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Big promises, underwhelming results: evaluation of shortcomings of environment impact assessment mechanism in India

Author Affiliations

  • 1PG Research Scholar, School of Ecology and Environment Studies, Nalanda University, Rajgir, Nalanda, Bihar, India

Int. Res. J. Environment Sci., Volume 6, Issue (3), Pages 58-65, March,22 (2017)

Abstract

Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) is a practice to be done before any venture or significant movement is attempted to guarantee that it will not at all damage the environment on a long haul premise. Any formative effort entails not adjust in-depth examination of the need for such a venture, fiscal expenses, and advantages but also, it requires a nitty gritty appraisal of the impact of a proposed venture. The point of an EIA is to guarantee that potential effects are distinguished and tended to at an early stage in the ventures arranging and plan. To accomplish this point, the appraisal finding is conveyed to all, who will settle on choices about the proposed ventures, the venture engineers, and their financial specialists and in addition controllers, organizers and the government officials. So that EIA can shape the venture with the goal that its advantages can be accomplished and managed without bringing about unfriendly effects. Lately, significant ventures have experienced genuine troubles in light of the fact that deficient record has been brought of their association with the encompassing environment. Many new ventures have been observed to be unsustainable on account of asset exhaustion and their unfavorable effects. Although the purpose of introducing EIA in India was like other country in world to use it as a device for safeguarding that environmental anxieties, which are cohesive into the development project or programme planning process, however after more than 20 years, still it doesn\'t appear as a powerful device to \" ‘safeguard’ the environment and socioeconomic arrangement of the communities in the country. Thus, this article, by tracing the evidence from various case studies related to the EIA from various sources of secondary data, including from various literatures, texts, articles, news, archives, explores the notable inadequacies in EIA processes and practices in India and finally by analyzing the loopholes, it distinguishes opportunities for exploiting the present conditions for reinforcing the EIA procedure. Hence this article, by tracing the evidence from history provides a background, how over the year and the EIA is converted into the project justification tool rather than project planning tool.

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