The Great Nicobar Betrayal
Curated by Pankaj Sekhsaria
THG PUBLISHING
Rs. 499
Pages 100

Flash floods, wildfires, cyclones, droughts, landslides and earthquakes are climate catastrophes which are Mother Nature’s reaction to relentless industrialisation in the name of development.

But is anyone heeding these warnings? Certainly not the incumbent Government of India.

Within a two-year period, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the National Green Tribunal (NGT) have granted final environmental clearance to a project, ironically titled ‘Holistic Development of Great Nicobar Island’. The Andaman & Nicobar Islands — comprising pristine forest totaling an area of 3,185 sq. km in the eastern Indian Ocean and inhabited by tribal communities — are India’s last outpost in the east.

Researcher-academic and currently senior project scientist, DST-Centre for Policy Research, IIT-Delhi, Pankaj Sekhsaria is a vocal and articulate critic of environmental and ecology damage being inflicted countrywide by government and industry. In this slim volume (100 pages with photographs) he presents a compilation of critiques, essays written by experts warning of magnitude of devastation this unspoilt island will suffer if this project is implemented.

It proposes to establish a Rs.40,000 crore transshipment port at Galathea Bay (a prime nesting site of the giant leatherback turtle), an international airport, a gas and power plant, a greenfield township with luxury hotels and tourism attractions spread over 160 sq. km to host and house 3.5 lakh citizens from mainland India.

The environmental impact will be deforestation of over 1 million trees, several centuries old, displacement of the last remaining indigenous population of Shompen tribals and The Great Nicobarese people, and destruction of the natural ecology of the island. The proposed budget for this project is Rs.72,000 crore, to which add inevitable project over-runs of Rs.28,000 crore to arrive at a round Rs.100,000 crore.

The reasons given by NGT for implementation of this project are:

• Boosting defence capabilities. The Indian Ocean has emerged as a key intersection zone of Indian and Chinese strategic interests.
• Elimination of poaching of flora and fauna. The project document cites media reports of marine resources — corals, sharks and fish — being illegally poached.
• Economic considerations such as the potential for international trade and cargo transshipment, tourism, and employment of 350,000 inhabitants from mainland India.

In 2023, the Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways invited expressions of interest (EOI) for the construction of a port in Galathea Bay. Ten firms have submitted their EOIs. Among them Adani Ports, JSW Infra, Royal Boskalis Westminster, Rail Vikas Nigam, Container Corporation of India, and Essar Ports.

In 1978, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had rejected proposals for construction of a transshipment port at sites in the A&N islands, including Port Blair, citing its potential impact on the islands’ endemic tribal culture and ecology. And it was declared a Notified Protected Area.

In 2021, through a slew of de-notifications, the Government of India abolished all property rights of the indigenous population, the Galathea Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, forest protection of over 200 sq. km of evergreen, centuries-old forests and their endemic ecology of birds, insects, flora and fauna.

The greatest injustice is being meted out to the Shompen and Nicobarese people living in camps in reserved areas of Campbell Bay since the tsunami of 2004 (in which over 10,000 perished). They have not been allowed to return to their ancestral habitats, which have been declared “vacant” and thus accessible to land sharks and “developmental” projects. With no means of living their normal lives, they are surviving as construction labour, and slowly but surely dying from alcoholism and a host of diseases imported by outside settlers and environmental changes. As of 2022, there are 245 Shompens and 420 (of 1200) Great Nicobarese living in the ‘reservations’ set up by government.

In 2022, The Tribal Council of Little and Great Nicobar Islands wrote to the President and Prime Minister of India protesting colonisation of their lands and livelihoods. There has been no response from any of the addressees.

Eminent scholar Prof. G.N. Devy, warns: “Decades from now, when Indians look back on the ideological architecture of this devastating project, they may feel ashamed of how they remained silent when such a mindless project was being executed.”

This book is of seminal importance, warning of the aftermath — the disaster that will be unleashed on this pristine island, and on the planet — should this project see light of day.

Anil Thakore