Environmental Impact Assessment amended by Environment Ministry

The Ministry of Environment has recategorized all the bulk drugs manufacturers under category ‘A’ to category ‘B2’. An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification 2006 was amended in order to achieve this.

Highlights

The projects that are falling under Category A require mandatory EIA. On the other hand, the projects under Category B2 are exempted from EIA. The recategorization will fasten the process. The recategorization has been done to decentralize the proposals to state level.

The states have been provided with guidelines to process the proposals before authorising them.

Environment Impact Assessment

The EIA is a process to evaluate environmental impacts caused due a proposed project. The EIA is backed by the Environment Protection Act, 1986. There are four stages in EIA cycle. They are screening, scoping, public hearing and appraisal.

Categories-Differences

The Categories A and B have only one difference. The Category A projects require mandatory environmental clearance and does not undergo screening. On the other hand, category B projects undergoes screening process.

Under Category B, there are two types. They are Category B1 and Category B2. Category B1 are those projects that require EIA for appraisal and also has to undergo public consultation and category B2 are those that do not require EIA.

Screening

The Screening process is done to decide whether EIA is required or not. The screening process submits a report called Initial Environment Examination.

Month: Current Affairs - April, 2020