Why in News ?

A group of Special Rapporteurs to the United Nations written to the Centre expressing concern over the proposed Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification 2020 and sought the government’s response on how the provisions of the notification were consonant with India’s obligations under international law. Special Rapporteurs to the United Nations raised new draft Concerns on EIA notification 2020.

What is the Issues ?

• Proposed notification appeared to have clauses that obstructed people’s rights to a safe, clean and healthy environment.
• These were the clauses that exempted several large industries and projects from public consultation as part of the environment impact assessment process
• The rapporteurs argued that the exemptions were unwarranted, particularly when there was a serious gas leak from (LG Polymers) chemical plant in Visakhapatnam on May 12.

About EIA notification

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 of 2006.

• What is EIA ?
  • EIA is the process for evaluating environmental impact of a proposed project.
  • It is a process by which opinion of the people are taken into consideration for granting final approval to any developmental project or activity.
  • It decide whether the project should be approved or not.
• What is Concerns on EIA notification 2020 ?
  • There are two prominent changes : one, post facto clearances; two, abandoning the public trust doctrine.
    1. Draft notification does not conform to its parent Act the Environment (Protection) Act 1986. The Act requires the Centre to take measures to protect and improve the environment. New notification reducing the ambit and stringency of the scrutiny of impact assessment.
    2. The proposed mechanism allows the government to grant an ex post facto environmental clearance to projects even though that have commenced illegally without a clearance.
    3. There is no mention of climate change and related consideration.
    4. The public consultation processes currently in force under the EIA Notification 2006 are already unsatisfactory the new draft notification curtails their scope further.
    5. No effort to put in place processes that will improve the quality of decision making.
    6. The 2006 notification required that the project proponent submit a report every six months, the new draft requires the promoter to submit a report only once every year.
    7. Draft also says that violations can be reported only by the government and the project proponent themselves and not by citizens.

Indian Environment Conservation History

• 1972 : Become a signatory to the Stockholm Declaration (1972) on Environment.
• 1974 : India enacted laws to control water pollution.
• 1981 : India enacted laws to air pollution soon after.
• 1986 : After the Bhopal gas leak disaster in 1984 India legislated Environmental Protection Act in 1986.
• 1994 : India notified its first EIA norms.
• 2006 : EIA notification was replaced with a modified draft .
• 2020 : Latest draft EIA notification introduced.

Government Stand

• The proposed EIA, 2020 violated the UN Declaration of Human Rights and that the rapporteurs concerns were misplaced.
• Proposed EIA was still a draft and issued for public consultation and that there were several imperfections in the existing EIA that were to be amended in the new notification.
• Post facto clearances, the violation of not taking prior approval would be punished as per law.
• Projects that were already running would be considered only on merit.

Need for an EIA

• International Funding and Support
  • World Bank, which has been funding solar projects in India, insists on an effective EIA as a prerequisite. 
  • Other multilateral development banks are expected to ask for an EIA even under the terms of the new notification
  • The country is a party to the Rio declaration adopted by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in 1992.
• Public participation
  • Vulnerable population typically affected by ‘development’ projects.
  • Gujarat high court in Centre for Social Justice v. Union of India, when it insisted on a minimum of 30 days for public hearing.
• Environment Pollution
  • Absence of effective environmental scrutiny of an area that, according to the Delhi Pollution Control Committee, accounts for 30% of air pollution is beyond legal justification.

Source : The Hindu

Topic

Prelims : EIA

GS III : Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment

Current Affairs Compilation : 4 September 2020