New Delhi: In a huge embarrassment for the Environment Ministry, it has been revealed that over 70% of its Environment Supplement Plan (ESP) is a copy-paste job and has been lifted from documents which were adopted by the US in March 2015.
According to a report in The Indian Express, around 2,900 words of the 3,850-word draft has been directly lifted from the US documents as stated in the Supplemental Environmental Projects Policy (SEP).
Following are some of the instances where the rules have been copied from the US documents:
US (Introduction A): Supplemental Environmental Project (SEP) is an environmentally beneficial project or activity that is not required by law, but that a defendant agrees to undertake as part of the settlement of an enforcement action.
India (Clause 1): An Environmental Supplemental Plan (ESP) is an environmentally beneficial project or activity that is not required by law, but that an alleged violator of Environmental Impact Assessment Notification, 2006 agrees to undertake as part of the process of environmental clearance.
US (II D): SEPs provide defendants with an opportunity to develop and demonstrate new technologies that may prove more protective of human health and the environment than existing processes and procedures.
India (4 iii): Innovative Technology: Environmental Supplemental Plan will provide the proponent and the Expert Group with an opportunity to develop and demonstrate new technologies that may prove more protective of human health and the environment than existing processes and procedures.
US (IV A III): The project must demonstrate that it is designed to reduce:
a. The likelihood that similar violations will occur in the future;
b. The adverse impact to public health and/or the environment to which the violation at issue contributes; or,
c. The overall risk to public health and/or the environment potentially affected by the violation at issue.
India (5): The project must demonstrate that it is designed to remediate the ecological damage caused due to violations and it will reduce,
a. The likelihood that similar violations will occur in the future;
b. The adverse impact to public health and the environment to which the violation at issue contributes;
c. The overall risk to public health and the environment potentially affected by the violation at issue.
US (X B): With regard to the SEP, Defendant certifies the truth and accuracy of each of the following:
a. That all cost information provided to the EPA in connection with the EPA’s approval of the SEP is complete and accurate and that Defendant in good faith estimates that the cost to implement the SEP[, exclusive of _____ costs,] is $_____;
India (12): With regard to the Environmental Supplemental Plan, the project proponent shall certify the truth and accuracy of each of the following:
a. That all cost information provided to the Expert Group in connection with the Environmental Supplemental Plan is complete and accurate and that the proponent in good faith estimates that the cost to implement the Environmental Supplemental Plan is Rs. —————;
Defending their stand on the issue, Joint Secretary, Manoj Kumar Singh said that the ministry did not copy the content of the SEP document. Instead they have 'borrowed' it from the US.
“We borrowed the idea (of ESP) from the US. Most Western countries follow this practice. But the language of our draft is different. Nothing was copied,” Singh was quoted saying in The Indian Express report.
New environment minister, Anil Madhav Dave refused to comment on the matter.
