Interview: Releasing Nicobar report would be like ‘opening can of worms’, says anthropologist
Asked to assess the impact of future projects on the Great Nicobar island, Vishvajit Pandya never heard back after he submitted a report to the administration.
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One of the questions raised by former environment minister Jairam Ramesh in his correspondence with current minister Bhupender Yadav about the Great Nicobar Project refers to a video report prepared by anthropologist Vishvajit Pandya.
The report “shows members of the Shompen community clearly stating that they are against any disturbances to their forested and riparian habitats”, Ramesh’s letter notes.
A largely uncontacted tribe of about 250 people, the Shompens live on the Great Nicobar island, the southernmost landmass of India. In 2021, the Modi government announced plans to develop a massive infrastructural project on the island at a cost of Rs 72,000 crore, which many fear could endanger the island’s native tribal communities and unique flora and fauna.
In the run-up to the announcement, the administration of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands formed an empowered committee to examine proposals drafted by the government think-tank Niti Aayog for the “development of various projects” on the Great Nicobar island.
Among those on the committee was Dr Vishvajit Pandya, a professor of anthropology at the Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information Communication Technology, Gujarat, who is also the founder and honorary director of the government-run Andaman Nicobar Tribal Research Institute.
Pandya submitted a video report to the administration, which included interviews he had conducted with members of the island’s...
