The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a concept and a mandatory process for evaluating the likely environmental, socio-economic, and human-health impacts of a proposed development project prior to decision-making. In India, the EIA process is statutorily backed by the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. The Indian experience began in 1976-77 when the Planning Commission first examined river-valley projects from an environmental perspective. However, it was an administrative decision until the first formal EIA Notification was promulgated on January 27, 1994, by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, making Environmental Clearance (EC) mandatory for projects listed in Schedule 1.
The current framework is the EIA Notification, 2006, which decentralised the clearance process. Projects are categorised into Category A (appraised at the national level by the MoEFCC and Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC)) and Category B (appraised at the state level by the SEIAA and SEAC). The EIA cycle involves stages like Screening, Scoping, Impact prediction, and a Public hearing for certain projects. The EIA framework is connected to the constitutional mandate of environmental protection found in Article 48A and Article 51A(g).
The EIA Notification, 2006 is frequently amended. A significant change in September 2025 was a directive by the MoEFCC allowing mining projects for atomic, critical, and strategic minerals to circumvent the mandatory public consultation process. Earlier, a March 2025 amendment reversed a 2020 exemption for certain excavation activities in linear projects like roads and pipelines, reintroducing environmental oversight. Furthermore, a March 2026 draft amendment proposed creating the Standing Authority on Environment Impact Assessment (SAEIA) and Standing Committee on Environment Impact Appraisal (SCEIA) to ensure continuity in the clearance process when state-level bodies lapse.