Draft EIA Notification, Boon or Bane: Environment Protection Act, 1986

Draft EIA Notification, Boon or Bane
The rate of human activities affecting the environment has gone beyond limits. Many industries
have started operating illegally, against the laws of environmental protection. In the case of coal
production, India ranks second across the globe and every year at least 1,20,000 people are dying
due to it. With the purpose of profits, we have certainly forgotten the adverse effects of our
activities on the environment. Hence to put the limits on such activities, the Government started
the environmental assessment 20 years back during 1967-77 to examine the river-valley projects.
Later on, Environmental Impact Assessment norms were notified in the year 1994. By the year
2006 amendments in such norms were done and a new Impact Assessment came into force,
which is valid to date.
The Central Government gets the power to take all the necessary measures for the protection of
the environment under Section 3 of the Environment Protection Act, 1986. So fundamentally,
Environment Impact Assessment is statutorily supported by the Environment Protection Act,
1986. Environment Impact Assessment, also known as EIA Notification, can be defined as a
study to forecast the repercussion on the environment. In other words, to assess the
environmental impacts of any project related to the industry. As per the United Nations
Environment Program (UNEP), EIA is a tool to identify the social, economical, and
environmental projects before the decision making.
EIA is compulsory for all the projects related to the mining of coal or other minerals, river-
valley, thermal, and other power projects as well as industrial projects. EIA also makes sure that
the development project is within the limits concerning the capacity of regeneration of the
ecosystem.
EIA Notification, 2006: Salient Features
The main objective is to impose the restrictions within the jurisdiction of the territory.
Environmental Impact Assessment, 2006 has divided the projects into two categories i.e.
state-level appraisal (A), and national level appraisal (B) which is further subdivided into
B1 and B2. The process of EIA is divided into 4 parts: Screening, Scoping, Public
Consultation, and Appraisal. Except for the B2 projects, all the categories are required to
undergo environmental clearance. Only after the identification of the respective site of
the project, environmental clearance will be taken. With the motive of sustainable
development, EIA forms a connection between the environment and the development.
Before the execution of any project, EIA scrutinizes all the effects of the developmental
projects and also provides cost-effective methods to reduce the harmful effects of the
developmental projects. The period for public consultation is forty-five days. the
monitoring of every developmental project, the period is six months.
EIA Notification, 2020
Salient features:
To amend the EIA Notification, 2006 the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest, and
climate has introduced the EIA Notification, 2020. The amendment was done to increase
the production unit and the manufacturing of some drugs. Same as the previous EIA
Notification the projects are divided between the Central level appraisal and the State
level appraisal. Following the environmental impacts of the projects, they have been
divided into three categories, i.e. ‘A’, ‘B1’ and ‘B2’.The period for the public
consultancy has been reduced to the limit of forty days. The monitoring period for the
developmental project is increased up to one year for the authorities.
The process of the evaluation of the projects for environmental clearance is divided
separately for the categories. For the category ‘A’ and ‘B1’, the process is 1) Scoping 2)
preparing the draft environmental impact assessment report, 3) Public consultation, 4)
Preparation of final environmental impact assessment report, and followed by 5)
Appraisal.
For the category B2, the process for environmental clearance is 1) Preparation and
appraisal of Environmental Management Plan 2) verification by its authority appointed 3)
may grant or reject the environmental clearance.A provision has been enacted that an
appeal can be made to the National Green Tribunal against prior environmental
clearance.
Backlogs in EIA Notification, 2020
The public engagement in safeguarding the environment has been limited.

The violations cannot be reported by any citizens
 For all the projects which have not received any environmental clearance yet can
continue to carry out their operation.
 As per EIA Notification 2020, if the government categorizes any project to be strategic,
then the information related to such strategic projects shall not be placed on the public
domain.
 No public hearing will be required for the projects related to the pipeline and border area.
 It has also provided a list of projects which shall be exempted from the environmental
clearance.
 All the highways and the Inland waterways are to be excluded from the prior
environmental clearance.
 All the construction projects within the area of 1,50,000 shall be exempted from the
environmental clearance.
 Projects related to irrigation, acid manufacturing, treatment facilities, and the
construction of buildings will be exempted from the public hearing.
 The projects related to the sand extraction, digging of well or digging of the foundation of
the building shall be exempted from the environmental clearance.
 As per March 2017, as per the notification of The Ministry of Environment and Forests,
any projects operating without the environmental clearance will be considered illegal. But
now after the EIA Notification, 2020 the projects which are already operated illegally
may become legal by issuing the environmental clearance under post facto clearance of
projects.
For any ecological damage caused due to the developmental projects, they can avoid all the
consequences by penalty. Recently, during the ecological damage caused due to illegal mining in
the Assam forest which was carried on for 16 years, the recovery of the damages caused was
done by a penalty of 43.25 crore. No priority has been given to public complaints about the
violations caused by the developing projects. In the State of Madras, for the construction of the
IIT Madras in the deer park for an area of 52 acres, the regulatory authorities granted the
environmental clearance hereafter, and also accepted an apology for not repeating the same
mistake. During the Assam well fire, due to lack of proper environmental assessment,
overlooking the consequences every family affected was given 30,000 rupees each.
Conclusion:
The Environmental Impact Assessment focuses on environmental safeguard and protection. It

includes climate change and concerns related to biodiversity. But with the change in period, we
are just looking for the productivity (output) for every commodity and forgetting about all the
consequences caused due to it. The aim of the EIA now is just environmental clearance, like
every legal or illegal project wants to get their environment clearance, just by paying the penalty
rather than the safety. But do we care about the main motive of EIA? It was brought for the
public good and now has its contrasting effects. Though EIA has a basis for environmental
protection, still some issues need proper attention to be resolved. When all the stakeholders,
government authorities and environment protection will be connected, only then we can achieve
sustainable development.
Reference:
1. http://legislative.gov.in/actsofparliamentfromtheyear/environment-protection-act-1986
2. http://www.environmentwb.gov.in/pdf/EIA%20Notification,%202006.pdf
3. http://environmentclearance.nic.in/writereaddata/Draft_EIA_2020.pdf

Draft EIA Notification, Boon or Bane: Environment Protection Act, 1986

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Draft EIA Notification, Boon or Bane: Environment Protection Act, 1986

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Draft EIA Notification, Boon or Bane: Environment Protection Act, 1986

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Draft EIA Notification, Boon or Bane

EIA Notification, 2006: Salient Features

EIA Notification, 2020

Backlogs in EIA Notification, 2020

The public engagement in safeguarding the environment has been limited.

The Environmental Impact Assessment focuses on environmental safeguard and protection. It

You might also like