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Under the EIA Notification 2006 (S.O. 1533(E), 14 September 2006), environmental clearance for Category A and Category B1 mining projects requires three sequential stages: screening/scoping, preparation of an Environmental Impact Assessment report, and a public consultation comprising a 30-day public notice, a mandatory public hearing conducted by the State Pollution Control Board in the project district, and receipt of written objections. For large-scale projects this workstream typically adds 90-180 days to the clearance timeline.
Para 7(i) of the Notification provides a standing exemption for projects "concerning national defence and security or involving other strategic considerations as determined by the Central Government." The September 2025 OM applies this clause across an entire mineral class rather than on a project-by-project basis — a structural novelty in the Indian environmental-clearance architecture. Previous use of para 7(i) had been restricted to individual defence-installation infrastructure or classified projects.
Three mineral categories are now exempt: 1. Atomic minerals — uranium, thorium, and 12 minerals listed under the Atomic Minerals Concession Rules 2016. 2. 30 critical minerals notified by the Ministry of Mines on 28 June 2023 — including cobalt, lithium, nickel, graphite, REE (17 elements), PGMs, antimony, tungsten, tantalum, niobium, beryllium, cadmium, gallium, indium, rhenium, selenium, tellurium, titanium, vanadium, and molybdenum. 3. Strategic minerals — a separately designated list maintained by the Ministry of Defence covering inputs to guided-missile systems, fighter-radar arrays, naval propulsion, and electronic warfare.
Substitute review architecture: Exempted projects bypass the district-level public hearing but proceed directly to the central Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) at MoEFCC headquarters (or a Sectoral EAC for mine-type specifics). The EAC appraisal covers ecological baseline data, hydrology, dust/effluent management, and social impact — but without mandatory community- participation input. The central-level EAC review has no project-size threshold: small Category B2 projects that would otherwise be handled at state-level SEAC are elevated to the central panel.
Inter-ministerial drivers: The MoD formally communicated to MoEFCC that rare-earth elements are irreplaceable in missile guidance, fighter-jet radar (AESA arrays), naval propulsion, and electronic-warfare systems, and that India's dependence on imported REE supply chains constitutes a strategic vulnerability. The DAE submitted a parallel request citing uranium and thorium needs for the civil nuclear three-stage programme and strategic reserve build-up, highlighting delays caused by public hearings in high-contention districts (Jharkhand uranium belt, Rajasthan thorium deposits, Odisha REE-bearing sands).
exploration blocks for accelerated development. Public-consultation opposition had delayed multiple EIA clearances for pilot blocks (notably lithium in Reasi, J&K and REE-bearing beach sands in Kerala/Odisha). The OM removes the critical path bottleneck for the first wave of NCMM-funded exploration-to-extraction projects.
NALCO, HCL, and MECL) is acquiring foreign lithium, cobalt, and graphite assets. The OM accelerates domestic supply-side development in parallel, reducing dependence on KABIL's offshore acquisition pipeline for near-term supply security.
Article 21 (right to clean environment per Vellore Citizens Welfare Forum SC precedent). A petition in the National Green Tribunal or directly to the Supreme Court could stay the OM pending a determination of whether the para 7(i) clause can be applied class-wide rather than project-specifically.
Cabinet notification) establishes a low-friction template. MoEFCC could extend the same exemption to other infrastructure categories without requiring a formal EIA Notification amendment.
independent of EIA (the OM does not address PESA applicability)