Why EIA Draft 2020 may cause Severe Problems?

Recently, there has been a lot of spurs and debate on the new EIA draft notification 2020 carried out by the Govt. In this article, we give you an overview of what is EIA and what in the draft notification is against the fundamental idea of preserving natural resources.

EIA or Environmental impact assessment is a tool that estimates the damage caused by developmental activities and suggests changes and measures reduce the environmental effects caused due to developmental activities.

EIA is introduced in 1978 in India to strike a balance between the Growth of economy and Conservation of natural resources in the case of the River valley projects. Later, in 1994 under the Environment Protection Act (1986) notification was released. 

After 12 years in 2006 under the UPA rule, a notification was released. The 2006 Notification divided the developmental projects into different schedules. In schedule 1, the developmental projects are divided into Category A and B (B is further divided into B1 and B2) which require environmental clearance from the appropriate Board. For Projects, under Category-A the clearance should be given by the Ministry of Environment and for category B1 the state pollution control board issues the clearance whereas the B2 category does not require any clearance from any Board. 

The EIA should be carried out by the proponent (the owner of the developmental project) with his/her own money and it is his sole responsibility to get it approved by the respective Board. 

EIA is carried out in mainly 4 stages:

• Screening
• Scoping
• Public hearing
• Appraisal

What does the New Draft Contain?

The New draft notification of 2020 contains the following relaxations which might severely harm the environment:

• Ex-Post facto clearance: Let us understand this by using an example. For instance, consider that I had set up an industry in an Eco-sensitive area and this is illegal as my profit might have severe environmental complications like that of affecting the endemic species of that area. Then, according to the 2006 notification, my industry is liable for termination. But, the 2020 notification gives me an opportunity to retain my industry by paying a fine. 
• Compliance Monitoring:  According to the 2006 rules my industry should submit a compliance report or an audit assessing the environmental implications in the area of my industry within 6 months. Let us say my Industry is emitting Co2 more than the stipulated norms than I need to address it immediately. In the new draft of 2020, this time period is increased to 1 year.
• Reduction in time for public hearing: According to 2006 rules before I set up an industry the locals of that particular area have a time of 45 days to submit their grievances to the Board setup. But, the latest rules reduce the time to 40 days to accelerate the EIA process but this is advantageous to the tribals most of them who have a low literacy rate to submit their grievances.
• Full assessment: The 2020 rules exclude minor projects from scrutiny and only the largest project is liable for scrutiny. 
•  Involving Other Strategic Considerations: According to the 2006 notification which is currently in use the projects which belong to the Defence and National security installments are exempted from EIA. The 2020 Draft gives a vague statement of other considerations. 

These are clearly aimed at Fast forwarding the EIA process at the cost of severe environmental consequences. Development should never advance at the cost of the environment, in fact, it is not called development as any natural calamity will throw the nation a few years back. 

Abhishek Reddy

We can submit our grievances to this draft notification before August 11th, 2020. Please send in your grievances to                                                                                                                                  secy-moef@nic.in

menong@cag.gov.in eia2020-moefcc@gov.in

Use this below sample mail

 

Sample Mail

Subject: Withdraw the draft EIA notification, 2020 [F.N.2-50/2018/IA.III] 

Dear Mr. Mishra, 

This is with reference to the draft EIA notification, 2020 which has been uploaded on the environment ministry’s website on 12.3.2020. The EIA notification is an important regulation through which the impacts of land-use change, water extraction, tree felling, pollution, waste and effluent management for industrial and infrastructure projects are to be studied and used in developmental decisionmaking. Any change in this law has a direct bearing on the living and working conditions of people and the ecology.

Therefore, it is critical that the government provides a suitable and adequate opportunity for those impacted or likely to be affected by the design and implementation of EIA notification. 

We, therefore, request the environment ministry to:

1. Immediately, withdraw the proposed amendments of the Draft EIA notification 2020. 

2. Consider reissuing the draft only after health conditions related to Covid19 and civic life is normalized across the country. 

3. Ensure that there are widespread and informed public discussions on the implication of these amendments. 

4. Full disclosure of the nature of comments received and the reasons for acceptance and rejection of these comments, prior to the issuance of the final amendments.

We do hope that the environment ministry will uphold its obligations towards informed public participation like the commitment to Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration and also the Principles of Natural Justice, while taking a considered view on the proposed amendments to the EIA notification, 2020.

Sincerely,

XYZ