-The Indian Express Kanchi Kohli of the Centre for Policy Research said, "Environmental laws need to be strengthened and not relaxed as is the draft EIA. For instance, the gas leak that in Visakhapatnam today; while this is an accident, there will now have to be an investigation to see whether this was a lapse." After receiving numerous representations for extending the notice period of the draft Environment Impact Assessment notification 2020,...

-Newsclick.in The draft notification pushed during the lockdown, in more ways than one, tries to minimise public participation in determining impacts of any particular industrial project on livelihoods and environment. New Delhi: In what could spell catastrophe for the lives and livelihoods of millions of citizens across the country, the Central government has sought to introduce new rules whereby environmental clearances can be granted to industrial projects on a post facto basis....

-Press release by National Alliance of People’s Movements, dated 30th April, 2020 Even as the country is reeling under the impacts of the lockdown and coping with a pandemic, the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has made a time-bound call for comments on the draft Environmental Impact Assessment Notification (EIA) 2020, published on its website on 12th March, 2020. The National Alliance of People’s Movements condemns this ill-timed...

KEY TRENDS   • Section 105 of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, which provides for excluding 13 Central legislation, including Land Acquisition (Mines) Act 1885, Atomic Energy Act, 1962, Railway Act 1989, National Highways Act 1956 and Metro Railways (Construction of Works) Act, 1978, from its purview, has been amended for payment of compensation with rigours $ • The amendments have now...