Match List-I (EIA Approach) with List-II (Typical context) and select the correct

Question

Match List-I (EIA Approach) with List-II (Typical context) and select the correct

code:

List-I

List-II

i. Rapid EIA

a. High-impact projects

ii. Comprehensive

b. Policy/Plan level

iii. Sectoral

c. Moderate-impact

iv. Strategic (SEA)

Choose the correct match :

1. A. i-c, ii-a, iii-d, iv-b (Correct answer)
2. B. i-a, ii-c, iii-b, iv-d
3. C. i-c, ii-b, iii-a, iv-d
4. D. i-d, ii-a, iii-c, iv-b

Correct Answer

Option A — i-c, ii-a, iii-d, iv-b

Detailed Solution & Explanation

The correct answer is i-c, ii-a, iii-d, iv-b.

Key Points

• Four levels of assessment, each suited to a different context:
  • i. Rapid EIA - c. Moderate-impact projects, where a single season's data supports a preliminary decision.
  • ii. Comprehensive EIA - a. High-impact projects, needing full seasonal coverage and detailed prediction.
  • iii. Sectoral EIA - d. Assessment across a whole sector, such as mining or thermal power, rather than a single project.
  • iv. Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) - b. Policy and plan level.

Additional Information

• SEA is the conceptual step up from project EIA. It applies environmental assessment to policies, plans and programmes — a state industrial policy, a river-basin plan — where the decisions that really determine environmental outcomes are actually taken.
• Project-level EIA can only assess a proposal that is already largely fixed in location and technology; by then the most consequential choices have been made. SEA addresses that limitation.
• SEA is also the natural home of cumulative impact assessment, since it looks across many projects in a region rather than at one in isolation — the gap most often criticised in Indian clearance practice.
• The progression project → sectoral → strategic is one of widening scope and earlier intervention, and questions often test it as exactly that hierarchy.