Environmental clearance: Seeking "additional information" will delay projects, Centre to expert committees

Counterview Desk
In a fresh concession to corporate sector developers across India, a new office memorandum, one the many in a series issues by the Union ministry of environment, forests and climate change, has told Indian and state environmental authorities not to seek any additional information before providing environmental clearance. The memorandum states, “it has been brought to its notice” that Expert Appraisal Committees (EACs, Central authorities, giving environmental clearance to bigger projects) and State Expert Appraisal Committees (SEACs, giving environmental nod to smaller projects) have been seeking “additional studies which do not form a part of terms of reference”, adding, the authorities should stop the practice.
Pointing out that this “delays the whole process and is against the spirit of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification (2006)”, the memorandum says, EACs and SEACs should address “all issues” at the primary Scoping Clearance stage itself, basing themselves on "information submitted by the project proponent". In fact, it insists, the meeting of project proponents with EACs should ensure that “no fresh issues are raised later”, and that additional information/ additional studies are asked for only in extreme, “inevitable” cases.
The title of the memorandum itself suggests what the Centre wants -- "Seeking additional studies by EACs/ SEACs during appraisal of project beyond the Terms of Reference (ToRs) prescribed under EIA Notification 2006." Taking strong exception to the approach, two senior environmentalists of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP), Parineeta Dandekar and Himanshu Thakkar, have said in a recent article that it as yet another “pro-industry and anti-environment” order, adding, “Drop by drop, such orders and circulars are making it impossible to rely on the original environmental acts and notifications.”
Suggesting that the new memorandum appears to have been “brought out due to pressure from project-related ministries and industrial lobby”, SANDRP has said, even now “EACs and SEACs were asking for additional studies in very rare cases”. In fact, “EACs, like the one on river valley and hydropower projects, have a clearance record of 100 per cent and rarely ask for additional studies.” Given this factor, they wonder, “So what was the need for this specific memorandum?”
Qualifying it as a “regressive step”, SANRDP says, “In reality, the very need for asking such additional studies or information is due to severely compromised information provided by the proponents themselves at the Scoping Clearance stage. Looking at the environmental clearance process, it seems hiding information, providing false information, misleading the EAC and even committing blatant violations has become the norm rather than an exception.”
It adds, “In very rare cases, when this is exposed before EAC, they have asked for additional studies -- instead of taking any strong action, for example rejecting the application or postponing decision till the studies are done, as per the law and prudent decision making norms.” In fact, the memorandum “effectively” states that EACs should “process applications based on any shoddy information they receive and should close their eyes even when critical issues surface later in the process”.
The environmentalists say, “Rather than passing such memorandums, the ministry needs to ensure that all the steps of EC process are complied with. That’s not the case today and that’s a more pressing problem than additional studies. It is this non-compliance that is damaging the spirit of EIA Notification 2006 about which the Ministry seems to be least concerned. There is no need for any additional memorandums to fix these issues, only real concern for spirit of EIA Notification and other related laws.“
According to them, “By ordering that no additional information should be sought after TOR stage, the ministry is deriding the importance of public hearing which take place as a part of the EIA study, after TORs are granted. By discouraging additional studies, it is suggesting that even public consultations are immaterial. No more studies, after TOR please!” They qualify it as “an insult of the public consultation process which should form the heart of appraisal and assessment process”.

Comments

Was Netaji forced to alter face, die in obscurity in USSR in 1975? Was he so meek?

By Rajiv Shah This should sound almost hilarious. Not only did Subhas Chandra Bose not die in a plane crash in Taipei, nor was he the mysterious Gumnami Baba who reportedly passed away on 16 September 1985 in Ayodhya, but we are now told that he actually died in 1975—date unknown—“in oblivion” somewhere in the former Soviet Union. Which city? Moscow? No one seems to know.

Love letters in a lifelong war: Babusha Kohli’s resistance in verse

By Ravi Ranjan* “War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” Bertrand Russell’s words echo hauntingly in our times, and few contemporary Hindi poets embody this truth as profoundly as Babusha Kohli. Emerging from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Kohli has carved a unique space in literature by weaving together tenderness, protest, and philosophy across poetry, prose, and cinema. Her work is not merely artistic expression—it is resistance, refuge, and a call for peace.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Asbestos contamination in children’s products highlights global oversight gaps

By A Representative A commentary published by the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS) has drawn attention to the challenges governments face in responding effectively to global public-health risks. In an article written by Laurie Kazan-Allen and published on March 5, 2026, the author examines how the discovery of asbestos contamination in children’s play products has raised questions about regulatory oversight and international product safety. The article opens by reflecting on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that governments in several countries were slow to respond to early warning signs of the crisis. Referring to the experience of the United Kingdom, the author writes that delays in implementing protective measures contributed to “232,112 recorded deaths and over a million people suffering from long Covid.” The commentary uses this example to illustrate what it describes as the dangers of underestimating emerging threats. Attention then turns...

India’s green energy push faces talent crunch amidst record growth at 16% CAGR

By Jag Jivan* A new study by a top consulting firm has found that India’s cleantech sector is entering a decisive growth phase, with strong policy backing, record capacity additions and surging investor interest, but facing mounting pressure on talent supply and rising compensation costs .

The kitchen as prison: A feminist elegy for domestic slavery

By Garima Srivastava* Kumar Ambuj stands as one of the most incisive voices in contemporary Hindi poetry. His work, stripped of ornamentation, speaks directly to the lived realities of India’s marginalized—women, the rural poor, and those crushed under invisible forms of violence. His celebrated poem “Women Who Cook” (Khānā Banātī Striyāṃ) is not merely about food preparation; it is a searing indictment of patriarchal domestic structures that reduce women’s existence to endless, unpaid labour.

The price of silence: Why Modi won’t follow Shastri, appeal for sacrifice

By Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey* In 1965, as India grappled with war and a crippling food crisis, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri faced a United States that used wheat shipments under the PL-480 agreement as a lever to dictate Indian foreign policy. Shastri’s response remains legendary: he appealed to the nation to skip one meal a day. Millions of middle-class households complied, choosing temporary hunger over the sacrifice of national dignity. Today, India faces a modern equivalent in the energy sector, yet the leadership’s response stands in stark contrast to that era of self-reliance.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Beyond sattvik: Purity, caste and the politics of the Indian kitchen

By Rajiv Shah A few week ago, I was forwarded an article that appeared in the British weekly The Economist . Titled “Caste and cuisine: From honeycomb curry to blood fry: India’s ‘untouchable’ cooking”, it took me back to what I had blogged about what was called a “ sattvik food festival”, an annual event organised by former Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad professor Anil Gupta.

Search This Blog