How does the draft Environment Impact Assessment(EIA)Notification, 2020 differ from the existing EIA Notification, 2006?. (UPSC IAS Mains 2020 General Studies Paper – 3)
Recently, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has proposed a draft Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) notification 2020, that seeks to replace the current notification which goes back to 2006. EIA is an important process for evaluating the likely environmental impact of a proposed project.
Environmental Impact Assessment
- Under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, India notified its first EIA norms in 1994, setting in place a legal framework for regulating activities that access, utilise, and affect (pollute) natural resources.
- Every development project has been required to go through the EIA process for obtaining prior environmental clearance ever since.
- It is a process whereby people’s views are taken into consideration for granting final approval to any developmental project or activity.
Difference between draft EIA notification, 2020 and 2006
- Public Consultation Process: The draft notification provides for a reduction of the period from 30 days to 20 daysfor the public to submit their responses during a public hearing for any application seeking environmental clearance.
- Post-facto Approval: The new draft allowsfor post-facto approval for projects. It meansthat the clearancesfor projects can be awarded even if they have started construction or have been running phase without securing environmental clearances. It was not allowed in the 2006 notification.
- Compliance Report: The 2006 notification required that the project proponent submit a report every six months, showing that they are carrying out their activities as per the terms on which permission has been given. However, the new draft requires the promoter to submit a report only once every year.
- Central Government Powers: Through the draft notification, the central government gets the power to categorize projects as ‘strategic’. Once a project is considered as strategic, the draft notification states that no information related to such projects shall be placed in the public domain.
Major concerns regarding the draft EIA 2020
- Public consultation is exempted in a wide range of areas like modernization of irrigation projects, construction of buildings, standalone flyovers, bridges, national defence, and security projects etc. This provides people a limited scope to be a part of the EIA process.
- The period of public hearing and obtaining objections has been reduced and that poses a grave problem in areas where access to information is difficult and where people are unaware about the EIA process.
The new notification is being brought in order to make the process more transparent and expedient by the implementation of an online system, further delegation, rationalization and standardization of the process. But on the other hand, it is also evident that the draft seeks the growth of commercial projects at the cost of the environment.
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