Jairam Ramesh Presses Centre Over Great Nicobar Project Clearances
Summary
Congress leader and former Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has written to Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav, strongly criticising the environmental and forest clearances granted to the ₹72,000-crore Great Nicobar Island holistic development project.
●Ramesh contends that the project — which includes a transshipment port, an international airport, a township, and a power plant — is primarily a commercial enterprise being pushed through under the guise of strategic necessity, thereby endangering the island's unique and irreplaceable biodiversity.
●Great Nicobar Island is home to the Shompen and Nicobarese tribal communities, the Leatherback sea turtle nesting sites, the Nicobar Megapode, and vast stretches of tropical rainforest, all of which face severe disruption.
●The project has received clearances from the Forest Advisory Committee and the Expert Appraisal Committee despite objections from ecologists and civil society.
●For UPSC aspirants, this controversy encapsulates the tension between India's infrastructure ambitions and its environmental governance obligations under the Environment Protection Act, 1986 and the Forest Conservation Act.
Environmental Law & Institutions
This sub-topic has appeared in 7 UPSC Prelims questions.
Great Nicobar Island sits at the southern tip of the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago, just 90 km from the Malacca Strait — one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.
●The ₹72,000-crore holistic development project is being executed by ANDA (Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation). The island falls under the Galathea Bay Wildlife Sanctuary and is a UNESCO-recognised biosphere reserve.
●Clearances granted include Stage-I forest clearance for diversion of over 130 sq km of forest land.
●The Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) under MoEFCC is the statutory body that appraises projects for Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) under the Environment Protection Act, 1986.
●The Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) advises on forest diversion under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980.
●Critics argue the EIA process was inadequate and that the Shompen tribe — a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) — was not meaningfully consulted.
The Great Nicobar controversy is a live case study of how India's environmental clearance architecture can be stress-tested by large strategic-infrastructure projects.
◎ In Simple Words
Imagine a beautiful, untouched island full of rare animals and tribal communities — now imagine building a huge port, airport, and city on it. That is what is happening on Great Nicobar Island, and a senior politician named Jairam Ramesh is very worried about it. He has written letters to the Environment Minister saying the government is giving permissions too quickly without properly protecting nature. It is like cutting down a rare garden to build a shopping mall and calling it 'development'.
Factual Pointers
Practice · 1 question
With reference to the Great Nicobar Island Holistic Development Project, which of the following statements is/are correct?
1. The project area falls within the Galathea Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.
2. The Shompen tribe inhabiting the island is classified as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG).
3. Environmental clearance for the project is granted by the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC).
Select the correct answer using the codes below:
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