• Earlier this year, in March, the union environment ministry unveiled the draft environment impact assessment notification 2020 to replace the 2006 version. The EIA notification governs the environment clearance process for industrial and infrastructural projects.
  • The draft EIA 2020 came under heavy criticism from environmentalists who called it a serious dilution of the present rules and said that it would favour projects that violate rules and operate without environment clearance.
  • The government had extended the time for seeking comments from all stakeholders over the proposed changes from mid-May to June 30. But now, there is a further demand for extending the consultation period.

Continuing its push for ensuring a smoother path for industries in securing environment clearances, the Indian government’s environment ministry is in the process of changing the environment impact assessment (EIA) notification 2006 which governs the process of granting or rejecting environment clearances to industrial and infrastructural projects.

The draft, which was unveiled earlier this year in March, has already generated a lot of controversy with environmentalists calling it a serious dilution of the 2006 version. The government had extended the date for public comments on the proposed changes till June 30 after pressure from environmentalists and opposition alike. But now, there is a fresh demand from civil society groups for extending the public consultation time period by three months as the proposed changes would have damaging consequences on the environment and the society.

This article first appeared on Mongabay.