India to work within laws on N-liability, Singh tells US

Declaring that there were “no irritants whatsoever” in their relationship, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met US President Barack Obama here yesterday but clarified that specific grievances on the civil nuclear liability law could only be addressed within “four corners of the law of the land”.“I explained to him that we have a law in place and rules have been formulated... These will lie in parliament for 30 days. Therefore we have gone some way to respond to concerns of American companies and within the four corners of the law of the land, we are willing to address any specific grievances,” Singh said after the delegation level talks that lasted for over an hour.“I also told him (Obama) that we’ll ratify the Supplementary Convention (for nuclear damage)... that’s where the matter stands,” Singh said a day after New Delhi quietly notified the implementation rules for the civil nuclear liability law that has come under fire for alleged dilution in suppliers’ liability. The issue has come into sharper focus in a post-Fukushima world that has brought to the fore the dangers of nuclear radiation and the need to protect citizens.Obama and Singh, who met at Grand Hyatt hotel where the former is staying, made brief opening remarks before a section of the media before starting the delegation level talks. The talks took place on the sidelines of the India-Asean summit and the East Asia Summit.“Bonds between our countries are not just at the leadership level but also the personal level,” Obama, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other senior officials by his side, told Singh.Obama, who began by remembering his “extraordinary visit” to India “around the same time last year” and referring to Singh as his “dear friend”, said there was an “outstanding opportunity” to address a range of issues at the bilateral and multilateral levels.The Indian leader, who put forward his view on the civil nuclear liability issue later, responded in his opening remarks by saying that there “were no irritants whatsoever” in the working relationship between the two countries extending across “multiplicity of areas”.