GS Paper III — Q8
What role do environmental NGOs and activists play in influencing Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) outcomes for major…
What role do environmental NGOs and activists play in influencing Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) outcomes for major projects in India? Cite four examples with all important details. (Answer in 150 words) 10 marks
हिंदी में प्रश्न पढ़ें
भारत में प्रमुख परियोजनाओं के लिए पर्यावरणीय प्रभाव आकलन (ई० आई० ए०) परिणामों को प्रभावित करने में पर्यावरणीय गैर-सरकारी संगठन और कार्यकर्ता क्या भूमिका निभाते हैं? सभी महत्त्वपूर्ण विवरणों सहित चार उदाहरण दीजिए। (उत्तर 150 शब्दों में दीजिए)
Model answer
Drafted with AI by UPSC Answer Check against this question's marking rubric, to the 150-word length. UPSC does not publish answers for Mains — this is one way to score well, not an official key. How we build rubrics and answers.
Environmental NGOs and activists influence Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) outcomes by leveraging legal mechanisms like the EIA Notification 2006 public hearings, RTI, and PILs to force supplemental assessments, strict conditions, or project cancellation. They transform the EIA from a procedural formality into a contested public-reasoning forum.
Four key examples illustrate this role:
- Narmada/Sardar Sarovar: The Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) and Medha Patkar highlighted incomplete Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R) in the EIA. Their activism led to Supreme Court stays on construction and, in the 2000 judgment, pari passu rehabilitation conditions.
- Vedanta Niyamgiri: Survival International and local Dongria activists utilized the Gram Sabha to reject mining. Following the Supreme Court's 2013 order, all 12 Gram Sabhas rejected mining and the MoEF denied forest clearance in 2014.
- POSCO Jagatsinghpur: The POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti exposed gaps in CRZ and forest-rights compliance. This sustained pressure contributed to POSCO formally withdrawing from the project in 2017.
- Mumbai Metro-3 car shed at Aarey: Vanashakti and residents' PILs and the 'Save Aarey' movement led the Maharashtra government to issue a Section 4 Indian Forest Act notification (October 2020) to make about 808 acres of Aarey a reserved forest, though the Supreme Court ultimately allowed the car shed to proceed.
How this answer will be evaluated
Framework: GS3 Environment: threat, causes, impact, mitigation
What earns full marks: Clear role definition + 4 detailed examples with specific project names and outcomes.
Evaluation rubric
Each sub-part is marked on its own, against the marks and word limit printed on the paper.
- The answer Explain how environmental NGOs and activists influence EIA outcomes, with four detailed examples. 10 marks · 150 words
explain— definition/context → points in order → small example → short close
Must cover
- Channels: public hearings under EIA Notification 2006, RTI, scientific critique of EIA reports, litigation (NGT, High Courts, Supreme Court), media and mass mobilisation, Gram Sabha consent under FRA
- Four examples with project, actors, issue, forum and outcome (e.g., Sardar Sarovar/NBA; Niyamgiri/Dongria Kondh 2013 SC order and 12 Gram Sabhas; POSCO Odisha, withdrawn 2017; Aarey car shed/Vanashakti)
- Dates and legal outcomes stated correctly for each example
- Assessment: improved accountability and rights of affected people vs delays, cost overruns and questions of foreign funding; need for a robust, independent EIA
Loses marks
- Fewer than four examples
- Examples without details (who, what, outcome)
- One-sided glorification or condemnation
Earns more
- Other valid examples: Silent Valley (1980s), Lavasa, Kudankulam, Great Nicobar
- Mention of the draft EIA Notification 2020 debate
- Role of NGT (2010)
Extra mark
- Short table-free comparison of outcomes
What "Explain" is asking you to do
Make the working of something clear — what sets it off, what follows from what, and what it produces. Explain is the Commission's mechanism word: it dominates the technical papers and the “explain why” stems, where the marks sit in the causal chain and not in the label.
Structure that answers it
State what it is → the initiating condition → the chain of cause, step by step → an instance where it plays out → what the chain produces
Where marks are lost
Describing what something looks like instead of why it works that way. Naming the stages without linking them reads as description too.
Practice this exact question
Write your answer and it is marked point by point against the model answer above — what you covered, what you missed, what you got wrong.
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