Category A and Category B, and the Schedule
Chapter One Hundred Fifty-Three
Syllabus topic 6, "Emerging Legal Controls"
Pages 720 to 726 of 913
In one line
Every project is Category A or Category B by the reach of its effects, and a Category B project within five kilometres of a protected area, or ten for a few listed kinds of project, is appraised centrally as Category A whatever its size.
In the wording a student can write in an examination: paragraph 4 of the Environmental Impact Assessment Notification 2006 categorises all projects and activities into Category A and Category B based on the spatial extent of potential impacts and potential impacts on human health and natural and man made resources; Category A projects require prior environmental clearance from the Central Government in the Ministry of Environment and Forests on the recommendations of an Expert Appraisal Committee; Category B projects require it from the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority on the recommendations of a State Expert Appraisal Committee, excluding those which fulfil the General Conditions stipulated in the Schedule.
The basis of the division
The test, in paragraph 4(i). The spatial extent of potential impacts, and the potential impacts on human health and natural and man made resources.
That is a test about reach, not about harm. A large project whose effects stay inside a district may be Category B; a smaller project whose effects cross a State boundary is Category A. The division is administrative in purpose, allocating decisions between the Union and the States, and it is drawn on a principle that fits the constitutional position: an effect confined to one State is that State's business.
How it is applied. Not case by case, but by the Schedule, which lists projects and activities in eight items with a threshold for Category A in column 3 and a threshold for Category B in column 4.
| Item | Activity | Category A | Category B |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1(a) | mining of minerals | mining lease area greater than 250 hectares for a major mineral other than coal, and greater than 500 hectares for coal; asbestos mining irrespective of area | every minor mineral lease, whatever its area; 250 hectares or less for a major mineral other than coal; 500 hectares or less for coal |
| 1(b) | offshore and onshore oil and gas exploration, development and production | all development and production projects, with or without exploration | exploration projects, categorised B2 by a note to the item |
| 1(c) | river valley and hydroelectric projects | 100 megawatts or more of hydroelectric power | at least 25 and less than 100 megawatts; irrigation projects of more than 2,000 hectares of culturable command area |
| 1(d) | thermal power plants | 500 megawatts or more on coal, lignite, naphtha or gas | less than 500 megawatts on those fuels |
| 2(b) | mineral beneficiation | none | all mineral beneficiation projects |
| 4(d) | chlor-alkali | 300 tonnes a day or more of production capacity, outside a notified industrial area or estate | every project inside a notified industrial area or estate, whatever its size; less than 300 tonnes a day outside one |
| 8 | building, construction, area development and townships | none | built up area of at least 20,000 and less than 1,50,000 square metres; townships and area development covering at least 50 hectares, or with a built up area of at least 1,50,000 square metres |
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