Recent environment rules mirror controversial draft
EIA 2020 had received over two million objections, comments and suggestions to the draft. A total of 100 environmental groups, organisations and individuals.
Although the environment impact assessment draft notification proposed by the government in 2020 (EIA 2020) that raised concerns from environmentalists has expired because it was not notified in time, experts caution that the authorities have introduced some of the contentious rules separately.
EIA 2020 had received over two million objections, comments and suggestions to the draft. A total of 100 environmental groups, organisations and individuals, who were part of a national campaign to oppose the draft EIA notification, wrote to Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs against the provisions.
The then environment minister, Prakash Javadekar, complained to the Delhi Police over getting multiple emails in his inbox with the subject EIA 2020, following which police sent notices to some youth environment activist groups.
According to guidelines of the environment ministry, the draft EIA 2020, issued in a notification on March 23, 2020, has expired. But, through a slew of other draft notifications, office memorandums and orders, the environment ministry has introduced clauses that mirror those in EIA 2020, experts said.
For example, on April 11, the ministry issued a draft notification stating that highway projects near the country’s borders are sensitive and need to be exempted from the requirement of seeking an environment clearance. Instead, the draft prescribed environmental safeguards for self-compliance by project developers.
On May 10 last year, new guidelines said the environment ministry’s regional offices will consider and expedite forest clearances for “critical infrastructure projects” in districts impacted by the Maoist insurgency, and those related to defence and security in border areas instead of the forest advisory committee.
On April 12, the ministry issued another draft notification that said environmental clearances granted to hydropower projects will be valid for 13 years. The clearances given to nuclear projects will last for 15 years and for up to 50 years for mining projects. Under EIA 2006, the validity of prior environmental clearance granted to a river valley project or activity was 10 years, for mining, a maximum of 30 years and seven years for other projects.
The ministry said the new notification was issued because these projects have a high gestation periods. EIA 2020 had also proposed extending the validity of the clearances for these very sectors.
On April 20, the environment ministry in a move that is expected to give states greater leeway in approving infrastructure projects issued a notification that says that all airport expansion projects, including airstrips for commercial use, will be considered by the state environment authorities.
The notification has also delegated environmental appraisal of various non-coal mining, river valley and thermal power projects to the state appraisal body. EIA 2020 had said the same thing.
In a significant change, the ministry has started working on creating a single window process to grant environment, forest and wildlife clearances that will standardise and expedite clearances further. On January 17, through an office memorandum, the ministry said it will introduce a star rating system based on efficiency and timelines of states in granting environment clearances.
“There are two aspects that need to considered. First is the relevance of the draft EIA 2020 beyond a legal amendment. The responses brought together larger concerns around transparency, accountability, public participation and the need for reconciling India’s environmental concerns with public health, food security and climate change,” said Kanchi Kohli, legal researcher at the Centre for Policy Research, a think tank.
“The second is what has happened to the EIA notification following the widespread reaction, litigation and the ministry’s efforts to translate the notification into many different languages,” she added. “This has run parallel with multiple changes to the notification that mirror what was proposed as the draft amendments in 2020 and also added some new changes that deregulate sectors, reduce scope of public participation and allow for lower levels of expert scrutiny.”
“We are checking if the draft EIA 2020 has expired,” an environment ministry official said on condition of anonymity. “I cannot say if that draft will be pursued again because its something that the government has to decide.”
“The other draft notifications that have been introduced recently have environmental safeguards,” he added. “It’s true that they have been introduced to cut procedural delay.”