The making of an ecological disaster in the Nicobar, Pg6

Key Highlights:

• The Great Nicobar mega-infrastructure project, costing ₹72,000 crore, threatens indigenous tribal communities and unique ecosystems.
• The project will displace the Nicobarese tribe from their ancestral villages and disrupt the Shompen tribe's reserve.
• Environmental concerns include the felling of an estimated 8.5 lakh trees and potential damage to Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) 1A areas.
• The project site is located in a seismically active zone, increasing the risk to infrastructure and inhabitants.

Detailed Insights:

• The project disregards the Shompen Policy and denotifies a significant part of the Shompen tribal reserve, impacting their socio-economic existence.
• Constitutional bodies like the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes were not consulted, and the Tribal Council's concerns were neglected.
• The Social Impact Assessment (SIA) failed to consider the Nicobarese and Shompen as stakeholders, violating the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.
• Compensatory afforestation in Haryana is an inadequate substitute for the loss of natural rainforests, especially since some of the land has been auctioned off for mining.
• Biodiversity assessments have methodological flaws, such as assessing sea turtle nesting sites in the off-season and using drones with limited capacity to assess the impact on dugongs.
• The project's location in a seismically sensitive zone increases the risk of damage from earthquakes and tsunamis, as demonstrated by the 2004 tsunami and the July 2025 earthquake.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG): A sub-category of tribal groups that are considered more vulnerable based on various factors.
• Social Impact Assessment (SIA): A process of evaluating the potential social effects of a proposed project or policy.
• Compensatory Afforestation: The practice of planting trees to compensate for the loss of forests due to deforestation.