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OPINION February 12, 2021 | The Indian Eye 18

india’s environment impact assessment

draft 2020: issues and Challenges

2020 that “environment law can-
OPangmeren Jamir not countenance the notion of

an ex post facto clearance.”
he Ministry of Environment, Firms found violating the
Forest and Climate Change
T(MoEFCC) released a new terms of their establishment, if
draft Environment Impact As- they have to get the clearance,
sessment (EIA) 2020 on March however, will have to pay a pen-
alty. Expressing apprehension
12, 2020 and sought comments on this provision, environmen-
from the public, till August 11. tal lawyers argue that it is like-
The ministry received around ly to “encourage industries to
1.7 million comments from the
public. This draft EIA will re- commence operations without
place the 2006 EIA notification. bothering clearance and even-
The UN Environment Pro- tually get regularized by paying
the penalty amount” and likely
gramme (UNEP) defines an “open a floodgate of violations …”
EIA as “an examination, anal- The EIA 2006 notification
ysis and assessment of planned The law is important for protection of the fragile environment was not a sufficient condition for
activities with a view to ensur-
ing environmentally sound and complaint from farmers. have discretion to designate any protecting the environment. Sev-
sustainable development.” The Under the mechanism of project as being of strategic im- eral provisions in the latest draft
seem to tilt the scale in favour of
‘environmental movement’ that EIA, generally four steps are fol- portance. Activists in states with ‘easing the norm’ for doing busi-
arose in the US in the 1950s and lowed: screening, scoping, public crucial resources like uranium, ness. In the 2019 ‘Ease of Doing
early 1960s against the reckless participation and appraisal. Pub- as in Meghalaya, have also op- Business’ report by the World
exploitation of natural resourc- lic participation has been widely posed this provision.
es was a major driving force that recognised as an essential ele- Post-clearance compliance Bank, India has steadily risen
laid the foundation for the de- ment of EIA. This is recognised implies that once a project gets from 142nd ranking in 2014 to
velopment of EIA. The US Con- in the 1992 Rio Conference on approved by the concerned au- 63rd ranking in 2019. India, how-
ever, has steadily declined on En-
gress in 1969 implemented the Environment and Development, thority, the proponent projects vironment Performance Index,
National Environment Policy which stated that “environment are required to adhere to cer- from 141st rank in 2016 to 168th
Act (NEPA), which required fed- issues are best handled with the tain rules laid down in the EIA rank out of 180 countries in 2020.
eral agencies to produce a state- participation of all concerned report in order to ensure that no
ment of environmental impact. citizens at the relevant level.” further environmental damages The government has assured
Since then, several countries The major grievance of a take place. that it will strive to strike a bal-
have adopted mandatory EIAs to number of environmental ex- Meanwhile, submission of ance between the environmental
and developmental concerns. As
evaluate development projects. perts and activists as well as by the compliance report will be and when the EIA is finalised, it
The commitment to the norms state governments like Chhat- solely prepared by the project is expected to incorporate the
of EIA have not only spread tisgarh, is that by limiting public proponents itself, which, with-
‘horizontally’ to other states but consultation, the draft is not in out oversight and review, may perspectives of multiple stake-
have also spread ‘vertically’ influ- consonance with protecting the lead to inaccurate information holders in a balanced manner.
encing the development of EIA rights of tribals, among others. submitted on the project. One of Opangmeren Jamir is Research
norms within international orga- The new draft also proposed the effective tools to strengthen Analyst at Institute for Defence
nizations. For instance, to avail that projects having implication the monitoring and compliance Studies and Analyses
loans and grants from interna- for ‘national defence and se- system is allowing the affected Views expressed are of the author
tional financial institutions such curity’ or having ‘strategic con- communities to participate in
as the World Bank, compliance sideration’ will be determined monitoring activities. and do not necessarily reflect the
with EIA norms are required. by the central government and Another major propos- views of the Manohar Parrikar
Non-compliance may have are exempt from public hearing. al in the draft 2020 is granting IDSA or of the Government of
India.
an adverse impact on possible Additionally, all ‘linear projects’ ‘post-facto clearance’ where a
loans agreements. For instance, like pipelines and highways in project that has been operating This is the abridged version of
In July 2019, the World Bank border areas, “falling within 100 without environmental clear- the article which appeared first
backtracked on the agreed $300 kilometers aerial distance from ance, can be regularised or al- in the Comment section of the
million loan for the Amaravati the Line of Actual Control” are lowed to apply for clearance. website (www.idsa.in) of Mano-
Sustainable Infrastructure and exempt from public hearing. The judiciary has held — as in har Parrikar Institute for Defense
Institutional Development Proj- Analysts note that by this the case of Alembic Pharmaceu- Studies and Analyses, New Delhi
ect in Andhra Pradesh, following provision, the government shall tical vs. Rohit Prajapati in April on February 11, 2021

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