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The Nicobar Tribal Council has sought withdrawal of the 2022 certificate recognizing forest rights, terming it invalid and requesting island development before the trans-shipment port.
Great Nicobar is located at the western end of the Strait of Malacca, one of the busiest sea corridors in the world. (Getty)
On June 30, the Tribal Council of Little Nicobar and Great Nicobar wrote to Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram demanding that he withdraw the 2022 government certificate declaring forest rights on their land as “recognized and settled”.
The council, which represents the Nicobarese tribal communities in both islands, in a signed letter faulted the certificate and said it has cleared the way for a Rs 81,000-crore infrastructure project that requires cutting of nearly a million trees in their ancestral forest.
At Campbell Bay, the island’s administrative headquarters, doctors at the primary health center still diagnose patients using X-rays and photographs of ECGs, because the facility’s printer does not work.
The Tribal Council took this up directly in their letter: Fix the printer, they wrote, and patients won’t have to wait for a diagnosis made from a photo.
The letter was obtained by News18 through Dr Pankaj Sekhsaria, associate professor at the Center for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas (CTARA), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay. Please click to view the letter in its entirety Here.
what is being built
The Great Nicobar Island project covers 166 sq km on the southern coast of the island and includes a transshipment port, a civil and military airport, a township and a 450-MVA gas and solar power plant.
About 130 square km of the project area is on forest land, and clearing it would require cutting down about one million trees. The forest the project will clear is home to two tribal groups: the Nicobarese, who live along the coast, and the Shompen, a largely uncontacted community in the island’s interior.
Dispute over “incorrect” certificate
The demand of the tribal council is at the center Recognition of Forest Rights (ROFR) Certificate Issued by the Deputy Commissioner of Nicobar District on 18 August 2022. The certificate states that forest rights on the project-affected land have been recognized, settled and approved for diversion under the Forest Rights Act, 2006, a law under which forest rights claims are required to be settled before forest land is diverted for a project.
That certificate was what allowed the Environment Ministry to grant approval for the Great Nicobar Project later that year. The Tribal Council disputes that any such agreement was reached. In a five-page letter addressed to Oram on June 30, the council and its village captains called for the certificate to be withdrawn, saying it was false.
The sequential timeline on the back of the certificate is on point. The Lieutenant Governor constituted a Sub-Divisional Level Committee (SDLC) on July 26, 2022. Sixteen days later, on August 12, a Gram Sabha “decided unanimously” Allowing diversion of 166 sq km of forest land. The SDLC met the next day, 13 August, and concluded that no rights were being violated.
Five days later, on August 18, the Deputy Commissioner’s office issued the certificate. Titus Peter, a Nicobarese leader from Pulo Bhabie village in Great Nicobar and a signatory to the June 30 letter, told Mongabay-India in January that there has been no formal recognition of forest rights under the Forest Rights Act.
A separate case in the Calcutta High Court, filed by former central government secretary Meena Gupta and accepted for hearing in May 2026, alleged that the gram sabha was led mainly by non-tribal residents and “not a single claim for forest rights has been processed” on the island.
The letters have been received courtesy of the Gram Sabha and the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Nicobar Mongabay India.
Who signed the letter?
- barnabas manjuChairman, Tribal Council of Little and Great Nicobar Islands
- moses israelVice President, Tribal Council of Little and Great Nicobar Islands
- titus peterFirst Captain, Pulo Bhabhi, Great Nicobar
- burnettFirst Captain, Chingeh, Great Nicobar
- Augustine NicodemusFirst Captain, Pulo Panza, Little Nicobar
- haggisFirst Captain, Pulo Bha, Little Nicobar
- benjaminSecond Captain, Pulo Ulo, Little Nicobar
- Titus RufusCaptain, Afra Gulf, Great Nicobar
- andrew1st Captain, Macachua, Little Nicobar
- timothyFirst Captain, Pulo Patiya, Little Nicobar
What does “development” mean to islanders?
The council’s June 30 letter was a direct response to a statement by Oram, who wrote to fellow MP Jairam Ramesh on May 21 that “it is important to recognize that development and tribal protection are not mutually exclusive.”
Tribal chiefs used the letter to lay out point by point what development meant to them. “For us, development means inclusivity in the decision-making process,” the council wrote.
“Development will be achieved only when those who have the power to take decisions and are duty-bound to address our grievances do not ignore us.” The letter listed sixteen specific complaints.
Among them:
- Deprived of basic facilities: The council was not allowed to remove some trees for a children’s playground at New Chinghen Tribal Colony because the land is classified as forest, even as large stretches of forest and beach were cleared for the project.
- Poor infrastructure: The tsunami shelter in Rajiv Nagar, where displaced families have been living since the 2004 tsunami, was built more than 20 years ago and is in need of repair. The council says the local administration cites budget constraints, while telling residents they can get “anything” they want after handing over their land for the project.
- Digital Exclusion: There are no telecom towers in Pulo Ulo, Pulo Panja, Pulo Patiya and Pulo Bha, which the council says deprives residents of job and college applications and mandatory online registration for schemes like MGNREGA.
- Ration failure: Villages including Pulo Bha, Pulo Panja, Pulo Ulo and Makachua receive electricity for only eight hours a day, and the shift to digitalized ration collection means residents visiting the ration shop sometimes find that equipment may not work.
- Lack of connectivity: A footpath, requested for years, between Pulo Panza and Macachua remains incomplete. The council says that without it or the phone network, residents of Pulo Panja are cut off from inter-island ferries in case of emergencies and to the Macachua wharf.
A plea for autonomy and security
The letter also raises concerns that go beyond infrastructure. The council wants to withdraw the declared wildlife sanctuaries on Little Nicobar, Menchal and Meroe, which it says were notified without consultation.
It objects to the land-surveillance and area demarcation proposed under the Great Nicobar Project, calling it intrusive and a violation of the rights of both Nicobarese and Shompens. The council is also calling for strict implementation of SC/ST reservation in government postings, pointing to the recent recruitment of Auxiliary Nurse Midwife, where it says no reservation was implemented despite eligible candidates being available locally.
It also wants to establish buffer zones to prevent commercial trawlers from depleting fish stocks on which tribal families depend for food. The letter concludes by returning to the Council’s original point: for tribal chiefs, development means inclusion, not exclusion.
“For us, development means having an inclusive mindset and making the best use of existing land and infrastructure in this remote region,” it said. “We refuse to stand by as our lands and seas are ravaged by the development-driven notions of outsiders, and the consequences of which will have to be borne by our future generations.”
The office of the Deputy Commissioner of Nicobar did not respond to requests for comments. The story will be updated when a reply is received.
About the author
Anoshito Banerjee is a digital journalist at CNN-News18, specializing in Indian foreign policy, global diplomacy, South and West Asian geopolitics and strategic affairs. His reporting spans hard news…read more
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