Great Nicobar Project: The tribal affairs minister’s obfuscations in the Rajya Sabha

During a discussion in the Rajya Sabha on March 12, Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram made a number of assertions about the mega-infrastructure project proposed for the Great Nicobar island.

Replying to questions by Saket Gokhale of the Trinamool Congress, Oram said that he was not aware of any objections to the project raised by the tribal communities of Great Nicobar. The island is home to two communities, the Nicobarese and the Shompen, which is classified as a “particularly vulnerable tribal group”.

Oram asserted that the project will not have any negative impact on the environment or the tribal communities there, that no one will be displaced and that only a little more than 7 sq km of tribal reserve land will be used for the project.

He also professed ignorance of a video report with the opinions of these two communities put together by anthropologist Vishvajit Pandya as part of an empowered committee constituted in September 2020 by the island administration for assessing the impact of the mega-project.

Oram’s statements are in line with the government’s public position on the project but a closer scrutiny of the facts, including his own statements in the recent past, reveals a conflicting picture. In fact, in one of his first interviews after...

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