Blow to responsible governance: Congress on change in environmental clearance

New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday slammed the government for the change in policy under which non-coal mining project developers will not have to show proof of land acquisition as a pre-requisite for environmental clearance, saying this is "yet another blow by the Modi regime" to responsible environmental governance.

According to a recent environment ministry memorandum, non-coal mining project developers will not have to show proof of land acquisition as a pre-requisite for environmental clearance now.

So far, the ministry required proof of land acquisition.

Congress general secretary and former environment minister Jairam Ramesh said, "For non-coal mining projects, the policy has been that first land acquisition must be completed as per law and only then can environmental clearances be sought. However, on December 18, 2025, this policy was changed by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change and environmental clearances for non-coal mining projects can now be sought before land acquisition." It is very difficult to understand how a meaningful environmental impact assessment can be made without full knowledge of the area that is going to be covered by the non-coal mining project in the first place, he said in a post on X.

"This policy change is yet another blow by the Modi regime to responsible and responsive environmental governance in the country," Ramesh said.

The earlier norm was reconsidered following requests that consent from landowners should not be insisted upon at the time of grant of environmental clearance (EC) for non-coal mining projects and the status of land acquisition should not be linked with the grant of the clearance.

"The matter was referred to the non-coal mining Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) for consideration. After due deliberation the sectoral EAC observed that the request for delinking the consent from landowners at the time of grant of EC for non-coal mining projects, appears to be reasonable and can be accepted," an official memorandum of the ministry said.

"Further, the EAC, inter alia, also observed that there are many mining projects where mining operations have started after grant of EC and land acquisition is still in progress in a phased manner based on requirement," it said.

The order noted that "the recommendations of the non-coal mining EAC were examined and comments and inputs on the applicability of the OM (office memorandum) dated October 7, 2014, as amended, on other sectors were also sought. Based on the inputs received, it was observed that insisting for land acquisition documents at the time of appraisal for EC may not be practical for certain other projects".