Balancing Environment and Development for Sustainable Growth

Key Points

• 1Environmental clearances (EC) are meant to balance growth and environment, but the balance seems to be tilting towards the latter.
• 2A loophole was introduced in 2017, giving companies a six-month moratorium to receive EC, later made indefinite.
• 3The Supreme Court stayed the notification in January 2024, with a final decision pending.
• 4Between 2017 and 2024, over 100 projects were granted ex post facto environmental clearance under the diluted EIA.
• 5Weakening of the EIA and the National Green Tribunal is a matter of deep concern.
• 6The article suggests moving towards environmentalism as development and development as environmentalism.