ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT LAW IN INDIA
Environmental Impact Assessment as a process of predicting and evaluating the effects of
an action or series of actions on the environment, then using the conclusions as a tool in
planning and decision-making. One of the aims is to prevent environmental degradation;
but this is done in two parts. EIA is just the first part, and all it does is to give planners
and decision-makers better information about the consequences, which development
actions could have on the environment. The second step, of making sure that weight is
given to that information, and that decisions are taken in a direction which gives an
environmentally favourable result, depends on having additional policies or laws which
embody the aim of securing such results. This means that measuring the effectiveness of
EIA is really about how well informed decisions are. The end result of a well-informed
decision might still be damage to the environment; so the amount of environmental
damage cannot be used as an indicator of how good the EIA system is. EIA is
multidisciplinary, systematic and predictive; it is therefore different, for example, from
the more retrospective process of environmental audit. It can play an rôle in checking
conformity with regulations, as well as investigating physical impacts.
EIA is widely accepted norm of international environmental law. Typically, such an
assessment balances economic benefits with environmental costs. The logic of such an
assessment dictates that before a project is undertaken, its economic benefits must be
substantially exceed its environmental costs. India has adopted this norm for select
projects which are covered under the Environmental Impact Assessment regulation
introduced in January 1994. The first attempt at comprehensive statuary EIA programme
began in 27 January 1994 when the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest issued a
notification dealing with mandatory EIA. The notification mandates a public hearing
dealing an req