trade. The NSG waiver came after the landmark India-US civil nuclear deal of 2008.
However, the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act of 2010 proved to be an impediment for private sector participation. The private sector termed certain provisions of the law were unacceptable and contradicted the international Convention for Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage (CSC).
The government expects the private sector to pitch in with investments to achieve the target of producing 100 GWe nuclear power by 2047.
The officials said that around 50 per cent of the 100 GW target is expected to come from Public-Private Partnerships (PPP).
A parliamentary panel has also recommended establishing a robust financial model that includes government incentives, Viability Gap Funding (VGF), and sovereign guarantees to attract both domestic and foreign investments.
The Committee had suggested that expediting legislative amendments to the Atomic Energy Act and Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act to encourage private investment in nuclear power generation.
India plans to set up private sector SMRs of 220 MW Bharat Small Reactors (BSR) for captive use. NPCIL had recently invited Request for Proposals from Indian industries for setting up 220 MW BSRs for captive use.
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Kamal files papers for RS polls, declares Rs 305 crore assets
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Indian Express
an hour ago
- Indian Express
Bridge to the Kashmir Valley: Lives along the line
The Pir Panjal range surrounds the village of Sumber in Jammu's Ramban district. Once a hotbed of militancy and untouched by development, its people led hardscrabble lives. And then, last year, Sumber got a railway station — a quaint, whitewashed structure with slanting green roofs. And with it, a road, an electricity line and piped water. It took another year for Mohammad Shafi, 54, to gather the courage to step inside a train. He and his eight-year-old granddaughter had boarded the passenger train from Sumber, sat side by side on the blue, worn-out seats, and watched bewildered at the rugged landscape that sped past their window. 'The train ride happened because of my granddaughter. She is in Class 3 and wanted to get some books from Banihal town. We reached Banihal in 35 minutes and that too for Rs 10,' says Shafi. Until then, for Shafi, travelling to Banihal meant a 91-km road journey for four hours, changing three vehicles and spending at least Rs 500. Sumber is one of 27 stations on the 272-km Kashmir line, also called Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL). On June 6, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 63-km Katra-Sangaldan section of the USBRL and flagged off two special Vande Bharat trains (Katra to Srinagar and Srinagar to Katra). With that, the tracks have managed to finally connect two regions joined at the hip by more than an ampersand — Jammu & Kashmir. The 272-km USBRL is broadly divided into three parts: the 25-km Udhampur-Katra stretch, 111-km Katra-Banihal and 136-km Banihal-Baramulla. While the line has been operational in phases — with the earliest stretch, the 118-km Qazigund to Baramulla link in Kashmir, inaugurated in 2009 — there was one missing link: between Katra and Sangaldan. It was this stretch that was inaugurated by the PM on June 6. For the engineers and workers who developed the Kashmir rail link, this was the most arduous of stretches. In the end, they pulled off several technological feats — the world's highest railway arch bridge (the 359-metre-high Chenab Bridge); the Indian Railways' first cable-stayed bridge (the 725.5-metre-long Anji Bridge); 97 km of tracks that cut through tunnels; and bridges spanning 7 km. Given the high level of engineering involved, over 80 per cent of the project funds (Rs 35,000 crore of the estimated cost of over Rs 43,000 crore) were spent on this stretch. Sandeep Gupta, who was Chief Engineer of USBRL for over 10 years and retired as Chief Administrative Officer of the project in February 2025, said the Katra-Banihal stretch faced several challenges — from alignment to inclement weather, the frequent blockage of National Highway-44, the unrest following the Burhan Wani encounter (July 2016) and the Pulwama terror attack (February 2019). But now, he says, 'It really feels good, especially when you consider where we started in the early 2000s, when we used to go for surveys on horses and mules. We would often stay back in the villages and eat what the locals gave us. We have come a long way since then. This is a big achievement for the Indian Railways and the country.' In these parts, some of the remotest in the country, much before the tracks were laid, came other 'wonders' — approach roads and small bridges. While these were built by the Railways to supply materials for developing the stations and tracks, something else changed in these parts: lives. Over the last decade, the Railways says, 215 km of approach roads and 320 small bridges have been built under the project. At Sumber village market in Ramban, the road opened up possibilities for Ratan Singh, 27, who runs an electronics shop. During the days of militancy, Singh says, he dropped out after school and the family left the village for the district headquarters in Udhampur. They later returned to Sumber and, in 2024, when the station came up, Singh decided to start his business. 'In 2009-10, the access road was built and now we can go to Jammu and other towns, from where we buy at cheaper rates. Though it still takes almost six hours to reach Jammu by road, it is better than those days when we had to travel on horses and mules,' says Singh. Though the Vande Bharat train will speed past Sumber (the only stop on the route is at Banihal), Singh is excited about the train. 'The train will not only make it easier to travel from Jammu to Srinagar, but will open new avenues for education, healthcare, and jobs.' At his home on the outskirts of Sumber, Mohd. Nazeer Ahmed, a 40-year-old driver, remembers his childhood days when he would go down the mountain to where the Chenab flowed. 'It would take us four to five hours to come back. We were not just physically cut off from the mainland, we were deprived of education as well.' In 2010 came a road linking his village to Dharamkund, which connected it further to Ramban town. People started travelling out of the village and with that came a demand for vehicles. 'I had no particular skill. But I learnt driving,' says Ahmed. He now has an SUV that he uses to ferry people to Ramban. While the access road changed his life, he sometimes worries if the train will take his customers away. But he is also excited. 'For the last 10 years, I have been wanting to visit Delhi… Someday, I will take the Vande Bharat to Delhi,' says Ahmed. Gran Bayotran village lies on the banks of the Chenab, adjacent to the Reasi railway station, the second halt on the Katra-Sangaldan stretch that was inaugurated on June 6. Takan Das Sharma, 78, a resident of the village, vividly remembers the day he saw a 'railway station, a train and a ticket for the first time'. That was in 1973, when Sharma, then a clerk with the Revenue Department in Katra, travelled to Jammu for his boss who wanted him to book a ticket on board the Jammu-Pathankot Srinagar Express. 'Jammu is only 66 km from Reasi. They had railway lines even in those days; it took another 50 years for us to get a station in Reasi,' says Sharma, who retired as Mohasib (Senior Land Revenue Accountant). He says the train to Kashmir is a 'childhood dream' come true. A member of the RSS since 1960, Sharma says it was a BJP leader from Udhampur, the late Chaman Lal Gupta, who sought a station in Reasi. 'After that, they conducted a survey in our village. But some issues of alignment came up and the project ended there,' he says. Metres away, standing on the rooftop of his house, Harish Kumar, 34, beams as he proudly points to Bridge-39 (called the Reasi Bridge) in the distance. With a diploma in civil engineering, Kumar was one of the supervisors for the bridge. 'Out of the eight slabs on this bridge, we built four. When the construction of the (Reasi) railway station began, around 300 people from our village got jobs. The good thing is, the project trained people who otherwise had no skills. That was helpful, but now they are without work,' he says. According to data available with the Ministry of Railways, 14,069 people were employed through contractors on the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link – over 9,000 of them from J&K. The Railways employed those who gave up more than 75 per cent of their land for the project. Raj Kumar, 58, sarpanch of the village, says property prices have shot up since word spread of the Vande Bharat passing through Reasi. 'A kanal (0.05 hectare) cost Rs 2 lakh around 10 years ago; now it's Rs 15-20 lakh,' he says. On board train to Baramulla. It is 6 am and Train no 74619, a passenger train from Sangaldan to Baramulla, is at Platform Number 2. Outside the gates of Sangaldan station is a long queue of passengers waiting to board the train — daily wagers and students, but most noticeably, patients. The eight-coach diesel train is run-down with broken windows, grimy chairs and with many of the passengers squatting on the floor. Yet, the Sangaldan-Baramulla line has been a lifeline in these parts, especially for people in the hilly areas who go to Banihal, Anantnag and Srinagar for medical emergencies. The 160-km road journey from Sangaldan to Srinagar used to take an entire day; but now, the train takes people to Srinagar in three hours. As the whistle goes off, Parvez Ahmad, 35, hurriedly takes a seat. A resident of Sangaldan, Ahmad is headed to Khari, the second station on the Sangaldan-Banihal stretch, to fix a tilling implement. 'I run a shop in Sangaldan that sells spare auto parts. At times, I travel to people's homes to fix their machines. Earlier, it used to take me more than two hours by road to reach Khari, now it takes just 35 minutes. Because of this train, I can manage both my shop and these visits,' says Ahmad. Minutes later, the train crosses Sumber station and enters Tunnel No. 50, India's longest transportation tunnel. Amina, a 54-year-old farm worker who identifies herself only by the first name, boards the train at Khari. She had walked for around four kilometres from her village Trigam, boarded a shared vehicle and travelled another hour to reach the station. On her way to Srinagar to visit an ophthalmologist for a niggling eye condition, Amina says, 'If I miss this train today, the next train will only be available tomorrow. Or else, I will have to spend Rs 2,000 to go to Srinagar by road. I paid only Rs 40 for this train ticket. There is no hospital in my area. If people in the hills fall ill, it is only luck that can save them. There are villages where people have to travel an entire day on foot to reach the station.' Past Banihal, the train enters 'T-80' — the Pir Panjal tunnel. When it was made operational in 2013, the 11.2-km tunnel was considered the 'backbone of USBRL' since it linked Jammu region to Kashmir by railway for the first time. At the other end of the tunnel is the first station of Kashmir-Hiller Shahabad Halt. The train now passes through a landscape of breathtaking beauty — mustard and saffron fields, apple orchards and poplar trees, with the peaks of the Himalayas as a constant backdrop. At Anantnag station, a 28-year old, who works as a nurse at a private hospital in Srinagar, boards the train. Standing by the door, he says, 'The local train service is good, but for people like me who have to go to work every day, it is not very reliable. It's slow and gets delayed often. That is why people travel by bus.' The new Vande Bharat trains are an easy conversation starter, but he has a grouse: 'What is the point of having a train from Jammu to Srinagar if you don't stop for people on the way?' Though the Indian Railways has overcome the toughest of challenges — from militancy to the complex geology of the Himalayas — to link Jammu to Kashmir by rail, what does it mean for a region that has lived in turbulence and distrust for decades. 'There is this fascination that we have for Kashmir,' says Raj Kumar, the sarpanch of Gran Bayotran village in Jammu's Reasi. 'Though we are part of the same state, very few people have seen or gone to Srinagar. I hope this train bridges not only the distance between the two regions, but also hearts in Jammu and Kashmir. Whether it is terrorism or politics, the common public has nothing to do with any of it.' RSS worker Takan Das is not so sure. He says the train may address employment and tourism, but 'healing wounds' won't be that easy. 'The gap will not be bridged until Pandits are rehabilitated,' he says. At Srinagar station, a constable of the Government Railway Police (GRP) boards a near-empty coach and takes a seat by the window. He is on his way home to Baramulla and has heard of the Vande Bharat train. 'The distrust between Jammu and Kashmir is very deep. If the two regions can be brought together by a railway line, what can be better than that?' Dheeraj Mishra is a Principal correspondent with The Indian Express, Business Bureau. He covers India's two key ministries- Ministry of Railways and Ministry of Road Transport & Highways. He frequently uses the Right to Information (RTI) Act for his stories, which have resulted in many impactful reports. ... Read More
Indian Express
an hour ago
- Indian Express
The Train to Kashmir
Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off two specially designed Vande Bharat trains between Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra and Srinagar on Friday. The inauguration of a direct rail link to the Valley is a historic milestone that is likely to have a far-reaching impact on the development, trade, and tourism of Kashmir, and its closer all-round integration with the rest of the country. A very long journey The first railway line in the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir was built by the British in 1897 over a distance of 40-45 km between Jammu and Sialkot in the plains. In 1902 and 1905, a railway line was proposed between Rawalpindi and Srinagar along the course of the Jhelum, which would have connected the Kashmir Valley with the railway network of undivided India. But Maharaja Pratap Singh of Jammu and Kashmir was in favour of a Jammu-Srinagar line via Reasi, and neither project progressed. After Partition, Sialkot went to Pakistan, and Jammu was disconnected from the rail network of India. Until the inauguration of the Pathankot-Jammu line in 1975, the railway station nearest to Jammu and Kashmir was Pathankot in Punjab. In 1983, work began on a railway line between Jammu and Udhampur. This 53-km line was supposed to be completed in five years, but ultimately took 21 years. With work still underway, the central government announced, in 1994, the extension of this line from Udhampur to Srinagar, and onward to Baramulla. This was the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) Project, which was approved in March 1995 at an estimated cost of Rs 2,500 crore. In 2002, the USBRL was declared a national project, and sections of the line became operational over the years that followed. The USBRL is finally complete now —272 km of tracks built at a cost of Rs 43,780 crore, passing through 36 tunnels and over 943 bridges, bringing Katra and Srinagar within 3 hours of each other. An engineering feat The Himalayas are young, and the geologically unstable Shivalik Hills and Pir Panjal mountains lie in the seismically most active Zones IV and V. The terrain is difficult and sees heavy snow in winter, and presented serious challenges in the construction of bridges and tunnels. Among the several firsts of this remarkable achievement of railway engineering are the world's highest railway arch bridge, its arch rising 359 metres above the bed of the Chenab in Reasi district; the first cable-stayed bridge of the Railways on the Anji Khad, also in Reasi district; and the country's longest transport tunnel, 12.77 km long, in Ramban district. Development benefits Two Vande Bharat trains in each direction will cover the distance between Katra and Srinagar in about three hours, halving the time taken by the road journey. The trains will run even in deep winter, providing round-the-year all-weather connectivity to the Valley. The train will be extended soon to Jammu Tawi, which will make it possible to roll into Srinagar directly from almost anywhere in the country. The potential of the train in revolutionising tourism in Jammu and Kashmir has been repeatedly stressed. Over time, the USBRL is expected to have a major impact on the economy of the Union Territory, facilitating hassle-free transport of goods such as apples, dry fruits, pashmina shawls, handicrafts etc., to other parts of the country in the shortest possible time and at lower costs. The cost of transporting items of daily use to the Valley from elsewhere in the country is also expected to go down significantly.
