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NITI Aayog’s ₹72,000-crore mega project on Great Nicobar island is finally getting its due share as a crucial topic of discussion in the political landscape of India. The Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram, while speaking in an exclusive interview with a leading national newspaper, promised to look into the forest clearance paperwork of the mega project that is being pushed by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government. Oram reportedly stated that special attention will be given the forest and land rights of the tribal communities.
Earlier, Congress leader and former Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh alleged that the project is a serious threat to the tribal communities and natural ecosystem of the island. The Congress party demanded the immediate suspension of all environment and forest clearances given as a part of this project. Ramesh in a statement said that there were numerous red flags in the project and an impartial review of the proposed project should be conducted, including by parliamentary committees.
This has been echoed by other political parties also. In the 2024 election manifesto, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) promised to “scrap the environmentally disastrous and pro-corporate Islands Development Plan for Andaman and Nicobar”.
Before that, E.A.S. Sarma, a former IAS officer and also former tribal welfare commissioner in the Andhra Pradesh government as well as secretary to the Union government, had written to President Murmu making serious allegations against the project. Sarma alleged that the environmental clearances were given without adequate consultation with the tribal council of the island which makes it a violation of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands Protection of Aboriginal Tribes Regulation, 1956.
In April 2024, a group of experts comprising anthropologists, social scientists, environmentalists and scholars of tribal studies wrote to the National Commission of Scheduled Tribes (NCST) alleging that the project will be harmful for the region’s indigenous population. They pointed out that more than half of the project area lies over the Tribal Reserve Area and the riparian and forested parts are currently in use by the forest dwellers, the vulnerable tribal group, the Shompen, in particular.
Environmental Concerns
Earlier, Dr. Jagdish Krishnaswamy, Dean, School of Environment and Sustainability, IIHS Bangalore had told CFC India that the loss of 130 sq km of high biodiversity and high carbon forest in Nicobar will be irreplaceable.
“India, its government, citizens and civil society have a very good record of biodiversity conservation in spite of heavy odds. In the past, we have given up projects like the Silent Valley dam and Sethusamudram project on environmental, ecological and cultural grounds. The loss of 130 sq km of high biodiversity and high carbon forest in Nicobar will be irreplaceable. Such a huge diversion of forest on an ecologically fragile, hydrologically sensitive and climate change-vulnerable island needs to be reconsidered. The project should be redesigned as ecological and environmental security are also in the national interest,” said Dr. Jagdish Krishnaswamy in an email to CFC India.
Uday Mondal, a naturalist and citizen scientist from the Nicobar region, had told CFC India that the project is reflective of the ignorance of our leaders towards the crises of climate change that the world is currently facing.
“The local changes in the environment and ecology of the island brought about by this project will worsen the situation of the fishing and farming communities of mainland settlers who compose most of the island’s population and don’t even have access to basic necessities like healthcare and educational facilities. Our leaders need to think hard about the consequences of another major earthquake once the island is stripped of its coastal forests. It’s like shunning one’s armor at the brink of a battle,” he further told CFC India.
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References:
https://thewire.in/rights/eas-sarma-great-nicobar-clearance-violation-regulation
India promotes ‘LiFE’ in COP27 but plans to divert 130.75 sq km of Forest in Great Nicobar
Image: https://travelcravings.com/2015/06/04/great-nicobar-biosphere-reserve-nicobar-islands/
