Mandate Betrayed

Context: The proposed draft Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification 2020 fails to acknowledge the grave ecological crises that India is facing.

Arguments against the EIA draft notification

• It is legally untenable: as it does not conform to the Environment (Protection) Act 1986 which asks Centre to protect and improve the environment. 
• Reduces the ambit and stringency of the scrutiny of EIA: by restricting provision of maximum scrutiny to fewer projects only.
• Several categories of projects can apply for “environment permission” without EIA.
• The proposed mechanism to deal with violations is illegal: 
• It allows an ex post facto environmental clearance to projects that have commenced illegally without a clearance. 
• The proposed regularisation mechanism is based on a one time measure based amnesty scheme which the Ministry introduced in 2017.
• No mention of climate change and related consideration: in regulatory approvals, even after India’s commitments under the Paris Agreement process.
• Decisions on carbon-intensive infrastructure in the long term need to be scrutinised.
• Undermines procedural environmental rights: by curtailing the scope of the public consultation process.
• Reduces access to relevant information for project-affected persons. 
• Language of Draft EIA report is restricted to English only.
• Draft EIA report will be accessible for electronic inspection only on a written request and during office hours.
• No efforts for improving the quality of decision making: It reduces the time a for appraisal from 60 days to 45 days and curtails the discretion of the appraisal committees by:
• Disallowing them from seeking fresh studies.
• Setting a high bar for seeking additional studies from the project proponents.

Conclusion: EIA must create and sustain a regulatory framework that prevents the plunder of our natural resources, not actively accelerate the pace of environmental devastation.