Union Tribal Affairs Minister promises to look into Great Nicobar clearances
Jual Oram promises special focus on forest and land rights of tribal communities
The Union Tribal Affairs Ministry will be looking into the forest clearance paperwork of the ₹72,000-crore infrastructure project on Great Nicobar Island that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government has been pushing for, and accordingly determine next steps, Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram has said. In an exclusive interaction with The Hindu last week, he outlined his intent to give special attention to forest and land rights of tribal communities during his term.
This comes just as the Opposition Congress party has been demanding withdrawal of clearances granted for the project and a ground-up review of it over the environmental concerns flagged by experts and constitutional bodies and amid reports of alleged violations of land rights of the tribespeople residing in the region.
Also read | Congress demands withdrawal of clearances to Great Nicobar infrastructure project
While speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Oram, handling the Tribal Affairs portfolio for the third time, said that among the Constitutional and legal matters that the Ministry has jurisdiction over, it will prioritise issues of land rights faced by tribal communities and can intervene wherever consent of tribespeople are being ignored – either directly or in coordination with the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST).
When asked about the concerns raised by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and the NCST over the environmental and forest clearances for the Great Nicobar Project, Mr. Oram said, “This is a specific case. It will take time to go through the files. But we will be looking into the issues that have been raised by calling for the relevant files and documents and then we can proceed with determining the way ahead.”
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This Great Nicobar Project involves developing a trans-shipment port, an international airport, township development, and a 450 MVA gas and solar-based power plant on the island. The project area is expected to cover over 130 sq. km. of pristine forest, and has been accorded environmental clearance – one of the mandatory prerequisites – by an expert committee.
The government told Parliament in August 2023 that 9.6 lakh trees would likely be cut for it and ‘compensatory afforestation’ for the loss of this unique rainforest ecosystem had been planned, but in the State of Haryana, thousands of kilometres away and in a vastly different ecological zone.
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A total of 7.114 sq. km of tribal reserve forest land, where the Shompoen, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group resides, is also expected to be used for this project with the government insisting that they will not be relocated because of this work.
FRA violations
Meanwhile, the NCST is in the middle of investigating a complaint from retired bureaucrat E.A.S. Sarma, a former Tribal Affairs Secretary to the Andhra Pradesh government, which alleged violations of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) in the forest clearance process for the project, for which the government had also not consulted the NCST as mandated by the Constitution.
On the large number of rejections of FRA claims by tribal communities and individuals across the country, for which the Supreme Court has already pulled up the Union government and States, Mr. Oram maintained that these rejections were a “case-to-case issue”, depending on the State or U.T. and must be seen as such. However, he added, “We will ensure that we work for whosoever has a legitimate right over forest land.”
Latest available government data from FRA implementation reports as of February 2024, showed that a total of 50,26,801 FRA claims had been received, of which 34.9% had been rejected and 15.5% remain pending for disposal.
These reports also showed that the Andaman and Nicobar administration has neither recognised nor granted ownership of any forest land across the U.T. to local tribespeople under FRA – a requisite step under the Forest Conservation Rules, 2017 – before Stage-I clearance, which was granted in October, 2022.
The U.T. administration has argued that the existing Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Protection of Aboriginal Tribes) Act of 1956, (PAT56), adequately protects forest rights of tribespeople in the area. PAT56 gives the administrator of the islands sole power over notification and de-notification of land as a Tribal Reserve – determining which areas forest dwellers and tribespeople can use for their daily sustenance.
Weeks after the Stage-1 clearance was granted for the Great Nicobar Project, the Tribal Council at Campbell Bay withdrew the consent granted by the gram sabha, alleging that the minutes of the meeting were typed after securing members’ signatures.
Further, rights bodies and experts have raised doubts whether the consent obtained from the Shompen was at all informed, questioning how an administrative body of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands could truly represent the Shompen or their interests while issuing an NOC on their behalf.
Meanwhile, an investigation into the environmental clearances for the project has been conducted by an expert committee headed by the Secretary of the Environment Ministry, as ordered by the NGT but the results of this inquiry have not been made public yet.
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