EIA Draft 2020 – RollBack
The blog is not against our government nor has been influenced by any idealogy. I believe in our democracy and understand it’s my right to inform the government about the new EIA Draft 2020.
What is EIA?
EIA stands for Environment Impact Assessment. EIA is a process to evaluate that all environmental matters pertaining to flora and fauna, biodiversity, local people, etc. are been considered during the planning stage (early stage) of a project. It also covers the necessary steps to be taken to safeguard the biodiversity and economical aspects of the project.
EIA’s main aim is to prevent or reduce the potential impact on the environment and biodiversity and how to enhance the quality of a project.
History of EIA India
- EIA originated in the late 1970s in the USA
- Formally EIA came into existence on 27 January 1994
- 1976-77 Planning Commission of India (which is currently dissolved and formed as NITI Ayog) directed the Department of Science and Technology to assess the river-valley projects from environment points
- After Bhopal Gas Disaster 1984, Government of India brought the Environmental Protection Act, 1986
- The Environmental Protection Act, 1986 is the backbone of EIA as it was only limited to megaprojects to obtain environmental clearance from Central government
- New EIA legislation was notified by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change in 2006
What happened now?
The new draft is more friendly to the industries but not to the biodiversity and local people. So what is that change in the new draft which logically can be and I believe will be misused. It’s not just me who is raising the corners but all the environmentalists also. Here are the few concerns in the EIA draft 2020:
- Category: Re-categorisation of projects and activities related to the production of bulk drugs and intermediates for several ailments from ‘A’ category to ‘B2’ category. New projects or activities including expansion or modernization of project or activities listed in the schedule under Category ‘B2’ that are not required to be placed before Appraisal Committee as specified in the Schedule, shall require Prior Environment Permission from the concerned Regulatory Authority before the start of any construction work or installation or establishment or excavation or modernization, whichever is earlier, on-site or before expanding the production and/or project area beyond the limit specified in the prior-EC (Environment Clearance) or prior-EP (Environment Permission), as the case may be, granted earlier.
- Supreme Court Judgment: According to Supreme Court Judgment that project has to receive all the project(s) or activity(ies) clearance before the start of the project or activity(ies). The draft allows us to start the project(s) or activity(ies) and can seek clearance post start of the project(s) or activity(ies).
- Exemptions: All B2 projects and several other projects like irrigation, production of halogens, chemical fertilizers, acids manufacturing, biomedical waste treatment facilities, building construction and area development, elevated roads and flyovers, highways or expressways are exempted from public consultation.
- Construction Exemptions: Construction of buildings below 150,000 square meters (size of a small airport or stadium) do not require environmental clearance. But these constructions produce a large amount of carbon, waste generation and water effluents which pollute the environment.
- Public Consultation: Local public gets only 20 days from earlier 30 days for representation and the consultation and/or meeting can be arranged over a video call. “Video call” in remote parts of India where roads haven’t reached yet and we are expecting video call. Just take long breathe because these local tribes and/or farmers don’t understand technology but their biodiversity they can smell and tell you everything.
- Opposition: As earlier mentioned I am not against the government and I understand the government wants to remove multiple approvals and/or clearance to start the project(s) and/or activity(ies) for “Atmanirbhar Bharat”. However, we shouldn’t compromise the health of our environment and people. If we destroy our biodiversity, the charm of India because we are yet to develop a time machine
What can we do?
Request our government to rethink on the draft and let develop India and it’s beautiful nature. August 11 is the last day, to send our recommendation. The link provided has created a sample email so that you can do the needful in a few seconds. The team “LetMeBreathe” has provided all the needful, so visit their website Link 1 and Link 2
Request to Government of India
We are not against you but we are with a cause, so please stop disabling the links.
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