Over 95% of the projects that go to MOEF for Environmental clearances get approved. To top it off many EIA reports are prepared by consultants who have hardly any expertize in the specific areas of EIA that they are working on.
I know it is easy to criticize the present set up. However at IEN, we believe in finding new pathways and solutions to a given problem.
“There is an unrealistically low rate of rejection (of projects by MoEF). Over 95 per cent of projects that come to us for environment clearances get approved, and over 90 per cent of forest clearances get approved. I want to reverse this trend,” Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh told Business Standard.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/ramesh-for-realistic-%5Cgreen%5C-scrutiny-for-infra-projects/382960/
Let me invite members of "Indian Environment Network" to share their own experiences and case studies on the EIA works that they have done and suggest "Out of the Box" solutions to a new EIA regime. You are also invited to upload your EIA reports right here on the Indian Environment Network.
You need to be a member of Paryavaran.com- Indian Environment Network to add comments!
I agree to an extent on this vary issues and a good idea but main thing is how far this EIA will last till the hydal or any other related project is going on and will exhaust in near future or companies will stop after some time looking after their benefits. Young genration now a days sees thier economical security and permanancy and they usually join in this venture for couple of years till they gets permanent position.
It is my own thinking on this point
With best wishes,
Dr SP Sinha
Dehradun
Arun Bhaskar said:
It is good idea to build a internship and training program. I have no problem in sharing rather I would appreciate the persons who are willing to learn and have bundles of patience because nature's bounty was not built in a day or months. Though I too feel happy and encouraged by the dedication of the new students not only on the Indian Environment Network but I keep interacting with them from University. See there are plenty of opportunities everywhere not only with us but there are other right thinking companies who do require dedicated people in this field. The training is not a problem at all. One has to make up one's mind what he or she wants and there uld be clarity in thought process. The need of the hour is first to acquire right skills and widen your perspective and understand each issue in a holistic manner and not merely restricting to your expertise then any job will become the right job for you. Without understanding the interfaces of different disciplines one will never be able to utilise one's expertise for a better understanding and solutions. One can always remain an expert in one's field and nobody can take that away but it up to you to understand and gain each other's expertise as environmental issues each and every discipline is important and you cannot underestimate other's expertise and one can always even find positives in other person's negative views. One should always be receptive to new ideas and willingness to listen and learn as life is perpetual learning process itself. It should never stop.
Though we are in the business of consulting we have always been striving hard to better our understanding. You do need plenty of financial resources to run a company but to keep it running and generate goodwill we have always been willing to share and contribute to the society. We trying on our part to create awareness in corporate to give environmental issues a serious thought and people are listening! Therefore if we have more and more environmental professionals it will definitely towards achieving the goal of not merely earning bread for yourself only but also create opportunities for others so that they too earn thier bread and become self sustaining and are able to contribute to society.
I am sorry may be I am again becoming more emotional. But I understand the future is bright for young professionals! So get up and do something shed inhibitions. No half neasures, no off the cuff remarks, no rhetorics, no journalistic investigations but based upon pure scientific and socio-political understanding one can make a difference..
It is good idea to build a internship and training program. I have no problem in sharing rather I would appreciate the persons who are willing to learn and have bundles of patience because nature's bounty was not built in a day or months. Though I too feel happy and encouraged by the dedication of the new students not only on the Indian Environment Network but I keep interacting with them from University. See there are plenty of opportunities everywhere not only with us but there are other right thinking companies who do require dedicated people in this field. The training is not a problem at all. One has to make up one's mind what he or she wants and there uld be clarity in thought process. The need of the hour is first to acquire right skills and widen your perspective and understand each issue in a holistic manner and not merely restricting to your expertise then any job will become the right job for you. Without understanding the interfaces of different disciplines one will never be able to utilise one's expertise for a better understanding and solutions. One can always remain an expert in one's field and nobody can take that away but it up to you to understand and gain each other's expertise as environmental issues each and every discipline is important and you cannot underestimate other's expertise and one can always even find positives in other person's negative views. One should always be receptive to new ideas and willingness to listen and learn as life is perpetual learning process itself. It should never stop.
Though we are in the business of consulting we have always been striving hard to better our understanding. You do need plenty of financial resources to run a company but to keep it running and generate goodwill we have always been willing to share and contribute to the society. We trying on our part to create awareness in corporate to give environmental issues a serious thought and people are listening! Therefore if we have more and more environmental professionals it will definitely towards achieving the goal of not merely earning bread for yourself only but also create opportunities for others so that they too earn thier bread and become self sustaining and are able to contribute to society.
I am sorry may be I am again becoming more emotional. But I understand the future is bright for young professionals! So get up and do something shed inhibitions. No half neasures, no off the cuff remarks, no rhetorics, no journalistic investigations but based upon pure scientific and socio-political understanding one can make a difference..
Excellent reply. The outsourcing industry was not built in a day. There was a lot of training and learning involved. Similarly, we cannot build the new Environment industry without a lot of training and learning happening for the new crop. I am encouraged by the dedication of the new students on the Indian Environment Network. I am sure if we give them the right training, right skills and the right job, they will put their heart and soul in it.
Can we build a internship and training program around your current projects. I am sure a few of the students would benefit from good, practical training under your wings. Do let me know your thoughts.
As usual there are bad guys and good guys, bad consultants and good consultants. You cannot blame anybody for this. This mainly depends on the background of a particular consultant. If one happens to be from an academic institution then there every likelihood that he/she would have been thinking in terms of getting deep into the problem/ impacts and the one merely into consultancy for business he or she will definitely think in terms of just grabbing the consultancy and prepare the report and merely follow the procedure (invariably spending very little time and money on field work, etc. and save money to earn profits) and somehow get the clearance with no or very little obligation and concern for the environment. In this process he/she charges much lesser from the clients to grab the job and then what one can expect from such a scenario. Therefore quality is first casuality in this process. Whereas the former type of consultant would definitely ask for more funds so as to collect more and more information and data and try to arrive at a proper decision and management plan which invariably may not suit the clients and he/she tends to lose on future consultancy assignments from that client. But.... having said that if you are sincere and can really impress upon the clients the importance of EIA and EMP and its implications of implementation of EMP during construction phase then you may end getting the assignment at a much higher rates than quoted by fly by night consultants. It is our duty to weed out such consultants which tend to bring bad name for this commiunity. Make clients realise the importance of EIA. Then three season comprehensive and Rapid EIAs etc. will be non issues. There cannot be a rapid EIA. You need to understand the nature's cycle, its seasons not only mechanically but also the biology and rhythm of environment of that particular and three season data is merely to understand something of the same. We need not get bogged down by pressure of clients and also the profits only. Profits also will definitely come. Once you do quality work, profits will follow you. People will recognise your work and will eager to listen to you and ask for advise. Therefore the scenario is not all that bleak which we all tend to believe. This is the system we live in and we need to find solutions within this system itself as solutions from the Western world or elsewhere will not help. The solutions are here only and we need to discuss and do good homework for the same.
We cannot always keep discussing about quality of work done by some consultants. All we need is to improve upon ourselves and work for quality output. Doesn't matter if do not have you own laboratory to analyze the parameters in EIA procedure, e.g., water quality parameters, soil quality parameters, air quality analysis, noise, etc. But make it a point to visit the field visits and no harm in outsourcing the task of analysis to laboratories but not the ones certified by CPCB but go for some University/Institute labs. Involve local people for various surveys and tasks and utilise the knowledge they have.
Preparing a good report depends upon the team as captain is as good as his team. Specially for a geuine consultant building a good team is hell of a task. Our young generation is also partly to blame for the same. In the environment one need dedication and passion for work which unfortunately is becoming a rare commodity now a days. Most of the budding young professionals look for fat salaries before anything as they tend to compare themselves to BPO jobs' salaries. I do understand we need to pay them well as they need to spend time in harsh environs but one need to go through the grind first and then in due course of time they would earn their dues definately. Who will not like to pay more if you are taking your work with diligence and passion. One only needs patience in the beginning for few years. Another problem with the young workers is their inability to write one sentence properly. See whatever and how much hard work you do in the field during surveys for data collection, finally you need to put that succinctly in black and white. Merely putting the same into tables, etc. won't help. One need to understand the information collected as to why I am collecting and how the data/ information I have collected will help in understanding the implications of the same by the proposed activity. Unfortunately our system churns out just degree holders who are not able write one sentence properly. Therefore we need to orient them and train them so as to make them better professionals and better persons.
I have lot to share on these aspects. These are the few points I wished to share. This is just a tip of iceberg. I would happy to exchange ideas and views on this forum whenever I get time to write and even on one to one basis in order to put things in right perspective. I may be wrong in some of my observations but these are all my experiences gathered over a peiod of more 25 in this field.
Thanks and sorry if I have inadvertently hurt anybody's feelings!
i want to share something about Rapid Environment Impact Assessments (REIA). i hope this concept is not in existence now after EIA 2006. it is my personal opinion that it was a blunder for consultants. "The difference between Comprehensive EIA and Rapid EIA is in the time-scale of the data supplied. Rapid EIA is for speedier appraisal process. While both types of EIA require inclusion/ coverage of all significant environmental impacts and their mitigation, Rapid EIA achieves this through the collection of ‘one season’ (other than monsoon) data only to reduce the time required. This is acceptable if it does not compromise on the quality of decision-making. The review of Rapid EIA submissions will show whether a comprehensive EIA is warranted or not. Source: http://envfor.nic.in/divisions/iass/eia/Chapter1.htm". the difference provided by MoEF was about season data. but in EIA not all data is dependent on season. time period for REIA was of 6 months. It was completely unmanageable to get all other set of data, process it, analyse it and then report. this time period also includes many other things like meetings, correction given by project authorities and importantly defending your work. The project authority had full right to screw up the consultants for the lack of any data other then the season specific one. do correct me if any above mentioned details are incorrect. This writing is from my personal experience.
I am some how agree with Ms. Sheetal Nagre, to get the EC Project related information like requirement of water, emmission from stack, provision of green belt etc and EMP based on index of pollutant are more important than others. to get the EC for certain project more or less based on the committement from proponent side. The basic probles comes after post EC monitoring and during Consent to establishment / Operation phase, where RO of the State Pollution Controle board harrassing the proponent and then demanding somthing else from them after full filling committement they are overlooking the discharge and emmission.
In light of the above facts we can control the our environment through following facts not only through good quality of the report
a) 100 % implementation of the committed EMP
b) To contrile the RO (SPCB) activity (in my point of view it is more important in Pst EC)
c) Inspite of making so many circular and notification there should be a clear guide line for the proponent to follow the environmental control measures.
Every one here seems definitely concerned by the present scenario and have very valid point of views.The fact that we r participating in such discussions is a optimistic beginning. n like we all know with such complex situation that our country puts forth, things take little time to happen...even i m learning to have patience. I agree to Sheetals acceptance of referencing data from various resources as long as it is given due credit/ acknowledgement. Coz withing given frames, as individuals we arnt enriched & equipped enough to encompasses all that is already done n go beyond tht which is internationally accepted or standardized or alredy researched for several years in the past. Certain things u hv to carry forward...its may merely be reinventing the wheel?...rather put more energy on finding better solutions (EMP)...coz like Pravin said every EIA is a independant project by itself...n should be treated like one!
(..last but not least, i will request u guys to verify any facts n be a bit careful before putting forth any data on such forum).
What ever done in the past have done and we should be careful about the future EIA studies.Now a days beacause of current financial situation in multinational companies involve in hydal projects are slowly slow down their activites.
Just for an example that Forest AResearch Institute have one department called Entomology which usually deals with Insect study now this department is getting project to prepare Detailed Project Report for an Hydel Project in Bhutan.How far it is justified? Do they have expertise in their department to prepare a detailed project report.I am shocked.This is a single example.
I worked with CSE on the EIA policy advocacy last year specially concentrating on the construction sector. During my time of work there with my boss Mrs. Anumita Roy Choudary (Associate Director, CSE), she expressed that there should be a confluence of the all the systems that lead to the establishment and initiation of projects. Like the Municipal authorities, local resource supplying authorities (water, electricity, sewage etc ) and these should be integrated into the EIA loop. Right now the law needs us to conduct EIA for getting an EC only. But there should be a conglomeration of the other authorities and local bodies in terms of laws and regulations and policy implementation.
For instance, a X project needs municipal, water, electricity, sewage, etc and other local permissions and also an EC. Though the EIA law in India needs the project proponent to submit a application or some approval to the authorities as a satisfactory or law abiding requirement, I see it as a justification to the process of EC clearance and the EC itself. And the requirement of EC is not integrated into the local authority laws or regulations.
So what I intend to propose is that the local authorities should also be aware of the EIA law and they should manage the rest of the clearance requored for any project with the EIA or EC part. Meaning there should be several reviews of the EIA report at different levels of the government and agencies or departments for grant their respective permission.
So that means an integrated system of EC and EIA and handholding responsibility of the makers of policies, regulations and laws or rules of various levels for making a successful green project or environment friendly project where there will be true meaning to an EIA report rather than ending up in a corner dusty shelf of the consultant, local authority, project proponent and stake holders of the project.
Coming to Indian part of EIA report and their genuineness it depends on the organizations and its level of existence in the market and its motto. Besides a person is the final responsible key to this. So to eradicate the questions of honest and best environmental reports its again the camaraderie of people and their values.
One important point I would like to make is that every EIA report is unique in its nature and project specific. Any 2 or more reports cannot be compared with another for one's correctness and genuine nature or quality. Every EIA report has its own identity.
I would like to see Mr. Jairam Ramesh's words becoming true and the vision would see the light to get rid of the worst practices.
i am an EIA consultant.. working from past one year for EIA projects....my experience with EIA is not that bad.....some good clients do seriously think about the Environment..and trying to go green....
As far as EIA reports are concerned..it depends upon a person...i have devoted my life to Environment..and i am not at all into Cut Copy Paste...my reports are project specific and are written freshly...each time.
Its a challenging task to do a good quality EIA....way to go...
Yes.. the laws shuld be more stringent as many people take environment for granted...and think EC is just a formality....i hope that situation will improve....in future..for the best ....of ENVIRONMENT..
Replies
It is my own thinking on this point
With best wishes,
Dr SP Sinha
Dehradun
Arun Bhaskar said:
Though we are in the business of consulting we have always been striving hard to better our understanding. You do need plenty of financial resources to run a company but to keep it running and generate goodwill we have always been willing to share and contribute to the society. We trying on our part to create awareness in corporate to give environmental issues a serious thought and people are listening! Therefore if we have more and more environmental professionals it will definitely towards achieving the goal of not merely earning bread for yourself only but also create opportunities for others so that they too earn thier bread and become self sustaining and are able to contribute to society.
I am sorry may be I am again becoming more emotional. But I understand the future is bright for young professionals! So get up and do something shed inhibitions. No half neasures, no off the cuff remarks, no rhetorics, no journalistic investigations but based upon pure scientific and socio-political understanding one can make a difference..
Excellent reply. The outsourcing industry was not built in a day. There was a lot of training and learning involved. Similarly, we cannot build the new Environment industry without a lot of training and learning happening for the new crop. I am encouraged by the dedication of the new students on the Indian Environment Network. I am sure if we give them the right training, right skills and the right job, they will put their heart and soul in it.
Can we build a internship and training program around your current projects. I am sure a few of the students would benefit from good, practical training under your wings. Do let me know your thoughts.
CK
We cannot always keep discussing about quality of work done by some consultants. All we need is to improve upon ourselves and work for quality output. Doesn't matter if do not have you own laboratory to analyze the parameters in EIA procedure, e.g., water quality parameters, soil quality parameters, air quality analysis, noise, etc. But make it a point to visit the field visits and no harm in outsourcing the task of analysis to laboratories but not the ones certified by CPCB but go for some University/Institute labs. Involve local people for various surveys and tasks and utilise the knowledge they have.
Preparing a good report depends upon the team as captain is as good as his team. Specially for a geuine consultant building a good team is hell of a task. Our young generation is also partly to blame for the same. In the environment one need dedication and passion for work which unfortunately is becoming a rare commodity now a days. Most of the budding young professionals look for fat salaries before anything as they tend to compare themselves to BPO jobs' salaries. I do understand we need to pay them well as they need to spend time in harsh environs but one need to go through the grind first and then in due course of time they would earn their dues definately. Who will not like to pay more if you are taking your work with diligence and passion. One only needs patience in the beginning for few years. Another problem with the young workers is their inability to write one sentence properly. See whatever and how much hard work you do in the field during surveys for data collection, finally you need to put that succinctly in black and white. Merely putting the same into tables, etc. won't help. One need to understand the information collected as to why I am collecting and how the data/ information I have collected will help in understanding the implications of the same by the proposed activity. Unfortunately our system churns out just degree holders who are not able write one sentence properly. Therefore we need to orient them and train them so as to make them better professionals and better persons.
I have lot to share on these aspects. These are the few points I wished to share. This is just a tip of iceberg. I would happy to exchange ideas and views on this forum whenever I get time to write and even on one to one basis in order to put things in right perspective. I may be wrong in some of my observations but these are all my experiences gathered over a peiod of more 25 in this field.
Thanks and sorry if I have inadvertently hurt anybody's feelings!
Arun Bhaskar
In light of the above facts we can control the our environment through following facts not only through good quality of the report
a) 100 % implementation of the committed EMP
b) To contrile the RO (SPCB) activity (in my point of view it is more important in Pst EC)
c) Inspite of making so many circular and notification there should be a clear guide line for the proponent to follow the environmental control measures.
(..last but not least, i will request u guys to verify any facts n be a bit careful before putting forth any data on such forum).
Just for an example that Forest AResearch Institute have one department called Entomology which usually deals with Insect study now this department is getting project to prepare Detailed Project Report for an Hydel Project in Bhutan.How far it is justified? Do they have expertise in their department to prepare a detailed project report.I am shocked.This is a single example.
For instance, a X project needs municipal, water, electricity, sewage, etc and other local permissions and also an EC. Though the EIA law in India needs the project proponent to submit a application or some approval to the authorities as a satisfactory or law abiding requirement, I see it as a justification to the process of EC clearance and the EC itself. And the requirement of EC is not integrated into the local authority laws or regulations.
So what I intend to propose is that the local authorities should also be aware of the EIA law and they should manage the rest of the clearance requored for any project with the EIA or EC part. Meaning there should be several reviews of the EIA report at different levels of the government and agencies or departments for grant their respective permission.
So that means an integrated system of EC and EIA and handholding responsibility of the makers of policies, regulations and laws or rules of various levels for making a successful green project or environment friendly project where there will be true meaning to an EIA report rather than ending up in a corner dusty shelf of the consultant, local authority, project proponent and stake holders of the project.
Coming to Indian part of EIA report and their genuineness it depends on the organizations and its level of existence in the market and its motto. Besides a person is the final responsible key to this. So to eradicate the questions of honest and best environmental reports its again the camaraderie of people and their values.
One important point I would like to make is that every EIA report is unique in its nature and project specific. Any 2 or more reports cannot be compared with another for one's correctness and genuine nature or quality. Every EIA report has its own identity.
I would like to see Mr. Jairam Ramesh's words becoming true and the vision would see the light to get rid of the worst practices.
As far as EIA reports are concerned..it depends upon a person...i have devoted my life to Environment..and i am not at all into Cut Copy Paste...my reports are project specific and are written freshly...each time.
Its a challenging task to do a good quality EIA....way to go...
Yes.. the laws shuld be more stringent as many people take environment for granted...and think EC is just a formality....i hope that situation will improve....in future..for the best ....of ENVIRONMENT..
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