MAINS 2016

GENERAL STUDIES - 3
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT
Development is the need of the present day not only for the survival of mankind but
also for its future protection. But some developmental activities exert negative
influence on natural systems; they deplete natural resources and dispose wastes
that deteriorate the quality of the environment. Forest lands are cleared or wetlands
are drained for setting up of industries, hydroelectric projects and highways. All
these destroy habitat for diverse flora and fauna, deteriorating the quality of
environment. Damming of rivers prevent fish migration and interfere with the
livelihood of aquatic animals. Overall, developmental projects lead to biodiversity
loss and affect those who live in its vicinity. However, mankind as it is developed
today cannot live without taking up these activities for his food, security and other
needs. Consequently, there is a need to harmonise developmental activities with
the environmental concerns. Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is one of the
tools available with the planners to achieve the above-mentioned goal.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a formal study process of
identifying and evaluating the likely environmental impacts (both beneficial
and adverse) of a proposed project or development, taking into account inter-
related socio-economic, cultural and human-health impacts.
UNEP defines Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) as a tool used to identify
the environmental, social and economic impacts of a project prior to decision-
making.
EIA is a management tool for incorporating environmental concerns in
developmental process that aid in improved decision making and for ensuring
optimal use of natural resources for sustainable development through
improved technology and management plans.

Objective of EIA:
to foresee the potential environmental problems that would arise out of a
proposed development
to find ways and means to reduce adverse impacts, shape projects to suit the
local environment and present the predictions and options to decision-makers.
Thus EIA analyses the problems, conflicts and the constraints on the wildlife
and their habitats, natural resources, status and distribution of the
endangered species as well as on the livelihood and health of the affected
people.

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 EVOLUTION OF EIA
EIA is one of the successful policy innovations of the 20th Century for environmental
conservation. EIA as a mandatory regulatory procedure originated in the early
1970s, with the implementation of the National Environment Policy Act (NEPA)
1969 in the US. The EIA process really took off after the mid-1980s. In 1989, the
World Bank adopted EIA for major development projects, in which a borrower
country had to undertake an EIA under the Bank's supervision. Now it is a formal
process in many countries and is currently practiced in more than 100 countries.

BENEFITS OF ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT

By considering the environmental effects of the project and their mitigation
measures early in the project planning cycle, environmental assessment can
support better decision making and result in many benefits, such as protection
of environment, optimum utilisation of resources and saving of time and cost
of the project.
Better environmental planning and design of a proposal
A well-designed project can minimize risks and impacts on the environment
and people, and thereby avoid associated costs of remedial treatment or
compensation for damage.
EIA address whether the project fits into the regional development plan,
consistent with the national policies or national foreign exchange policies.
Ensuring compliance with environmental standards
Compliance with environmental standards reduces damage to the
environment and disruption to communities. It also avoids the likelihood of
penalties, fines and loss of trust and credibility.
EIA address whether there is provision for setting up of any alternate projects
to meet with similar desired developmental objectives.
Rehabilitation, Resettlement and increased protection of human health
Opportunities for public participation and Aboriginal consultation
Savings in capital and operating costs
EIA can avoid the undue costs of unanticipated impacts. An anticipate and
avoid approach is much cheaper than react and cure
Reduced time and costs of approvals of development applications.
If all environmental concerns have been taken into account properly before
submission for project approval, then it is unlikely that delays will occur as a
result of decision makers asking for additional information or alterations to
mitigation measures.
Reduced risks of environmental harm or disasters
EIA address

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 1. Whether the project will exert any negative impact on the fauna and flora of
the region.
2. Whether it will deplete natural resources or human properties for only short-
term economic benefit.
3. Trans-boundary environmental effects.
Increased government accountability and harmonization
EIA address whether the developmental project spurs sensitive and controversial
issues.
Sustainable development.

INTERNATIONAL GUIDELINES
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has mandated EIA for infrastructure
and other projects.
According to the Article 14 of the Biodiversity Convention, each contracting party
is required
to introduce appropriate procedures requiring environmental impact
assessment of its proposed projects that have significant adverse impacts on
biological diversity and
to identify processes and categories of activities that have significant adverse
impacts on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity.
Article 11 identifies, the need for incentive measures as a specific mechanism
to help, guide national level actions and to promote conservation and sustainable
use of resources, as expressed in the convention.

World conservation strategy has identified some criteria for identifying significant
impact that EIA will assess. The criteria are:
Time period and geographic area: The first criteria concerns about the time
period and geographic area on which the effect of the developmental project will
have, the number of people who would be affected, and the amount of the
resources that would be degraded.
Rate of degradation: Rate of degradation of the natural system at the project
site and the time taken for its resilience.
Extent of irreversible damage: The extent of irreversible damage, the project
might inflict to the human health, natural resource and other natural systems.
It is thus, important to assess the cumulative changes, the bio-physical and socio-
economic changes.

EIA IN INDIA
The environmental impact assessment in India was started in 1976-77 when the
Planning Commission asked the then Department of Science and Technology to
examine the river-valley projects from environmental angle. The scope of appraisal
has subsequently been enhanced to cover other developmental sectors such as
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industries, thermal power plants, mining schemes, river valley, infrastructure (road,
highway, ports, harbours and airports), etc. Earlier these were administrative
decisions, and lacked the legislative support. The Government of India enacted the
Environment (Protection) Act on 1986. This gave EIA a statutory status. Govt of
India made Environmental clearance mandatory for expansion or
modernisation of any activity or for setting up new projects. Subsequent
amendments to the 1994 notification made environmental impact assessment
statutory for 30 activities.

LIST OF PROJECT REQUIRING ENVIRONMENTAL CLEARANCE

Nuclear power and related projects
River valley, multipurpose, irrigation and Hydro Electric projects,
thermal power projects
mining projects
industrial projects, Chlor-alkali industry, Hydrocyanic acid, Metal industry,
foundries, electroplating, Asbestos and its products, dyes, Synthetic rubber, pulp,
paper, cement, Pharmaceuticals, Pesticides, distilleries, Chemical fertilizers,
Petroleum refinery, Petroleum complexes, Export of oil gas and their products.
Infrastructure development and miscellaneous projects, highway projects, Ports,
harbours, airports

In India according to Environmental (Protection) Rules in 1986, an environmental

clearance has to be accorded by the Central or State Government, where a manual
on EIA has to be prepared for both the apprising agency and decision makers.
Cases may be rejected due to submission of insufficient data.

ENVIRONMENTAL APPRAISAL PROCEDURE

Submission of application:
Any person, who desires to start a new project or wish to expand and
modernize the existing one, should submit an application to the secretary of
Ministry of Environment and Forest, New Delhi.

The EIA process in India is made up of the following phases:

1. SCREENING:
Screening is done to see whether a project requires environmental clearance as per
the statutory notifications. Screening Criteria are based upon: Scales of investment;
Type of development; and, Location of development.

2. SCOPING:
Scoping is a process of detailing the terms of reference of EIA. It has to be done
by the consultant in consultation with the project proponent and guidance, if need
be, from Impact Assessment Agency.
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3. BASELINE DATA:
Baseline data describes the existing environmental status of the identified study
area. The site-specific primary data should be monitored for the identified
parameters and supplemented by secondary data if available.

4. IMPACT PREDICTION:
Impact prediction is a way of mapping the environmental consequences of the
significant aspects of the project and its alternatives. Environmental impact can
never be predicted with absolute certainty and this is all the more reason to consider
all possible factors and take all possible precautions for reducing the degree of
uncertainty. The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) should be prepared on
the basis of the existing background pollution levels vis-a-vis contributions of
pollutants from the proposed plant.
The following impacts of the project should be assessed:
Meteorology and air quality;
Hydrology and water quality;
Land;
Biological; deforestation and shrinking of animal habitat, impact on fauna and
flora, impact on breeding and nesting grounds.
Socio-economic; Impact on local community, on economic status, on human
health, of increased traffic.
Details of the treatment and disposal of effluents and the methods of alternative
uses
Transportation of raw material and details of material handling
Control equipment and measures proposed to be adopted

5. ASSESSMENT OF ALTERNATIVES, DELINEATION OF MITIGATION MEASURES

For every project, possible alternatives should be identified and environmental
attributes compared. Alternatives should cover both project location and process
technologies. Alternatives should then be ranked for selection of the best
environmental option for optimum economic benefits to the community at large.

6. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT REPORT

Once alternatives have been reviewed, a mitigation plan should be drawn up for the
selected option and is supplemented with an Environmental Management Plan
(EMP) to guide the proponent towards environmental improvements. The EMP
is a crucial input to monitoring the clearance conditions and therefore details of
monitoring should be included in the EMP. An EIA report should provide clear
information to the decision-maker on the different environmental scenarios
without the project, with the project and with project alternatives. Uncertainties
should be clearly reflected in the EIA report.

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7. PUBLIC HEARING:
Law requires that the public must be informed and consulted on a proposed
development after the completion of EIA report. The summery of the project
report are to be made public by conducting public hearing.
The studies are discussed at public hearings before being evaluated by a set of
identified experts who then recommend a decision to the Ministry or State
government on the project.
Any one likely to be affected by the proposed project is entitled to have access to
the Executive Summary of the EIA. The affected persons may include: bonafide
local residents; local associations; environmental groups: active in the area and
any other person located at the project site / sites of displacement. They are to be
given an opportunity to make oral/written suggestions to the State Pollution
Control Board.

8. DECISION MAKING:
After completion of the mandatory steps and the appraisal of documents, by the
committee of experts, the project is granted environmental clearance.
Such clearance is valid only for 5 years (10 years in the case of River Valley
Projects).
The site clearance shall be granted for a maximum period of five years for
starting of the project.
If however, no comments are received from the Ministry within the given time, the
project would stand cancelled.

9. MONITORING THE CLEARANCE CONDITIONS:

Monitoring should be done during both construction and operation phases of a
project. This is not only to ensure that the commitments made are complied with but
also to observe whether the predictions made in the EIA reports were correct or not.
Where the impacts exceed the predicted levels, corrective action should be taken.
Monitoring will enable the regulatory agency to review the validity of predictions and
the conditions of implementation of the Environmental Management Plan (EMP).
The primary objective of such a procedure is to ensure adequacy of the suggested
safeguards and also to undertake mid-course corrections required, if any. The
procedure adopted for monitoring is as follows:
1. Project authorities are required to report every six months on the progress of
implementation of the conditions/safeguards stipulated, while according
clearance to the project.
2. Field visits of officers and expert teams from the Ministry and/ or its Regional
Offices are undertaken to collect and analyse performance data of development
projects, so that difficulties encountered are discussed with the proponents with a
view to finding solutions.

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3. In case of substantial deviations and poor or no response, the matter is taken up
with the concerned State Government.
4. Changes in scope of project are identified to check whether review of earlier
decision is called for or not.

ENVIRONMENT MANAGEMENT PLAN (EMP):

Preparation of Environmental Management Plan is required for formulation,
implementation and monitoring of environmental protection measures during and
after commissioning of projects. EMP contains details of the management measures
to be adopted. It narrates the key agencies/persons which would be responsible for
the implementation of the plan. It also includes Disaster Management Plan. It
contain:
Delineation of mitigation measures including prevention and control for each
environmental component and rehabilitation and resettlement plan.
Delineation of monitoring scheme for compliance of conditions
Delineation of implementation plan including scheduling and resource allocation

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT (EIS)

It is a gist of the whole exercise for getting environmental clearance and also for
information of the general public.

PRESENT SCENARIO OF EIA IN INDIA

As more and more projects have been proposed on forests, common lands, coastal
areas, and freshwater lakes over the years, citizens have brought to bear on the
clearance process, values of aesthetics, attachment, sustenance, risk and
trusteeship. Obviously, this complicates decision-making on big-ticket projects, and
has earned this law many epithets such as stumbling block, bottleneck and green
hurdle. But those who are responsible to protect the nature failed to recognise its
value. As a result, cases have piled up in courts, especially at the National Green
Tribunal (NGT) that was set up to look into complaints regarding the environment
clearance process.

Environment Supplement Plan (ESP).

This is the first step towards killing the EIA process in India. The Ministry of
Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF) has issued a draft
notification seeking to amend the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of
2006, allowing those who violate this law to continue work with an
Environment Supplement Plan. It seeks to provide an ESP for projects that
have already initiated construction activity and expansion before going
through an EIA process.
The ESP will draw up an assessment and cost of damages which the project
developer is expected to pay up. This sounds less like an environmental fine

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 an important component among a slew of mechanisms to deter projects
from violating environmental norms and more like a crude form of pay and
use service. Is the money is going to be pay up or not. Take the case of the
fine of Rs.200 crore on the Adani SEZ in Gujarat, or Rs.5 crore for the Art of
Living event on the Yamuna floodplains. Even if one were to be more
optimistic about these collections, the governments ability to use these
resources to restore the environment, or provide justice to scores of affected
people, is severely lacking.

Problems of rehabilitation and resettlement:

Developmental projects like construction of roads, dams, canals and flyovers
displace people from their home.
Loss of livelihood: People have to leave their ancestral land and forests on
which they depend for their livelihood. Many of them have no skills to take up
another activity or pick up any other occupation. Usually, the new land that is
offered to them is of poor quality and the refugees are unable to make a living.
Meager compensation: The compensation for the land lost is often not paid, it
is delayed or even if paid, is too small
Lack of facilities: When people are resettled in a new area, basic infrastructure
and amenities are not provided in that area. Very often, temporary camps
become permanent settlements.
Loss of connection between the people and the environment is the greatest
loss in the process. The indigenous knowledge that they have regarding the
wildlife and the herbal plants are lost.
Little or no support: Displacement mainly hits tribal and rural people who
usually do not figure in the priority list of any political authorities or parties.
Increase in health problems: Lack of nutrition due to the loss of agriculture and
forest based livelihood, lead to the general decline in the health of the people.
People are used to traditional home remedies. But the herbal remedies and
plants gets submerged due to the developmental projects.
Loss of identity: Tribal life is community based. Displacement have a negative
impact on their livelihood, culture and spiritual existence in the following ways:
o Break up of families and communities are the important social issues of
displacement.
o When they are resettled, it is generally individual based resettlement, which
ignores communal character.
o Inter-community marriages, cultural functions, folk songs and dances do not
take place among the displaced people.

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 Lack of environmental data
The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) experience in India indicates that
the lack of timely availability of reliable and authentic environmental data
has been a major bottle neck in achieving the full benefits of EIA.
The environmental data is not available in value added forms that can
enhance the quality of the EIA.
This in turn adversely affects the time and efforts required for conducting
the environmental impact assessments (EIAs) by project proponents and also
timely environmental clearances by the regulators.
The data collectors do not pay respect to the indigenous knowledge of
local people.
In the Indian system it is being found that the team formed for conducting EIA
studies is lacking the expertise in various fields such as Anthropologists and
Social Scientists (to study the social impact of the project) or even wild life
experts.
Decision aiding tool
EIA as it is practiced today is being used as a decision aiding tool rather than
decision making tool.
Limited public participation
Public comments are not taken into account at the early stage, which often
leads to conflict at the later stage of project clearance.
In some instances where public participation is required by EIA legislation,
such participation could be limited in practice. For example, the law in India
required that a public hearing is conducted; however, NGOs often considered
the public hearing as a staged process that appeared to involve citizens when
the decision had already been made.
At present no procedure has been specified for determining a system boundary
for the assessment. This boundary is determined by the applicant and the lead
assessor, but in practice, almost all EIAs address the direct, on-site effects
alone.
Exempting industries from the EIA requirements in screening process based on
the investment value of specific projects is not acceptable. It is a well-established
fact that the small scale industries are contributing more pollution with respect to
the major industry.

THE WAY FORWARD FOR BETTER EIA

The EIA process in India faces several critical challenges, the primary being the
need for greater transparency, ensuring accountability of regulators and
improving the quality of public participation. The Courts interventions in various
cases have sought to address each of these challenges. The recent order to

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establish an independent national environmental regulator to oversee the EIA
process is a reflection of the Courts frustration with the piecemeal nature of policy
reforms and an attempt to provide a clear institutional framework for addressing
the existing challenges. Although some may criticize this as an example of the
judiciary stepping into the policy sphere, nevertheless the Courts commitment
towards making the EIA process more effective deserves to be applauded.

Public hearing:
The public hearing should be held for all projects which are likely to
have environmental and social impacts. Public hearing should be done in at
least three phases or stages. This should be strictly implemented.
NGOs, civil society groups and local communities need to build their capacities to
use the EIA notification towards better decision making on projects.

Local communities in monitoring and reporting process:

Local communities should be brought in to the formal monitoring and
reporting process of the compliance of conditions presently done by the
regional offices of the MOEF. This would help the regional office as well since the
geographical areas and number of project that comes under each office is vast
which affects the efficiency and regularity of the monitoring process.
Citizen should be able to access the authority for redressal of all violation
of the EIA notification as well as issues relating to non-compliance.

Mitigate the impacts of Rehabilitation & Resettlement

People should be allowed to live as a community based life.
Tribal people should be allowed to live along the lives of their own patterns
and others should avoid imposing anything on them.
They should be provided means to develop their own traditional art and
culture in every way.
Resettlement should be in the neighbourhood of their own environment.
If resettlement is not possible in the neighbour area, priority should be given to
the development of the irrigation facilities and supply of basic inputs for
agriculture, drinking water, wells, grazing ground for the cattle, schools for the
children, primary healthcare units and other amenities.
Removal of poverty should be one of the objectives of rehabilitation.
The displaced people should be given employment opportunities.
Villagers should be educated about the legalities of the Land Acquisition act
and other rehabilitation provisions and the elderly people of the village should
be involved in the decision making.

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 Expert Persons in Executive committee:
The present executive committees should be replaced by experts people
from various stakeholder groups, who are reputed in environmental and other
relevant fields.
Training programmes:
The officials should be given sector specific training programmes on
Environmental Impact Assessment on various fields, like mining, river projects,
thermal projects, etc.
Online portal:
Dedicated online portal for effective monitoring to speed up the process of
disposing the applications for environmental clearance
Standardisation of terms of reference for preparation of EIA reports and the
Environment Management Plan.
The notification needs to make it clear that the provision for site clearance
does not imply any commitment on the part of the impact Assessment
agency to grant full environmental clearance.
New Regional offices:
The MOEF should set up more regional offices, each with smaller areas
of jurisdiction, to effectively monitor the compliance of clearance conditions.
Advisory Expert committees :
It would be useful to have advisory Expert committees at the MOEF
regional offices, comprising of ecologists, sociologists, local community
members, government officials and representative of local institutions to help
with the clearance of projects at the regional levels and monitoring of compliance
of conditions.
Monitoring mechanism by the state department:
A robust monitoring mechanism should be established by the state
department where the central projects involving forest clearance is given
out. Such a monitoring body should be given powers to address
compliance of both sets of clearance conditions together and to take punitive
action against the project proponent in case of non-compliance of any of
the conditions.
All those projects where there is likely to be a significant alternation of
ecosystems need to go through the process of environmental clearance, without
exception.
No industrial development in ecologically sensitive areas:
No industrial or large scale developmental activity should be permitted in
ecologically sensitive areas. Only developmental activities / processes which
do not alter the basic ecological characteristics of such an area or do not
cause destruction of the fragile ecosystems should be allowed.

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 Stringent punishment for non- compliance:
The EIA notification needs to build within it an automatic withdrawal of
clearance if the conditions of clearance are being violated, and introduce
more stringent punishment for non- compliance.
Adopt Polluters Pay Principle

The focus of EIA needs to shift from utilization and exploitation of natural resources
to conservation of natural resources.

CURRENT AFFAIRS IN INDIA RELATED TO EIA

1. COAL-FIRED POWER STATION IN SUNDARBANS
The 1320-megawatt coal-fired mega power plant at Rampal, a joint venture by
Bangladesh and India near the Sundarbans is going to be a deciding factor for
the fate of Sundarban.
Even though the government endorsed Environmental Impact Assessment report
acknowledges some threats originating from the mega-project, it decided to carry
on. Under Indias Central Environment Ministry classifications, this plant would be
extremely dangerous for the environment. And there is a precedence for concern.
A few years ago, monsoon waters washed ash from a thermal power plant in
West Bengal, killing local biodiversity up to 30 kilometres away.

UNESCO REPORT ABOUT RAMPAL PROJECT

The Report called for the Rampal project to be cancelled and relocated and
commented that:
The project had the potential to cause irreversible damage from coal ash,
wastewater, waste ash, shipping and construction activity related to the plant.
The threats identified to the site had not been adequately addressed in the
projects EIA and that the plant was not applying the best technology or the
highest standards; and
The project had not assessed the overall combined impact of all the construction
activity or planned for an integrated mitigation and avoidance of the impacts.
This lack of a comprehensive management plan was especially worrying given
the areas vulnerability to climate change and the fragility of its ecosystem.
Earlier, it was said by the government that the UNESCO lifted its objection on the
construction of the power plant. But by a report at the 41st session of the World
Heritage Committee, UNESCO made it clear that no large-scale industrial or
infrastructural development should be allowed to proceed in the vicinity of the
Sundarbans before Bangladesh carried out the strategic environmental
assessment (SEA) for its south-west region. But now the government would go
ahead with the construction of Rampal power plant near the Sundarbans and
take measures to mitigate adverse effects, if necessary, upon the SEA.

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ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF THE RAMPAL PROJECT
In the absence of minimum environmental management and preparedness,
Bangladesh and India are allowing a high volume of shipping, navigation and
industrialisation in and around the Sundarbans mangrove region.
Beside combustion of coal in the forests impact zone, the power plant is going to
aggravate the unsustainable industrialisation in the state-acknowledged
ecologically critical area near the forest, and it will boost shipping on a larger
scale. The mega plant will need an estimated 4.72 million tons of coal per year to
be imported through Sundarban rivers.
A lot of ships will be coming, carrying so much coal. So flora and fauna will be
substantially affected. The moving and manoeuvring of vessels induce a variety
of hydrodynamic changes and physical forces which have an impact on the
surrounding flow, alluvial banks and sediments of the rivers.
The shipping also raise the risk of transportation accidents just recently in 2014,
a tanker accident in the Shela river in the region spilled thousands of gallons of
oil in the waters.
The EIA states that the proposed jetty to unload coal in the Sundarbans, and
shipping through the forest, will cause oil spillage, air, noise and light pollution.
Increased shipping not only multiplies risks from oil spill, the release of coal,
chemical, fertilizer and fly ash by accident; in course of routine operation, vessels
discharge ballast water, bilge water, and there is cargo tank washing too.
There is also the impact of ship-induced waves on the mangrove ecosystem,
disturbance to wildlife and the risk of international wildlife trafficking spreading
widely with regular vessel based pollution.
These impacts potentially harm the environment and can ultimately lead to
environmental degradation.

THE WAY FORWARD FOR THE RAMPAL PROJECT

For safer trade routes, Bangladesh and India can work together to improve the
navigability of northern rivers by simply increasing the upstream water flow and
establishing an environmental management regime for Mongla port bound ships
though through Passur river.
Its important, however, that projects in fragile ecosystems take a good look at
impacts and investigate alternative methods of power generation that have
minimal impact. Destroying an area that has evolved over millions of years for
short-term benefits is likely to be counter-productive on every level.

2. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF RIVER VALLEY PROJECTS

Observations reveal that each RVHP (River Valley & Hydroelectric Projects) i.e.
,hydroelectric or irrigation project brings broad range of impacts including alteration
in the habitats and species, diversity of area, changes in land use pattern,
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aesthetics, natural and artificial resources and also affect upstream and downstream
biology, hydrology and sociology. Although, water used in the RVHP projects may
be free, inexhaustible and reusable natural resource but the same is not true for the
environmental aspects. Environmental aspects need to be scrutinized for the
sustainable development to mitigate the negative impact caused by RVHP projects.
River valley projects result in environmental impacts both during the construction
and the operational phases.

During Construction Phase During Operation Phase

Beneficial Impacts Adverse Impacts Beneficial Impacts Adverse Impacts
Socio- Economic Socio- Economic Socio- Economic Impacts Physical Impacts
Impacts Impacts Increased/improved crop Water-logging &
Employment Displacement of production Salinity
Infrastructure people Power generation Change in water
development Loss of homestead/ Water supply quality and
Communication heritage sites/ Ground water recharge sediment load
improvement monuments, if any Flood moderation downstream of
Agro- industry dam
Tourism Reduction in the
flow of water
resulting in less
availability of
water for irrigation,
drinking, etc and
recharging of
water table
Biotic Impacts Biotic Impacts Biotic Impacts
Submergence of Increased aquatic life Increased aquatic
forest land, Afforestation, green belt weeds
agriculture land, Migratory birds Spread of water
wetlands and fish New wetland areas borne diseases
breeding grounds Deterioration of
Effects on flora & water quality
fauna Change in species
Effects on Ecology composition
of the area

ENVIRONMENTAL SAFEGUARDS/CONDITIONS STIPULATED FOR RVHP PROJECTS

The safeguards stipulated by the Government. of India to maintain the
environmental and ecological balance in the concerned area are:
Proper resettlement and rehabilitation of the project affected persons.
Free fuel supply to be provided to the labour force at the project cost.
Restoration of construction area to be ensured by levelling, filling of borrow pits
and land escaping. Necessary soil conservation measures during construction of
roads.
Afforestation/compensatory afforestation.

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 The execution of the CAT plan (catchment area treatment plan) at least over the
directly raining catchment must be completed before filling up the reservoir or
before water diversion starts, respectively, in the cases of reservoir and run-off-
the-river schemes. The project budget may have adequate provision for planning
and executing CAT activities.
Adequate arrangement to prevent incidence of any endemic health problems due
to water/soil borne diseases.
Providing drinking water attracts Priority No. 1 under the National Water Policy
(2002) of the Govt. of India.
A multidisciplinary Environmental Management Cell to be constituted by the State
Govt. in consultation with the MOEF with inclusion of experts from the
disciplines such as forestry, ecology, wildlife, social science etc. to oversee the
effective implementation of suggested environmental measures.
Adequate and separate budget for the environmental management, including
Plans for Biodiversity Management, Fisheries Management, Wildlife
Management, Conservation/ Rehabilitation of RET species, etc.

CONCLUSION
It has been recognised that India is well verse with apt legal provisions, which are
very essential for further strengthening of the EIA process. Moreover, EIA process
possesses a basic structure, including screening, scoping, comprehensive study,
progress report, review, public participation, decision and follow-up measures. To
address the critical issues political commitment and public participation is
indispensable. Improved effectiveness will also depend on strength of government
agency coordination, integrated decision-making adequate training to various
stakeholders and supporting infrastructure for purposeful monitoring and
enforcement. It is required that EIA system be regularly revisited for progressive
refinement that should not only remove existing constraints but also take care of
future challenges. It is further recommended that project level EIA needs immediate
attention but efforts should also be targeted to include environmental
conservation concerns at policy and planning level. Such initiatives would help
in filling up the gaps in coordination between various government authorities
involved in planning and execution.
PREVIOUS YEAR QUESTION
1. Rehabilitation of human settlements is one of the important environmental impacts which
always attracts controversy while planning major projects. Discuss the measures suggested for
mitigation of this impact while proposing major developmental projects. (2016)
2. Environmental Impact Assessment Studies are increasingly undertaken before a project is
cleared by the government. Discuss the environmental impacts of coal fired thermal plants
located at coal pitheads. (2014)

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