Regulatory and Community Requirements of Industrial Project Clearance : Mining, Oil and Gas, Steel, Aluminum, Cement Industries and Other Core Sectors

Contents: 1. An Update on Selected Regulatory and Technical Provisions of Project Environmental Clearance Under Indian Law. Reference to Rules, Acts and Standards. 2 . Environmental Clearance of Projects. 3. Role of Indian Bureau of Mines in Industrial Projects Having Aspects of Mining with Particular Reference to Integrated Projects. 4. Terms of Reference from the Ministry of Environment and Forests. 5. The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006. 6. Procedure for Diversion of Forest Land (Government of India, Ministry of Tribal Affairs). 7. Recent Memorandums and Circulars Related to Environmental Clearance. 8. Selected Provisions Related to Environment Clearance of Industrial Projects Under the Environment (Protection ) Act,  1986 (29 of 1986) , the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, the Indian Forest Act, 1927 ( 16 of 1927) ,the Forest (Conservation) Act , 1980 and the Forest (Conservation) Rules, 2003. 9. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Regional Environmental Impact Assessment (REIA) and Environmental Management Plan for Projects.  10. Example. Moef Site. Inspection of Report ( Names Changed).  11. Principles and Design of Corporate Social Responsibility Programs for Environmental Clearance. Emerging Regulatory Requirements. 12. International Guidelines Having Legislative Implications for Applying Protected Area Management Categories. 13. Progress and Evolution of Selective Global Environmental Law.

At this point of time there are about Rs.50,000 crores (or more than 11 billions of dollar ) worth of proposed industrial projects are held up in the quagmire of legality, regulatory bindings, community demands, and political machinations, etc. There are many grey areas where management skill, stewardship, innovation, sense and sensibility can pull one project ahead of the other. Environmental and community concerns are foremost in the considerations of project clearance. Example setting is a winning way in the process. There is also one area of regulations, more difficult than other hosts of clearance, where the scope of maneuverability is very little - forest clearance. While the major delays in the forest clearance is procedural and administrative this is also a process that demands clarity among the proponents. All these are adding up to why there is a need to understand regulatory and community requirements of environmental clearance. This book is current treatise on this subject, on the aspects and concerns spelt above.