Environment Ministry Star Rating System

The Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change has recently launched the Environment Ministry Star Rating System to encourage states to provide environmental clearances competently in a short period and then rank and incentivise such states.

The environmental clearances focus on the environment's health, how the project will affect the environment and what measures can be taken to decrease the environmental losses induced by the project.

Features of the Environment Ministry Star Rating System

The Environment Ministry Star Rating System ranks and incentivises the states with this new system.

• The star rating system offers marks or ranks to the states on a scale of seven.
• The state will receive two marks for clearing a project in less than 80 days.
• If the states clear the project in 105 days, it will receive one mark.
• If the project is not cleared within the designated period, a state will receive zero marks and takes more than 105 days.
• If the state has less than 10% of projects for analysis, then one mark is provided under the Environment Ministry Star Rating System.
• It introduces conditions for State Environment Impact Assessment Authorities (SEIAA), which are based on the following circumstances:
  • Applications or proposals that are waiting for more than 30 days
  • Terms of Reference proposals waiting for more than 30 days.
  • Percentage of disposal of new terms of testimonials and references.
  • Reassessment and revaluation of complaints and grievances.
  • Environmental clearances have been waiting for more than 105 days.
• The rating is provided under the Environment Ministry Star Rating System based on the performance of the authorities in the last six months, which is finally updated by the end of the month.
• The average time for granting the clearance has been reduced from 105 to 75 per the Environmental Impact Assessment Notification, 2006.

Purpose of Introducing the Environment Ministry Star Rating System

The main motive behind introducing this Environment Ministry Star Rating System is to enhance the ease of doing business in India. The meeting held by Cabinet Secretaries held a meeting to ease the environmental clearance processes through a star rating system based on timelines and efficiency.

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Division of Powers Between the Centre and the State Ministry

The Environment Ministry Star Rating System divides the power between the centre and the state ministry depending on the various projects.

1. The category A projects that include forest land should be cleared by the committee constituted by the centre. But they should seek infrastructure projects approval first by SIEAA, which constitutes committees with environmental experts and state officers.
2. Category B should be cleared by SIEAA, which includes mining, building or construction, and small industrial projects.

FAQs on Environment Ministry Star Rating System

Q1. What is the Environment Ministry Star Rating System?

Ans: The Environment Ministry Star Rating System is introduced to incentivise the states that provide environmental clearances efficiently in a short time.

Q2. What is the scale of ranking under the Environment Ministry Star Rating System?

Ans: The Environment Ministry Star Rating System provides marks to the states on a scale of seven.

Q3. Under what circumstances does the state get zero ranking under the Environment Ministry Star Rating System?

Ans: If a state fails to fulfil the environmental clearance within 105 days and takes more than the designated time, it is zero under the Environment Ministry Star Rating System.

Q4. What is the main purpose of the Environment Ministry Star Rating System?

Ans: The main purpose of the Environment Ministry Star Rating System is to encourage and incentivise the states and thereby ease doing business in India.

Q5. Who has launched the Environment Ministry Star Rating System?

Ans: The Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate change has launched the Environment Ministry Star Rating System.