Integrating Environmental and Social Impact Assessment in India: A Legal and Policy Analysis

In India, the effects of a development project on nature and on people are judged in different rooms. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is carried out under the EIA Notification, 2006, by environmental regulators, for projects of a listed type and size. Social Impact Assessment (SIA) is carried out under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, by land acquisition authorities, and only when land is compulsorily acquired. This article examines what that separation costs. It identifies three problems: social harms that escape assessment altogether, consultation that is split across several forums, and decisions taken without a full view of a project's consequences. It reviews signals from the Supreme Court and the National Green Tribunal that environmental and social questions cannot be kept apart, and draws on the World Bank, the European Union and South Africa for workable models. It concludes by proposing five reforms that can be introduced within India's present constitutional and statutory framework, beginning with amendments to the EIA Notification that the Union can make on its own.