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---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: River Research Centre Kerala <[email protected]> Date: Thu, Mar 25, 2010 at 6:10 PM Subject: ATTN : Invitation to review and Discussion on Environment Regulatory Mechanism in India. Thrissur Press Club 1st April 2010 What ails the Environment Regulatory Mechanism in India? Review and Discussion 1st April 2010 at Press Club, Thrissur. 11.30 am – 1.30 pm Organised by Thrissur Press Club and Chalakudy River Protection Forum Dear Friend, The need for a sound environmental clearance mechanism was felt due to the often irreversible impacts of mining, river valley, infrastructure and industrial projects destroying and altering landscapes, polluting land and water, displacing and wiping out livelihoods to name a few. The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification 2006 and the earlier 1994 were introduced under the Environment Protection Act (1986) to explicitly assess the potential environmental and social impacts and conduct public hearings before the decision taken to grant permission for construction. The clearance of a project is supposed to pass through a scoping, screening and impact assessment process (EIA and related studies) followed by public hearing. The project is granted clearance only after these mandatory steps and a critical appraisal of the project documents and applications by an expert committee on different types of projects is completed. However, experience reveals that the EIA process has merely become a rubber stamp for project clearance. From 2006-08 after the issuance of the new EIA Notification 2006, 2016 projects have been granted clearance till August 2008 an average of 84 projects in a month. In contrast, just 25 were rejected clearance in the entire period. The Minister for Environment and Forests has gone on record to state that the MoEF grants environment clearance to 98% of all applications received! Every clearance has a set of conditions, which need to be followed by the Project Proponent and monitored for compliance by the MoEF offices. This remains on paper in most cases! As per the EIA Notification 2006, all the states are supposed to constitute State Environmental Appraisal Committees (SEAC) for the scrutiny of certain category of development projects. Kerala is yet to form an SEAC. This meeting, the first of its kind organized in Kerala intends to seriously discuss and debate on such critical issues pertaining to the Environmental Regulatory mechanism operating in the country and ways to overcome it. We look forward to your presence and participation. Sincerely yours K.Parameswaran S.P.Ravi Secretary, Thrissur Press Club Convener, Chalakudy River Protection Forum 9495276897 9249898773 Program Agenda 11.30 am – 1.30 pm Welcome Shri. K.Parameswaran Secretary, Thrissur Press Club Chaired by Shri.Joy M Mannoor President, Thrissur Press Club Introduction to theme and speaker Dr. A.Latha Kanchi Kohli, Kalpavriksh, New Delhi speaks on What ails the Environmental Regulatory Mechanism in India? Shri M P Surendran, Deputy Editor ‘The Mathrubhumi’ News Daily Reviews the Report ‘Calling the Bluff’ - Revealing the State of Monitoring and Compliance 0f Envrionment Clearance Conditions. Prepared by Kanchi Kohli, Manju Menon, Sanchari Das and Divya Badami Discussion Vote of Thanks Shri. S.P. Ravi -- 0091 9746339846 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB.
