'Scrap Great Nicobar Project, it Disregards Indigenous Community Rights'
Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons
New Delhi: Expressing grave concern and alarm over the “disregard” of the rights of indigenous communities in Andamans & Nicobar Islands, a group of anthropologists, social scientists, environmentalists, scholars of tribal studies and individuals have written a letter to the Chairman, National Commission of Scheduled Tribes (NCST) and Union Tribal Affairs Minster Arjun Munda, demanding immediate scrapping of the Great Nicobar project.
The proposed project on Little Andaman, the second most populated island after Great Andaman, which includes the capital Port Blair, comprises a transshipment port, an international airport, a power plant and a township spread across 169.08 sq km (including reclaimed area from the sea).
“More than half of the project area lies over the Tribal Reserve Area of the island, the riparian and forested regions of which are currently in use by the forest-dwelling Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group, the Shompen. The project area also covers parts of the south-eastern and western coast where the coastal dwelling Scheduled Tribe, the Great Nicobarese, have their ancestral villages” the letter points out.
Challenging the 15-point submission made by the A&N Administration through Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation Limited (ANIIDCO) to NCST in detail, the letter, among other things, says: “The project will result in displacement of 2-3 Shompen settlements located in the Galathea river basin forests and the Great Nicobarese will not be able to return to their ancestral villages that they had to leave after the tsunami resulting in their permanent displacement.”
The letter demands that the return of the southern Great Nicobarese to their ancestral villages be facilitated and the Tribal Reserve Area be notified in the island in places that are outside of the reserve and are used by the Shompen. Also, “due process of recognition of rights over claims for the land used and/or currently and/or historically occupied by the Great Nicobarese and the Shompen as mandated under the Forest Rights Act 2006” be followed.
The signatories to the letter, dated April 12, 2024, include Dr. Vishvajit Pandya, Former Director, Andaman & Nicobar Tribal Research Institute, Dr. Madhumita Mazumdar, Team member, Project ANG KATHA, Andaman & Nicobar Tribal Research Institute, Dr. Manish Chandi, Independent Researcher, Former member, Tribal Welfare & Research Advisory Board, A&N Administration, Prof. Ajay Saini, Assistant Professor, IIT Delhi, Dr. T.N. Pandit, Fomer Director, Anthropological Survey of India, Dr. Anstice Justin, Former Deputy Director, Anthropological Survey of India, Ashish Kothari, Kalpavrish and Vikalp Sangam, Nicholas Barla, Adivasi Samanway Manch Bharat, Delhi, Dr. Virginius Xaxa, Former Professor, Delhi School of Economics, Delhi University and others.
The link for the full letter is pasted below:
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