What's The Great Nicobar Project And Why Is There A Controversy?

The Great Nicobar Island Project is a major initiative by the Union government to strengthen India’s strategic positioning in the Indo-Pacific and a holistic transformation of infrastructure in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Rs 72,000-crore project includes a transhipment port, an international airport, a power plant and a township on the Great Nicobar Island.

However, it has turned into a political controversy, with Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi criticising the project, calling it the latest in a “series of planned misadventures". In an opinion piece published in The Hindu on Sept. 8, she said the project "poses an existential danger to the island’s indigenous tribal communities".

Gandhi highlighted that the island is home to two indigenous groups, the Nicobarese and the Shompen, the latter classified as a particularly vulnerable tribal group. She noted that the project would permanently displace the Nicobarese, whose ancestral villages were evacuated during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

The Shompen, she added, face even greater risks. The project denotifies parts of their tribal reserve. This, Gandhi said, would sever the Shompen from their ancestral lands, threatening their social and economic survival.

The Great Nicobar Project is part of India’s plan to improve roads, connectivity and economic activity in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The project aims to turn the small island, home to around 8,000 people, into what some are calling the "Hong Kong of India". It includes building an international shipping port, an airport, a power plant, a military base and an industrial park, along with new facilities to promote tourism.

According to reports, the project comes with serious environmental and social risks. Several reports say that the Great Nicobar Project poses serious environmental and social risks.

According to the BBC, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are home to some of the world’s most isolated and vulnerable tribes, including five classified as PVTGs. These include the Jarawas, North Sentinelese, Great Andamanese, Onge and Shompen.

The Shompen, a nomadic tribe of around 400 people living deep in the forests of Great Nicobar, are at particular risk. They depend entirely on the rainforest for survival, and little is known about their culture due to minimal contact with outsiders. Environmentalists warn that the project could destroy their forests, displace the tribe and disrupt their traditional way of life. They also caution that contact with outsiders could expose the Shompen to diseases, potentially threatening the very survival of the community, according to the Guardian.

The project also raises broader environmental concerns, particularly for marine life, according to the BBC. Ecologists say that Galathea Bay, on the island’s south-eastern coast and a centuries-old nesting site for giant leatherback sea turtles, could be affected.

The area is also home to saltwater crocodiles, water monitors, fish and diverse bird species. While the government has stated that the nesting and breeding grounds of these animals would remain untouched, experts caution that other species, such as leatherback turtles, corals and giant robber crabs, could be displaced, the BBC report added.

While the government has stated that the project will provide strategic and economic benefits, political leaders, tribal advocates and environmentalists have raised concerns and called for a review.