Tribal council calls recognition of forest rights on Great Nicobar Island ‘false’

- In a letter to the Union Tribal Affairs Minister, tribal chiefs of Great Nicobar and Little Nicobar have demanded withdrawal of a 2022 certificate that claimed forest rights had been recognised and settled. - The certification paved the way for clearances for the ₹81,000 crores (₹810 billion) Great Nicobar project. - The letter also lists unmet basic needs, arguing that footpaths and access to employment are what the islands’ communities require. Members of the Tribal Council of the Little Nicobar and Great Nicobar Islands have written to the Union Tribal Affairs Minister demanding the withdrawal of a certificate which claimed forest rights had been recognised and settled on Great Nicobar Island. The certification, issued in August 2022, enabled clearances for the Great Nicobar Island project to come through later that year. The ₹81,000 crores (₹810 billion) project includes the development of a trans-shipment port, military and civilian airport, solar power plant, and township along the island’s southern coast. The letter, dated June 30, 2026, was written in response to a statement by the Tribal Affairs Minister, Jual Oran, who said that “development and tribal protection are not mutually exclusive.” Approximately 130 square kilometres of the project-affected area falls on forest land, requiring the removal of close to one million trees. In their letter, the tribal chiefs proposed an alternative set of initiatives to meet their needs, including building basic critical infrastructure like hospitals, telecommunication towers, and footpaths. “Development will be achieved when those who have the power to make decisions and are duty bound to address our grievances don’t keep ignoring us,” says the letter. The letter demands that tribal rights to accessing forest land be legitimately recognised, and that the certification issued by the Andaman and Nicobar Island Deputy Commissioner in August 2022 be withdrawn. The Deputy Commissioner had issued a certificate claiming that forest rights over the project affected-land had been recognised, settled, and approved for diversion under the Forest (Rights) Act, 2006 — a law that recognises the historical rights of tribal and other forest-dwelling communities over forest resources. The tribal chiefs allege the certification is “false” in their letter to the Minister. “We are denied permission to clear a few trees for a playground for our children in the tribal colony in New Chingenh because it is forest land, while massive stretches of forest and coast have been approved for development we didn’t ask for,” says the letter. The settlement of forest rights on Great Nicobar Island is separately being contested in the Calcutta High Court. How rights were certified The Great Nicobar Island is occupied by two tribal groups – the largely uncontacted Shompen, who occupy the island’s interiors, and the Nicobarese, who occupy the coast. Under the Forest Rights Act, gram sabhas are empowered to create Forest Rights Committees which pass resolutions on claims over individual and community forest rights. Sub-Divisional Level Committees, constituted by state authorities, must provide gram sabhas with information about their rights and duties, as well as examine the resolutions and the maps of the gram sabhas to ascertain the veracity of the claims. According to official documents, the Lieutenant Governor constituted the Sub-Divisional Level Committee (SDLC) on July 26, 2022. Sixteen days later, on August 12, a “special” gram sabha was held and “unanimously resolved” to allow the diversion of 166 sq km of forest land for the Great Nicobar project. The SDLC convened the next day, on August 13, and concluded that no rights were being infringed upon by approving the diversion. On August 18, 2022, the Deputy Commissioner’s office issued the certificate “for having initiated and completed the process of settlement of rights.” But tribal leaders dispute this. Titus Peter, a Nicobarese leader from Pulo Bhabi village in Great Nicobar, told Mongabay-India in January that no formal recognition of forest rights had been made under the Forest (Rights) Act. Peter is also a signatory to the letter sent to the Union Minister on June 30. A case in the Calcutta High Court, filed by former IAS officer Meena Gupta, also disputes the settlement of forest rights on the Island, arguing that the gram sabha meeting was led primarily by non-tribal settlers, and that “not a single claim for forest rights… has been processed,” on the Island. Demands for development Apart from recognising forest rights, the letter by the tribal chiefs points to several infrastructure gaps that have persisted since the resettlement of tribal communities after the 2004 tsunami. The tsunami washed away 27 villages along the west and southern coast of Great Nicobar Island, and communities were rehabilitated on the east coast. A key demand of displaced communities has been to return to their ancestral lands. The letter says the tsunami shelters, which were built more than 20 years ago, are in need of repair. “We are not equipped to maintain these shelters ourselves as they are different from our traditional houses, nor do we have enough money to get someone else to repair it. When we ask the local administration to repair the shelters, we are told there is no budget, while the same officers assure us that we will get anything we want after we surrender our land for the Great Nicobar project,” says the letter. In January, the tribal chiefs alleged the district administration asked them to sign certificates agreeing to surrender their ancestral land for the project. The letter also says the lack of telecommunication towers has cut off access to employment and education opportunities, including mandatory online registration for schemes like MGNREGA. Frequent power cuts have also affected the ability of communities to collect rations, and that without a footpath or network coverage, residents of Pulo Panja in Little Nicobar are marooned in emergency situations. “We will see it as development when the printer in the Primary Healthcare Centre in Campbell Bay [in Great Nicobar] gets fixed so that X-rays and ECGs can be handed over to patients and the doctors don’t have to rely on photographs for diagnosis,” the letter further says. It also demands reservations be maintained for government posts like Auxilliary Midwife Nurse, and that buffer zones be set up to prevent trawlers from over-extracting fish. “We hope this gives you a better idea regarding the needs on the island, specifically the tribal communities [sic]. To us, development is having an inclusive mindset, and making the best use of existing land and infrastructure in this remote area,” says the letter, adding, “We refuse being bystanders while our lands and seas get ravaged by outsiders’ notions of development, the consequences of which will be borne by our future generations.” Banner image: A Nicobar pigeon. Image by cuatrok77 via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0). Read more: Tribal leaders allege pressure to surrender land for the Great Nicobar project