Government of India

Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development have been the cornerstones of the policies and procedures governing the industrial and other developmental activities in India.Ministry of Environment & Forests has taken several policy initiatives and enacted environmental and pollution control legislations to prevent indiscriminate exploitation of natural resources and to promote integration of environmental concerns in developmental projects. One such initiative is the Notification on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of developmental projects issued on 27.1.1994 under the provisions of Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 making EIA mandatory for 29 categories of developmental projects.One more item was added to the list in January, 2000.

EIA is a planning tool that is now generally accepted as an integral component of sound decision-making. The objective of EIA is to foresee and address potential environmental problems/concerns at an early stage of project planning and design.EIA/EMP should assist planners and government authorities in the decision making process by identifying the key impacts/issues and formulating mitigation measures.Ministry had issued sectoral guidelines some time ago.A compendium of the procedures and questionnaires entitled “Application Form and Questionnaire for Environmental Clearance was published in September, 1999 in association with the Confederation of Indian Industry.

As part of the continued efforts to ensure transparency in the procedures of environmental clearance and to assist the project authorities in improving the quality of EIA documents, this Manual is now being brought out by the Ministry.The Manual has been designed to cover the whole gamut of issues like regulatory requirements, the EIA methodology including baseline studies, identification of key issues and consideration of alternatives, impact analysis and remedial measures in a systematic way.It also delineates the process of reviewing the adequacy of EIA and EMP reports and post-project monitoring.To make the Manual comprehensive and self-contained, information pertaining to legislative regime, base line data generation and monitoring, thumb rules for pollution control measures etc. have been annexed to the main text.

It has been our experience that EIA documents are often voluminous but much of the base-line information included in these is not fully utilised in the impact analysis and prediction.Some of the impacts of the proposed development are of little significance to the decision making process. Hence a brief reference has been made to “Scoping”. A section on Risk Assessment and Hazard analysis also has been included

It is hoped that project proponents, EIA consultants and regulatory authorities will find this EIA Manual useful.

Contents

Preface

Sr.No. CHAPTERS

1 Introduction

2 Identification of key issues

3 Reviewing the EIA Report

4 Review of EMP monitoring

Review Check-List

Section-A Guidance Notes for Pre-Appraisal

Preliminary Project Appraisal

Section-B Guidance for Appraisal

1 Description of the Project

2 Project and Process Alternatives

3 Description of the Environment

4 Description of Environmental Impacts

5 Mitigation Measures

6 Difficulties in Compiling Information

7 General Presentation

8 Non -Technical Summary

Annexures

I EIA Notification

II
List of Ecologically Sensitive Areas

III International Agreements and Commitments to Conventions

IV Methods of Monitoring And Analysis

V Models for Impact Predictions

VI Checklist for Ecological Impact Assessment

VII Guidance for Relevant issues for Different Project Types

VIII Good Practices for Prediction

IX Occupational Health Impacts

X Risk Assessment

XI Impact Mitigation Measures

Sr.No.	CHAPTERS
1	Introduction
2	Identification of key issues
3	Reviewing the EIA Report
4	Review of EMP monitoring

Section-A	Guidance Notes for Pre-Appraisal
	Preliminary Project Appraisal
Section-B	Guidance for Appraisal
1	Description of the Project
2	Project and Process Alternatives
3	Description of the Environment
4	Description of Environmental Impacts
5	Mitigation Measures
6	Difficulties in Compiling Information
7	General Presentation
8	Non -Technical Summary

I	EIA Notification
II	List of Ecologically Sensitive Areas
III	International Agreements and Commitments to Conventions
IV	Methods of Monitoring And Analysis
V	Models for Impact Predictions
VI	Checklist for Ecological Impact Assessment
VII	Guidance for Relevant issues for Different Project Types
VIII	Good Practices for Prediction
IX	Occupational Health Impacts
X	Risk Assessment
XI	Impact Mitigation Measures