Indian Policies Requiring EIA
The environmental impact assessment in India was started in 1976-77 when the Planning Commission asked the then Department of Science and Technology to examine the river-valley projects from environmental angle. This was subsequently extended to cover those projects, which required approval of the Public Investment Board. These were administrative decisions, and lacked the legislative support. The Government of India enacted the Environment (Protection) Act on 23rd May 1986. To achieve the objectives of the Act, one of the decisions that were taken is to make environmental impact assessment statutory. After following the legal procedure, a notification was issued on 27th January 1994 and subsequently amended on 4th May 1994, 10th April 1997 and 27th January 2000 (Annex 1) making environmental impact assessment statutory for 30 activities. This is the principal piece of legislation governing environmental impact assessment.
Besides this the Government of India under Environment (Protection) Act 1986 issued a number of other notifications, which are related to environmental impact assessment. These are limited to specific geographical areas. These are listed in Box 1.1.
Box 1.1
· Prohibiting location of industries except those related to Tourism in a belt of 1 km from high tide mark from the Revdanda Creek up to Devgarh Point (near Shrivardhan) as well as in 1 km belt along the banks of Rajpuri Creek in Murud Janjira area in the Raigarh district of Maharashtra (6th January 1989)
· Restricting location of industries, mining operations and regulating other activities in Doon Valley (1st February 1989)
· Regulating activities in the coastal stretches of the country by classifying them as coastal regulation zone and prohibiting certain activities (19th February 1991)
· Restricting location of industries and regulating other activities in Dahanu Taluka in Maharashtra (6th June 91)
· Restricting certain activities in specified areas of Aravalli Range in the Gurgaon district of Haryana and Alwar district of Rajasthan (7th May 1992)
· Regulating industrial and other activities, which could lead to pollution and congestion in an area north west of Numaligarh in Assam (5th July 1996)
