EIA draft 2020: How it can harm Northeast- NE TRAVEL & TOURISM

Northeast India is always known for its magical and spectacular natural beauty. What does northeast India does not have, from high mountain peak to plateaus, from dense forest to low lying grassland, and needless to say about the wide varieties of wildlife species? One more thing that northeast India possesses is an abundant amount of natural resources. But all this is now in grave danger because of a term called Environment Impact assessment shortly EIA.
 


What is EIA?

Environmental Impact assessment is the assessment of the environmental consequences of a plan, policy, program, or actual projects before the decision to move forward with the proposed action.

 

Evolution of EIA

EIA was introduced by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) 1969 IN USA.
Many developed countries, like Canada, Australia and New Zealand started implementing it the following years of 1973-1974.

However, India came up with this law only in the year 1994. It was started when the Planning commission directed the Department of Science and Technology to examine the river-valley projects from an environmental view.

Later this was extended to other projects, which required the Public Investment Board Approvals.                               


What are the processes of EIA?

EIA processes begin with the screening of the project, its scale of investment, location and type of development. Then it scopes into the project’s potential impacts.

Thereafter it looks into the good and bad, reversible and irreversible, temporary and permanent impacts on the zone and its mitigation.

Along with it public hearing, monitoring, assessment of alternatives and risk assessment are the few other important processes.


 

EIA notification 2020

Many notable environmentalists and prominent student unions of Assam, as well as other northeastern states, have deemed the draft EIA 2020 as a corporate lobby, to ensure the ‘ease of doing businesses. As the capitalist always runs for profit.

Moreover, the public hearing and participation of affected communities are further limited by reducing the notice period for the public hearing to 20 days from 30 days, which even lasts for 6 to 18 months earlier.

The most dangerous change is the decision to re-categorise many of the big projects as B2 (projects that do not require EIA) and thus exempted from it. Given the environmental fragility of North East India, these changes can bring large scale environmental change.

 

How it is Impacting Northeast?



Northeast India has always been in dilemma due to un-wise implication of various legislative changes.

Either it is cultural, ethnicity or its language northeast has been always looked upon with an evil eye.

Needless to say, about the “militarised hydro / carbon frontier”, which comprises the areas of Assam- Nagaland border.

People of Assam and Meghalaya has seen extraction of coal, minerals, gas and oil from the time of pre-independence. In Assam alone, Coal India Limited has extracted about 450 million tonnes (MT) of coal, out of the total coal prospect of 550 MT.

The ecological future of Arunachal Pradesh is also not so bright as there is a plan to develop almost 170 hydro-electric projects that provide around 70,000 megawatts (MW) of power, more than a third of India’s total hydro potential.


The massive Dihing–Patkai which overlaps a coal reserve was recently is in news due to the netizens across northeast started a campaign against the illogical amendment of EIA and to save it from the destruction.

The burning of BhagJan oil field, which lasted for almost 50 days is a sheer example of negligence Oil India Limited. The fire not only destroyed valuable natural resources it possessed but also destroyed the properties of hundreds of families.

We as a human species it is ours to save this earth for our future generation. We better do it now or never.

 

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