Earlier this month, the websites of three environmental advocacy groups: India Breathe (LIB), Fridays for Future (FFF) and There is no Planet B were banned by authorities. Each group released a statement saying that their websites were rendered inaccessible without any notice. There was one common factor connecting all the groups: they were actively engaged in opposing the new draft EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment).
What is EIA?
EIA is a process which predicts the effect of a proposed project on the environment. EIA is supposed to consider the environmental impact of projects and find ways to reduce their adverse impact upon the environment. An EIA also involves the people concerned in the decision-making process of granting final approval to any developmental project or activity.
What is wrong with the new draft?
The Environment Ministry has proposed a new draft EIA to alter 12 of the 14 clauses the current EIA, dating back to 2006. This new draft has been under severe scrutiny and criticism by green activists ever since it was announced.
One of the changes exempts over 40 industries from ever requiring environmental clearance. This means that for any project that the industry takes up, they will not be held accountable for the damage they cause to the environment. The Notification also proposes to reduce the timeframe for conducting public hearing to 20 days, from the current 30 days under the EIA Notification of 2006. The ambiguity in character and language of the notification seems to favour the private parties involved in the process, effectively leading to privatization of natural resources. Clause 22 of the notification allows the project owners to pay compensation when they illegally pollute the environment. After the fine is paid, instead of getting them to stop, the owners can continue with their work like nothing has changed. This will eventually lead to massive disregard for environmental law because the fine is miniscule compared to what they invest in projects.
Consultation period frenzy
The mandatory public feedback window was originally set to expire on 10th June, but the environment ministry had set the new deadline to 10th August because of a delay in publishing the draft in the Gazette due to the pandemic. However, environment minister Prakash Javadekar overruled the ministry to set the new deadline for 30th June. On 30th July, the Delhi high court set the new deadline to 11th August, while hearing a petition which sought an extension to the 30th June deadline.
What are the environmental activist groups doing?
Since the draft EIA is in the consultation period, environment activist groups are working in full force to spread awareness and send their suggestions. With the lockdown in effect, activists cannot go the usual route of congregating and discussing how they want to proceed with their suggestions. So, they were largely left with online campaigns as their only option. The groups whose websites were banned were running active campaigns which allowed people to send mails opposing the draft EIA at the click of a button.
These campaigns picked up a lot of momentum with around 4 lakh objections being registered, as confirmed by the Environment Ministry. This was right before all three websites were blocked at the turn of the month. The National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) confirmed that they banned the websites on government orders. However, they refused to disclose that when the order was given.
We get orders from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), home ministry and others as well.
The government has released a statement saying that this is an unlawful activity which endangers the sovereignty of India.
What next?
IFF (Internet Freedom Federation) entered the fray by sending a legal notice to NIXI regarding the issue. The notice is a scathing attack on the legality of the move, stating that it violates their guidelines and fundamental rights. They also noted that that no specific notice, hearing or opportunity for defence had been provided before the websites were blocked.
The current notification, if it comes into force, is a move towards seeking investment irrespective of any adverse consequences that could follow. The EIA will lose power to do what it was originally designed to do: to empower citizens and to involve them in the decision-making process affecting the environment.
This sets a dangerous precedent that could change the face of environmental regulation in India.