‘Growth’ at the price of Nicobar Islands

The Central authorities’s plans within the Nicobar Islands, particularly land taken over for deforestation, will have an effect on the native Shompen tribe, which wants forests for its livelihood.
| Photograph Credit score: Public area

The well-known tree crusader and tree lover Shri ‘Vanajeevi’ Ramaiah who handed away final month was a agency believer that timber are important for our lives. This Padma Shri awardee planted over 1 crore saplings throughout Telangana, thus making us dwell in unison with nature. However the present dispute between the Telangana State authorities and the College of Hyderabad concerning the space of Kancha Gachibowli would have disillusioned Ramaiah. Whereas the College needs the land as a inexperienced forested space, as a reservoir for 700 sorts of plant species, 200 sorts of birds, and 10-20 totally different mammals to be preserved as nature’s present, the State authorities needs this space for expertise parks and associated functions. The ‘battle’ has reached the Supreme Court docket, and we await its resolution. 

Sadly, a number of different States throughout India face the identical predicament, with land getting used for hi-tech cities, pharmaceutical zones, highways, quick trains, and airports. Whereas all these are wanted for the general public good, the query is: ought to these be at the price of dropping greenery, flowery crops, and tribal individuals who subsist on these? Will this not be a betrayal of what Vanajeevi Ramaiah stood for?

We use the time period ‘betrayal’ drawing from the attitude of Professor Pankaj Sekhsaria, who has over three many years of expertise on the Nicobar Islands, inspecting environmental and wildlife conservation alongside the intricate connections between society, surroundings, science, and expertise. He has curated a e-book known as ‘The Nice Nicobar Betrayal’, chronicling how the Central authorities has proposed to make use of the Nicobar Islands for a number of functions: a trans-shipment facility on the Galathea Bay for entry throughout the ocean, constructing a global airport, and an influence plant for electrical energy. As well as, a greenfield township is deliberate for growing the inhabitants from the present 8,000 natives to about 3.5 lakh, by inviting folks from mainland India to return and keep as residents for these tasks and to go to for holidays.  

The e-book has raised a number of vital points in regards to the ecological splendour, with over 2,000 species of fauna and 811 species of flora within the islands, plus the way forward for the native folks. All of those will probably be affected by the ‘growth’ deliberate by the Central authorities. Moreover, because the land is taken over for deforestation, the destiny of the native Nicobarese tribe, significantly the weak tribal group Shompen (see image), which wants forests for livelihood, will probably be affected. Additionally, the enormous leatherback turtles, discovered each season within the seacoast, will probably be in peril when the seacoast is taken over for growth. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs is but to reply this question.

However, in January 2023, a gaggle of former civil servants had written to the President of India, declaring how the Indian authorities is out to destroy the pristine habitat, which is dwelling to varied uncommon and endemic species. They additional identified how the federal government will ‘compensate’ this loss by planting forests in Haryana, 2,600 km away from Nicobar!

India has, among the many 200 nations throughout the globe, signed the Conference for Organic Range, which can ‘cut back to close zero the lack of areas of excessive biodiversity significance, together with ecosystems of excessive ecological integrity’. And, because the ex-civil servants have requested, the President and the Authorities of India ought to instantly cease the graduation of damaging tasks in Nice Nicobar.

For readers, the e-book ‘The Nice Nicobar Betrayal’ is accessible from Amazon and The Hindu Bookstore: https://publications.thehindugroup.com/bookstore.