Amendments to EIA NOTIFICATION, 2006

News: Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, has made an amendment to EIA Notification 2006 to fasten availability/production of various drugs against COVID-19.

Facts:

• All projects or activities in respect of bulk drugs and intermediates, manufactured for addressing various ailments, have been re-categorized from the existing Category ‘A’ to ‘B2’ category.
• Projects falling under Category B2 are exempted from the requirement of collection of Baseline data, EIA Studies, and public consultation.

Additional Facts:

Environment Impact Assessment (EIA)

• EIA is a process that studies all aspects of the environment and seeks to anticipate the impact (positive and/or negative) of a proposed project or development on the environment.
• EIA is mandatory under the Environmental (Protection) Act, 1986 for 29 categories of developmental activities involving investments of Rs. 50 crores and above.
• Industrial Categorization:
  • Industrial Sectors having Pollution Index score of 60 and above – Red category
  • Industrial Sectors having Pollution Index score of 41 to 59 – Orange category
  • Industrial Sectors having Pollution Index score of 21 to 40 – Green category
  • Industrial Sectors having Pollution Index score incl.& upto 20 – White category

Note: The Pollution Index PI is a number from 0 to 100. Higher value of PI denotes the high degree of pollution load from the industrial sector. The pharmaceutical industry lies in the Red category.