MPSC Mains GS -I- Geography
- 22 Oct 2020
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GS Paper 1: Geography
Topics Covered :
- Environmental Impact Assessment
- Finance Ministry to divest Wildlife Institute of India (WII).
- Kaleshwaram eco-clearance violates law: NGT.
- Asafoetida (Heeng) cultivation
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
It is a process of evaluating the likely environmental impacts of a proposed project or development, taking into account inter-related socio-economic, cultural and human-health impacts, both beneficial and adverse.
UNEP defines Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) as a tool used to identify the environmental, social and economic impacts of a project prior to decision-making. It aims to predict environmental impacts at an early stage in project planning and design, find ways and means to reduce adverse impacts, shape projects to suit the local environment and present the predictions and options to decision-makers. By using EIA both environmental and economic benefits can be achieved, such as reduced cost and time of project implementation and design, avoided treatment/clean-up costs and impacts of laws and regulations.
Body:
The fundamental components of an EIA would necessarily involve the following stages:
1. Screening to determine which projects or developments require a full or partial impact assessment study
2. Scoping to identify which potential impacts are relevant to assess (based on legislative requirements, international conventions, expert knowledge and public involvement), to identify alternative solutions that avoid, mitigate or compensate adverse impacts on biodiversity (including the option of not proceeding with the development, finding alternative designs or sites which avoid the impacts, incorporating safeguards in the design of the project, or providing compensation for adverse impacts), and finally to derive terms of reference for the impact assessment
3. Assessment and evaluation of impacts and development of alternatives, to predict and identify the likely environmental impacts of a proposed project or development, including the detailed elaboration of alternatives
4. Reporting the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) or EIA report, including an environmental management plan (EMP), and a non-technical summary for the general audience.
5. Review of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), based on the terms of reference (scoping) and public (including authority) participation.
6. Decision-making on whether to approve the project or not, and under what conditions
7. Monitoring, compliance, enforcement and environmental auditing. Monitor whether the predicted impacts and proposed mitigation measures occur as defined in the EMP. Verify the compliance of proponent with the EMP, to ensure that unpredicted impacts or failed mitigation measures are identified and addressed in a timely fashion.
Role of health impact analysis:
1. Health Impact Assessment (HIA) is a practical approach used to judge the potential health effects of a policy, programme or project on a population, particularly on vulnerable or disadvantaged groups.
2. Recommendations are produced for decision-makers and stakeholders, with the aim of maximising the proposal’s positive health effects and minimising its negative health effects. The approach can be applied in diverse economic sectors and uses quantitative, qualitative and participatory techniques.
3. HIA provides a way to engage with members of the public affected by a particular proposal. It also helps decision-makers make choices about alternatives and improvements to prevent disease or injury and to actively promote health. It is based on the four interlinked values of democracy (promoting stakeholder participation), equity (considering the impact on the whole population), sustainable development and the ethical use of evidence.
4. Health impact assessment is a multidisciplinary process within which a range of evidence about the health effects of a proposal is considered in a structured framework. It takes into account the opinions and expectations of those who may be affected by a proposed policy. Potential health impacts of a proposal are analysed and used to influence the decision making process.
5. Health impact assessment should be thought of as a group of research activities being developed to identify health impacts of projects and policies both prospectively and retrospectively. It is a structured way of bringing together evaluation, partnership working, public consultation, and available evidence for more explicit decision making. The general concepts can be illustrated by looking at a completed assessment, which uses a method that has already been piloted.
6. Applications include national policy appraisal, local urban planning, transport, and water and agricultural projects. Benefits include improved interagency collaboration and public participation.
Role of public participation in impact analysis:
1. The engagement of local communities in HIA is becoming more and more important. On one hand, because the economic crisis placed the ‘welfare state’ under pressure: citizens in ‘participation societies’ are expected to take more charge of their own, and other people’s well-being than before. On the other hand, there is a call for transparency and inclusiveness of policy processes.
2. This is, for example, reflected in the field of environmental planning; national and international legislation nowadays require that communities be engaged in the planning process. Participation is defined as ‘a process by which people are enabled to become actively and genuinely involved in defining the issues of concern to them, in making decisions about factors that affect their lives, in formulating and implementing policies, in planning, developing and delivering services and in taking action to achieve change.
3. Gaining stakeholder support or opposition can be an important factor in determining the success or failure of a project or policy. Within the field of HIA, documentation shows that engaged and active stakeholders provide knowledge of community concerns and visions, political realities, and help HIA practitioners reach diverse audiences.
4. Stakeholders comprise an array of people from various government, non-government and community sectors and they can be involved meaningfully throughout the impact assessment process.
5. In the field of HIA, positive impacts could include changes to determinants of health, alterations to design plans or improved relations between organizations. Long-term measurable health outcomes are not the only indicator of importance and in fact are rarely measured or monitored. This is because a myriad of factors impact on health and health changes can take a long time to eventuate, making them difficult to track over time.
Conclusion:
EIA must be performed for new establishments or projects and for expansion or renovation of existing establishments. EIA studies the effect of the surrounding environment on the project as well as the effect of the project on the surrounding environment. It also looks at the different processes involved in production, including inputs and outputs. EIA tries also to find ways of minimizing the environment impacts of the project. This study if implemented properly will ensure sustainability for the project especially that now it has become necessary to provide this assessment before starting any project.
Wildlife Institute of India (WII)
Context : The Finance Ministry is planning to divest the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) of its status as an autonomous body of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.
What are the concerns expressed over this move?
The major responsibility of this Institute is to provide advice to the MoEF based on scientific information on policy and management of the country’s Wildlife Resources. This role can only be performed and remains relevant as long as the institute remains a part of the MoEF.
1. Further, the government will cut funding to the institute by 25% every year, and it could become a ‘Deemed University’ engaged in teaching and research.
When and why did the Finance Commission decide so?
The move follows a review by its Expenditure Department of 194 autonomous bodies across 18 Ministries. Of them, 109 bodies must be merged into 26, and government must “disengage” from 23, one which is the WII.
What are Autonomous Bodies (ABs)?
Autonomous Bodies are set up whenever it is felt that certain functions need to be discharged outside the governmental set up with some amount of independence and flexibility without day-to-day interference of the Governmental machinery.These are set up by the Ministries/Departments concerned with the subject matter and are funded through grants-in-aid, either fully or partially, depending on the extent which such institutes generate internal resources of their own.
Why is the government taking such measures?
Despite a laid out administrative structure in Autonomous Bodies (ABs), there are a number of governance issues that need review.
Nature of these Bodies:
They are mostly registered as societies under the Societies Registration Act 1860 and in certain cases they have been set up as statutory institutions under the provisions contained in various Acts.
Issues with autonomous bodies
1. Accountability: These bodies are funded by taxpayer’s money. However, there have been complaints that they don’t follow the policies of the government and are accountable the way the government departments are.
2. Recruitment issues: The mode of recruitment and recruitment rules differs for each of these bodies.
3. Non-Adherence to Envisaged Goal.
4. No uniform audit procedure: Some ABs are audited by CAG whereas many are done by chartered accountants.
Suggested reforms:
1. A legal framework should be devised which defines the boundaries of its working, its autonomy, and the various policies that it must follow.
2. To bring about uniformity in the policies, a task force needs to be set up under a pan-Indian agency such as SSC or UPSC.
3. Rationalisation of their numbers: ABs that have outlived the cause for which they were established may need to be closed or merged with a similar organisation or their memorandum altered as per the new charter.
4. Collaborated Approach: To ensure the participation of ministry officials, committee meetings of similar ABs should be held together so that the appropriate authorities could provide meaningful suggestions.
5. Uniform Independent Auditing: Audits of ABs should be undertaken by an independent agency.
Qs and More Reading -
1. About Wildlife Institute of India.
2. Various autonomous and statutory bodies under the Environment Ministry.
3. What are Autonomous bodies? Who constitutes them?
Kaleshwaram eco-clearance violates law: NGT
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has held that environmental clearance (EC) to the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP) was granted ex post facto, after completion of substantial work, by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) “in violation of law”.
What needs to be done now?
Fix accountability needs and take remedial measures.
1. NGT has directed the MoEF&CC to constitute a seven-member expert committee preferably out of expert appraisal committee (EAC) members with relevant sectorial expertise to go into the matter in light of the observations in the present case.
Terms of reference:
1. The expert committee could assess the extent of damage caused in going ahead with the project without EC — the period from 2008 to 2017 — and identify the necessary restoration measures.
2. It could look into relief and rehabilitation measures adopted and required to be further adopted, examine effective implementation of the environmental management plan submitted by the project proponent.
Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project:
Originally called Pranahita-Chevella project in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, it was redesigned, extended and renamed as Kaleshwaram project in Telangana in 2014.
It is aimed to make Telangana drought proof by harnessing the flood waters of the Godavari.
The project is an under-construction multi-purpose irrigation project on the Godavari River in Kaleshwaram, Bhoopalpally, Telangana.
1. The project starts at the confluence point of Pranahita River and Godavari River.
Why is it significant?
Waters of the Godavari will be tapped by reverse pumping and storage, thereby facilitating agriculture on over 38 lakh acres, helping rejuvenate thousands of tanks, providing water for industries, and supplying drinking water to Hyderabad and Secunderabad by creating a series of storage tanks and a network of pipelines.
The project will also support Mission Kakatiya and Mission Bhagiratha schemes designed to provide drinking water to many villages and improve the capacities of tanks.
When completed, it will be the world’s largest irrigation and drinking water system.
Kaleshwaram Project - Important Facts
The Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project is a multi-purpose irrigation project on the Godavari River in Kaleshwaram, Bhupalpally District, Telangana, India. The 3 main purposes of this project are irrigation, transport, and power. This article briefly throws light on the important nuggets of information related to the Kaleshwaram Project.
It is the Worlds largest Irrigation and Drinking Water System.
Cost of Kaleshwaram Project Rs 1.2 Lakh crores
Location of the Project - Kaleshwaram, Telangana – at the Confluence of Pranhita and Godavari Rivers.
It was inaugurated by the Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao in June 2019, in the presence of Chief Ministers from Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.
What is the Significance (Technological) of the Kaleshwaram Multipurpose Lift Irrigation Project?
1) Telangana is at an elevation of 300 metres to 650 metres above mean sea level. River Godavari flows at an elevation of 100 metres below mean sea level. Hence gigantic pumps have to be used for pumping water.
2) A barrage is constructed at Medigadda in Jayshankar Bhupalpally district and reverse pump the water into the main Godavari river and divert it through lifts and pumps into a huge and complex system of reservoirs, water tunnels, pipelines, and canals.
3) By the time the water reaches Kondapochamma Sagar, the last reservoir in the system about 227 km away in Gajwel district, the Godavari water would have been lifted to a height of 618 metres from its source at Medigadda.
4) This project will have the longest underground irrigation tunnel in the world (14.09 Km).
5) The pumps would be operating at a cavern and surge pool which also holds a record for being the biggest in the world with a capacity to hold 2 crore litres of water.
Technical Facts of the Kaleshwaram Project
1. Number of Links divided into 7 links
2. Total Length 1832 Km, Out of the total length, the total length of gravity canals is 1,531Km.
3. Number of reservoirs - 20 reservoirs
4. Length of Tunnels - 20 reservoirs are interconnected through a network of tunnels running up to a length of 330 Km.
5. Number of water lifts - 20
6. Number of Pumps - 19
7. Longest Underground Tunnel in the Project 21 Km, connecting Medaram reservoir with Yellampalli reservoir.
8. Farthest Point in the Project Narketpally (Nalgonda District), Telangana. It is 500 km from the source.
Kaleshwaram Project – Benefits
Apart from the obvious benefits like irrigation, drinking water and transportation, it will also help in other aspects which are mentioned below
1. This project will help the fishing industry
2. Development of Water sports
3. Improve the tourism industry
The State Governments of Telangana and Maharashtra have signed water-sharing agreement from this project, thus putting an end to the decades-old disagreement between the 2 states.
Asafoetida (Heeng) cultivation
CSIR constituent laboratory, Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (IHBT), Palampur, recently made history by introducing asafoetida (Heeng) cultivation in the Indian Himalayan region.
Key takeaways
1) The cultivation shall take place in the Lahaul valley in Himachal Pradesh.
2) India imports about 1200 tonnes of raw asafoetida annually from Afghanistan, Iran and Uzbekistan and spends approximately 100 million USD per year.
3) CSIR-IHBT has now introduced six accessions of seeds from Iran through ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (ICAR-NBPGR), New Delhi.
4) In the past thirty years, this has been the first attempt for introduction of asafoetida (Ferula assa-foetida) seeds in the country.
5) However, the challenge for the scientists is that heeng seeds remain under a prolonged dormant phase and the rate of seed germination is just 1%.
Heeng
1) It is a herbaceous plant of the umbelliferae family.
2) It is a perennial plant.
3) Its oleo gum resin is extracted from its thick roots and rhizome.
4) The plant stores most of its nutrients inside its deep fleshy roots.
5) It is endemic to Iran and Afghanistan, which are also the main global suppliers of it.
6) It thrives in dry and cold desert conditions.
7) It can tolerate temperatures between 35 and 40 degrees. It can also survive in temperatures up to minus 4 degrees.
8) Ideal growth conditions: Sandy soil, very little moisture and annual rainfall of not more than 200mm
9) However, during extreme weather, the plant can get dormant.
10) It has medicinal properties, including relief for digestive, spasmodic and stomach disorders, asthma and bronchitis.
11) The herb is used to help with painful or excessive bleeding during menstruation and premature labour.
Do you know?
1) Asafoetida is one of the top condiments and is a high value spice crop in India.
2) Although there are about 130 species of Ferula found in the world, only Ferula assa-foetida is the economically important species used for the production of asafoetida.
3) In India, Ferula assa-foetida is not found, but other species Ferula jaeschkeana is reported from the western Himalaya (Chamba, HP), and Ferula narthex from Kashmir and Ladakh
