New Delhi: Power employees and engineers, central trade unions and the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) will hold nationwide protest demonstrations on December 23 against the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Bill, 2025, alleging that it dismantles India’s nuclear safety and accountability framework.
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On December 18, both Houses of Parliament, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, passed the SHANTI Bill. The demonstrations will be held across workplaces and villages, according to the All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF). Shailendra Dubey, Chairman of AIPEF, said the concerns raised by the National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees & Engineers (NCCOEEE), the platform of Central Trade Unions and the SKM had been borne out with the passage of the legislation.
Dubey said the Bill dismantles India’s carefully-built nuclear safety and accountability framework and opens the most hazardous energy sector to large-scale private and foreign participation. He said the existing Atomic Energy Act ensured strict public control over civilian nuclear activities due to their strategic and catastrophic risks, but the SHANTI Bill replaces this with a profit-driven licensing regime, opening major segments of the nuclear value chain to private operators.
“This marks a decisive shift towards privatisation of nuclear operations while putting the entire burden of risks over the people and the nation,” he said.
A key point of contention flagged by the unions is the repeal of the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage (CLND) Act. Dubey said that by repealing the CLND Act, the Bill removes the operator’s statutory right of recourse against reactor suppliers, effectively shielding private manufacturers from liability for defective design or equipment.
Consequently, he said, the financial burden of nuclear accidents would shift from profit-making corporations to victims and the State.
Since the enactment of the CLND Act, multinational reactor suppliers have refused to invest in India citing supplier liability, Dubey said, adding that despite disasters like Fukushima, which cost overUSD 200 billion, international suppliers continue to demand total immunity by limiting liability strictly to operators within narrow monetary and time limits.
The NCCOEEE, the platform of Central Trade Unions and the SKM have called upon their constituents to hold demonstrations at all workplaces and villages on December 23, 2025, opposing what they described as a “draconian” Nuclear Bill.
Dubey said that against the privatisation of electricity and the draft Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2025, a joint campaign of the NCCOEEE, the platform of Central Trade Unions and the SKM would be organised across the country, including conventions and rallies during January and February 2026.
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The NCCOEEE, SKM and the joint platform of Central Trade Unions have demanded immediate withdrawal of the SHANTI Bill, restoration of stringent liability provisions including the operator’s right of recourse, creation of a truly independent nuclear regulatory authority, strengthening of environmental and labour protections, and clear Parliamentary control over foreign involvement and strategic aspects of nuclear activities.
