On the fateful night of 2nd December, 1984, deadly gas Methyl isocyanate (MIC) was leaked in the densely populated area of Bhopal from the factory premises of a pesticide company, Union Carbide. The United States-based company was permitted to set up a hazardous factory disregarding the safety and well-being of the people around it. There were many complaints and concerns mentioning leakage from the factory over the years which were neglected by the government authorities. In 1982, two years before the tragedy, two local unions raised the issue of leakage from the plant and a journalist published an article about the Union Carbide factory mentioning it as a ‘ticking bomb’ in a local newspaper. 5 lakh people were exposed to the 40 tonnes of MIC leaked from the Union Carbide factory. An estimated 10,000 people died in the first few weeks of the leak and thousands more suffered premature death over the years due to exposure to the toxic gas. People suffered multiple disabilities including blindness, muscular dystrophy, and respiratory disorders. Even after 39 years, the disabilities continue to affect thousands of second and thirdgeneration survivors. Mass protests erupted across the country demanding the prosecution of Union Carbide officials, better laws to prevent such disasters, and to curb the lawless anarchy of the corporations. The government of India had to bring in laws to monitor and mitigate environmental and health hazards due to public pressure. These included amendments to the Factories Act, Environmental Act, and Environmental Impact Assessment(EIA) Act. However, these laws, already quite lax, have been subjected to more dilution over the years. The recent draft EIA is in the news as it waters down stringent laws related to environmental impact assessment. The government, in order to serve its capitalist overlords, is risking the lives of the people of India by weakening such laws and reducing them to nothing. The EIA is a comprehensive report which is to be given by the corporations upon examining, evaluating, and assessing the impact that a particular project will have on local flora and fauna. Environment clearance is given by the government after carefully considering the damage the project might cause to the environment and rejects the project if there is any irreparable damage. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change introduced a draft notification to amend the existing EIA Act, which dismisses the intention of the legislation to scrutinize corporations to protect the environment and the people. Earlier, factories could only be set up after a detailed plan regarding the environmental impact of the project was submitted to the government. But the draft allows post-facto approval. All industrial units operating illegally without prior Environmental Clearance can now turn into legal units by submitting a remedial plan and paying compensation. The new draft states that violations can be reported by the state and the project proposers but not the public who are affected by it. No scientists, environmental and wildlife specialists or common people can cognize violation. Violation cases will be dealt with based on the violators’ suo moto, disclosing that they have broken the law. Environmental impact had to be scrutinized in the public domain. However, several projects such as acid manufacturing, building construction, defence projects, area development projects and a few others have been exempted from public hearing. These would be exempted from the purview of RTI too, denying public the access to information on the environmental impact of these projects. Under EIA, when a project is proposed, the government allows the public to submit their response to it within thirty days. The new draft has reduced it to twenty days. The public has to collect data regarding the project, analyse its impact, document its implications and present it to the government within 20 days. Mining project licenses have now been increased from 15 years to 30 years, and river valley project licenses have been increased from 10 years to 15 years. The project compliance report had to be drafted by industries regarding the standards and renew their license every 6 months, however now they have to report only once every year. The new draft was proposed in 2020 during the pandemic, a time when people could not take to the streets in protest. Yet, there was strong resistance by people, in whatever ways possible, which eventually resulted in its shelving. The draft EIA 2020 received over 20 lakh objections via email. Union Environment Minister Prakash Javedkar complained about it to the Delhi Police and in an attempt to suppress dissent, a UAPA notice was sent by the Delhi Police to an environment group, Fridays for Future. However, the police claimed an error on their part and sent a notice under the IT Act. The draft EIA 2020 goes against one of the most important objectives of its parent act, to protect the environment from mindless corporate exploitation Tonnes of toxic effluents are dumped into rivers, hampering the ecosystem as well as the health and livelihood of the people around it. Industrial accidents are still commonly sighted in India. The Visakhapatnam gas leak in 2020 resulted in the loss of 20 lives. The new draft violates various provisions of the Forest Rights Act 2006, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 and other laws that protect the rights of the local communities. Thousands of Adivasis get displaced as a result of “Development Projects”. India has become a playground for big international corporations to set up industries, ruthlessly exploiting the environment and the people for profit. This is being allowed by our government by introducing provisions like the draft EIA 2020, which reduces the burden on project developers and businesses, and not the environment. It is only through people questioning the government that the government will make pro-people laws rather than corporate-friendly laws at the cost of people.
