EIA Notification 2006
Environmental Impact Assessment (“EIA”) Notification was promulgated by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (“MoEFCC”) in 2006 to scrutinize all relevant information about a project or activity in order to assess (and accordingly mitigate) its potential adverse impacts on the ecology of a region.
The Draft EIA Notification normalizes ex post facto clearance, which allows construction or operation of the project without a prior environmental clearance. It has significantly curtailed the scope of public consultation and participation by the introduction of a large number of exemptions for projects.
EIA Notification 2006
The 2006 framework provides for 4 stages in the process of EIA:
(1) Screening, (2) Scoping, (3) Public Consultation and (4) Appraisal. The draft EIA Notification, 2020 proposes a 6-stage process: (1) Scoping, (2) Preparation of Draft EIA, (3) Public Consultation, (4) Final EIA, (5) Appraisal and (6) Grant or Rejection of EC/EP.
However, the change is mere in the nomenclature as these steps exist even under the current framework, the only difference being the 2006 notification does not term each step of the process as a different stage. However, there is one significant difference, and that is the “Screening” stage which exists under the 2006 notification is nowhere to be found under the draft notification. This is a stage where Category B projects are scrutinized by the State Level Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC) to determine if the project requires further environmental studies for preparation of its EIA report. The Category B projects are further divided into Category B1 (projects which do require EIA report) and Category B2 projects (projects which do not require EIA report).
Lack of such a provision implies that Category B projects will no longer undergo this additional scrutiny. The further division of category B projects into Category B1 and B2 shall therefore, now depend on the spatial extent of potential impact on human health, natural and man-made resources.
You can download the EIA Notification 2006 PDF using the link given below.
