Does India Have Strong Environmental Compliance? (In English) – Free PDF Download

The News

Budget 2022-23

• Irrigation
  • Implementation of the Ken-Betwa Link Project, at an estimated cost of 44,605 crore will be taken up.
  • 5 other river linking projects
    • Damanganga-Pinjal
    • Par-Tapi- Narmada
    • Godavari-Krishna
    • Krishna-Pennar
    • Cauvery-Pennar

The Big Questions

• Are the flagship projects approved by MoEFCC Environmentally viable?
• Do they follow environmental compliance?

Not Really…!!

• Many a times projects have been rejected due to lack of environmental viability but clearance is provided due to strategic & economic benefits.
• Government clearances are rationalised with substantial compensatory measures in the blanket of strategic interest.
• But the big issue is even these meagre compensatory measures are seldom implemented.

But Why?

1. There is huge lack of trained manpower and resource limitations

• Between 2014 and 2019, the MoEFCC granted over 11,500 environment and forest clearances.
• However there are less than 80 officials in the Ministry for field verification under green laws.

But Why?

2. Absence of an effective compliance mechanism

• Ministry is understaffed and under funded to ensure compliance from private players.
• Self-certification or self regulation is promoted to bring down non-compliance but its mostly on paper.

But Why?

3. Ease of doing business or Ease of degrading environment

• There is a absence of strong political will to setup effective environmental standards.
• The Government incentivise states for faster environmental clearance but the environmental institutions face funding limitations.
• Instead of strengthening the monitoring mechanism and applying effective punitive tools, successive governments have relied on post-facto clearance & subsidies.

The proof

• Ken Betwa Project
  • The KB linking project was considered unviable by several experts for its immense environmental cost and was rejected in 2011.
  • But it got revived with a techno-economic clearance in 2016.
  • In 2017, its forest clearance was made conditional on compensating for the diversion of 60.17 sq km forest land by including an equal extent of income land to Panna tiger reserve.
  • Though it is not in the Environment ministry’s power to modify a condition put by its expert panels, the Ministry of Jal Shakti and Madhya Pradesh government have been seeking relaxations repeatedly since 2018.

The proof

• Subansiri project in Arunachal
  • For 17 years, both MoEFCC & AP govt have been ignoring the crucial inputs from the Supreme Court in 2004 for clearing the 2,000-MW Subansiri project.
• Dibang multipurpose project in Arunachal
  • Dibang project had not complied with the key precondition of declaring the catchment forests as a national park.
  • Despite this a final forest clearance has been issued to the twice-rejected 3,000-MW Dibang multipurpose project.

The proof

• Kulda coal mine (Odisha) and Tamnar thermal plant (C’garh)
  • The MoEFCC & expert panels are aware that the developers Mahanadi Coalfields Limited and Jindal Power Limited continued to transport coal through village roads.
  • Multiple exceptions were made in granting clearances to these projects in “the national interest”.
  • Goa airport project
  • As of now, Goa lags by 50% behind in compensatory afforestation. An unusual 10-for-1 plantation target was allowed on paper for the proposed international airport.

So what’s the conclusion?

Latest Burning Issues | Free PDF

Sharing is caring!