Bulldozing Tribal Rights in Great Nicobar

'In the Great Nicobar, development redefines displacement, forest rights, and consent.'

- Utkarsh Yadav & Tejaswini Kaushal

A decade ago, the Supreme Court in Orissa Mining Corporation Ltd. v. Ministry of Environment and Forests (2013) declared that the consent of the Gram Sabha is obligatory for diversion of forest land. It established the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (FRA) as the overriding law that prevails over existing statutes and prior rulings, and affirmed tribal communities as custodians of their ancestral lands.

This framework is at the heart of the Rs 72,000-crore Great Nicobar project controversy, which involves a transhipment port, airport, power plant, and township. Though the island's administration alleged tribal rights under the FRA were resolved to facilitate forest diversion sanctions in 2022, it was contested by the Tribal Councils of Little and Great Nicobar, who claimed their rights were disregarded and Gram Sabha meetings staged.

This prompted the Nicobarese Tribal Council to withdraw its no-objection certificate. Union Minister Jual Oram initially denied awareness of objections, insisting the project would not harm tribes or the environment and would affect only 7 square kilometers of reserve land. This was contradicted by the tribal councils and independent assessments, citing a lack of consent and FRA violations.