Great Nicobar project concerns must be debated in parliamentary forum; govt rattled by Rahul Gandhi's visit: Congress

Parliamentary calls have been raised for a formal legislative forum to examine the environmental, tribal rights, and strategic governance aspects of the Grea...

What Happened

Parliamentary calls have been raised for a formal legislative forum to examine the environmental, tribal rights, and strategic governance aspects of the Great Nicobar Island development project.
Concerns centre on the adequacy of the Environmental Clearance process, the absence of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) from the Shompen — a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) — and the transparency of the Forest Advisory Committee's deliberations.
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) cleared certain aspects of the project in a recent order, which has been characterised by environmental groups as insufficient given the ecological sensitivity of the site.
A coastal boundary re-notification by the national coastal regulatory body removed portions of the project area from a previously prohibited coastal zone, facilitating the port development component.
The project implementing agency, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation (ANIIDC), maintains that the project incorporates 42 environmental compliance conditions and that no displacement of indigenous communities is proposed.

Static Topic Bridges

The Great Nicobar Island Development Project

The project is a large-scale infrastructure initiative conceived by NITI Aayog for Great Nicobar Island, the southernmost island in the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago. It comprises four integrated components implemented by ANIIDC.

Galathea Bay International Container Transhipment Terminal (ICTT): designed for a peak capacity of 16 million TEUs, with Phase I capacity of 4 million TEUs
Great Nicobar International Airport (GNIA): a greenfield airport with a peak-hour passenger capacity of 4,000, designed for dual civil-military use
Great Nicobar Gas and Solar Power Plant (GSPP): 450 MVA generation capacity
Township infrastructure to support the above components
Total project cost: approximately ₹75,000–81,000 crore (revised upward to ₹81,000 crore by 2025)
Phase I: 2025–35; Phase II: 2036–41; Phase III: 2042–47

Connection to this news: Parliamentary oversight demand relates to all four components, each raising distinct ecological and governance questions.

Environmental Clearance Process under the EIA Notification, 2006

The Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2006, issued under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, mandates a four-stage clearance process: screening, scoping, public consultation, and appraisal by an Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC), before the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) grants clearance.

Projects in ecologically sensitive areas or above specified thresholds are classified as Category A and require Central-level appraisal.
The Great Nicobar project received environmental clearance from MoEFCC's EAC in November 2022 under the EIA Notification, 2006, and the Island Coastal Regulation Zone (ICRZ) Notification, 2019.
Forest diversion approved covers 1.82% of the island's total forest cover (approximately 130.75 sq km out of the island's total area of 910 sq km); compensatory afforestation is a mandatory condition.
The Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) deliberations for forest clearance were not made public, drawing criticism from conservation researchers and civil society.

Connection to this news: The demand for parliamentary debate specifically targets the adequacy and transparency of the EIA and forest clearance processes.

Leatherback Sea Turtle and Marine Ecosystem Concerns

Great Nicobar's Galathea Bay is one of the most significant nesting sites for the leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) in the entire Indian Ocean region.

The leatherback is listed under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, providing the highest level of protection under Indian law.
Globally, the species is classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.
The proposed transhipment terminal at Galathea Bay would directly affect the nesting beach and associated marine ecosystem.
The island hosts intact tropical wet evergreen forests with high endemic biodiversity; the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) granted clearance with conditions, but conservation ecologists have questioned whether the conditions are enforceable given the scale of construction.

Connection to this news: The leatherback nesting site at Galathea Bay is the most cited ecological flashpoint in parliamentary and civil society debates on the project.

The Shompen are a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) — the most vulnerable sub-category of Scheduled Tribes, identified by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs as having declining or stagnant population, pre-agricultural technology, and extreme social and economic backwardness.

The Shompen are a primarily uncontacted community; no non-Shompen speakers of their language exist outside the community.
Approximately 1,761 individuals from Shompen and Nicobarese communities inhabit the island.
Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) is both an ethical obligation under international norms (ILO Convention 169) and a legal requirement under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (Forest Rights Act).
The project proponent states no displacement is planned and that tribal reserve area will increase through re-notification measures; critics counter that intensified human activity near Shompen territory constitutes de facto intrusion.

Connection to this news: The consent and rights framework for PVTGs is central to the parliamentary oversight demand, as the Shompen's extreme vulnerability makes standard consultation mechanisms inapplicable.

Sixth Schedule — Inapplicability to Andaman and Nicobar Islands

The Sixth Schedule of the Constitution (Articles 244(2) and 275(1)) provides for the establishment of Autonomous District Councils (ADCs) and Regional Councils with legislative, judicial, and executive powers for tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram.

The Sixth Schedule's protective framework for tribal autonomy does not extend to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which are governed as a Union Territory under a Lieutenant Governor.
The absence of a constitutionally mandated tribal governance structure in the islands means that land rights and community protections must rely on other legal mechanisms, including the Forest Rights Act and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Protection of Aboriginal Tribes Regulation, 1956.
The 1956 Regulation designates tribal reserves where entry by outsiders is prohibited; the project area partially overlaps with these protected zones.

Connection to this news: The absence of Sixth Schedule protections is a core governance gap cited in calls for parliamentary scrutiny of how tribal consent and land rights are being protected.

Strategic Significance — Maritime Chokepoints and the Indo-Pacific

Great Nicobar Island is situated at the confluence of the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea, approximately 90 nautical miles from the Strait of Malacca — through which over 80% of China's oil imports transit — and close to the Six Degree Channel connecting the Andaman Sea to the Indian Ocean.

The island's proximity to the Strait of Malacca gives India potential maritime domain awareness (MDA) and force-projection capability in the eastern Indian Ocean.
The dual-use airport and the naval/coast guard facilities planned as part of the project are intended to extend India's strategic depth in the Indo-Pacific.
China's expanding presence in the Bay of Bengal (including port investments in Myanmar and Sri Lanka) has heightened the strategic calculus behind the project.
India's "Act East" policy and the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative frame the Great Nicobar project as a strategic infrastructure investment, not merely a commercial one.

Connection to this news: The strategic rationale is frequently cited in defence of the project's clearances, creating a tension between national security imperatives and environmental and tribal protection obligations that parliamentary debate is expected to address.

Key Facts & Data

Project cost: ₹81,000 crore (revised 2025 estimate)
Implementing agency: ANIIDC (Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation)
Environmental clearance: MoEFCC EAC, November 2022; 42 compliance conditions
Forest diversion: 130.75 sq km (~1.82% of island area)
Leatherback turtle: Schedule I, Wildlife Protection Act, 1972; IUCN Vulnerable
Shompen population: ~1,761 (combined with Nicobarese)
Phase I timeline: 2025–35
Distance from Strait of Malacca: ~90 nautical miles
ICTT Phase I capacity: 4 million TEUs; ultimate capacity: 16 million TEUs
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands Protection of Aboriginal Tribes Regulation, 1956 designates tribal reserves on the islands