Appraisal and Evaluation

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Much of my work as a researcher, activist, and general busybody, involved appraising proposed activities and projects, and evaluating ongoing and completed ones. That is why many of the documents located under other heads in this collection, like “Large Dams”, “Andaman & Nicobar Islands”, and the sub heads of “Biodiversity” and “Forests”, under the head “Environment & Forests”, also contain material related to appraisal and evaluation, and to get a comprehensive picture they should also be looked at.

Apart from occasional invitation to help appraise or evaluate projects and activities, specifically I chaired the environmental appraisal committee of the ministry of environment and forests, Government of India, for thermal power projects, and was a member of the appraisal committee for river valley projects. I am a member of the narmada control authority’s (NCA) environmental sub group (ESG), and, in this capacity, have been both appraising proposed, and evaluating ongoing, and completed segments, of the Narmada project, involving many large, medium and small dams across three states of India.

I also had the opportunity, in early 1990s, of setting up and heading the environment and forest division of the planning commission of India. One of the important responsibilities of this division was to appraise the proposed large government investments across the country in terms of their impact on forests and the environment. It then decided whether to approve, modify and approve, or disapprove them. The planning commission also evaluated, on a sample basis, completed projects and activities


Shekhar Singh