Existing infrastructure
INS Baaz is a naval base located at Campbell Bay. It comes under Andaman and Nicobar Command. It connects island with Car Nicobar and Port Blair Air bases. [9] [10]
Great Nicobar Development Plan [1] [2] is a planned mega-infrastructure project for the southern tip of Great Nicobar Island in Andaman Sea of India. [3] [1] [4] The island comes under the Nicobar district administriation in the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Total project costing ₹75,000 crore (US$9.4 b in 2022) [5] was conceived by NITI Aayog and is being developed by Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation (ANIIDC). [4] [1] geostrategic importance for defence, logistics, commerce and industries, eco-tourism, coastal tourism, Coastal Regulation Zone, etc, [6] The project include:
Indian Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change's Expert Appraisal Committee had granted the environmental clearance in November 2022 after considering the environmental risks and mitigation strategies. [7] [8]
Feasibility report, commissioned by NITI Aayog, was prepared by AECOM India. On 25 May 2021, terms of reference of project was granted after meeting held by Expert Appraisal Committee. [1]
INS Baaz is a naval base located at Campbell Bay. It comes under Andaman and Nicobar Command. It connects island with Car Nicobar and Port Blair Air bases. [9] [10]
After weighing the following pros and cons, benefits, risk and mitigation strategies, the project was granted the environmental clearance by the MoEFCC's Expert Appraisal Committee. [8]
Due to this project, island will lose 12 to 20 hectares of mangrove cover, [11] which the government will be compensating by afforestation in Haryana's Aravallis as per rules which allow for such remote compensatory afforestation. [5]
To mitigate the risk of loss of corals, the corals will be translocated in the reefs around the island. [11]
The project area within 10 km radius of Galthea Bay is ecologically sensitive zone and home of rare fauna such as Leatherback sea turtle, salt water crocodile, Nicobar macaque. [11] To mitigate the risk, the Indian MoEFCC's Expert Appraisal Committee has proposed three conservation sites for fauna - Little Nicobar, Menchal Island and Meroe Island. [8] In August 2022, the Tribal Council of Campbell Bay, Little & Great Nicobar voiced their opposition to the creation of the wildlife sanctuaries. In a letter to the island’s Deputy Commissioner, they said that they were not consulted about the sanctuaries, and pointed out that they have co-existed with the island’s wildlife “long before the concept of a wildlife sanctuary was even conceived”. [12]
This project which includes two new planned cities in the region will increase population to over 350,000, which may cause a threat to the indigenous communities. [13] After the environmental clearance by MoEFCC, some experts and researchers expressed concerns to Ministry of Tribal Affairs about vulnerablity of indigenous communities on the island. Around 1761 individuals belonging to the indigenous Shompen and Nicobarese tribes live in the island. 853 square kilometres (approximately 92% of the total area) of the Great Nicobar Island is designated as tribal reserve under the Andaman and Nicobar Protection of Aboriginal Tribes Regulation, 1956. This means that the land is meant for exclusive use of the community and others cannot access the area without their express permission. Around 10% of tribal reserve of the island will be affected by this project. Indigenous people live outside the project area and the tribal reserve also falls outside the project area. [13] According to Forest Rights Act, 2006, Shompen people are legal sole authority to preserve the forest reserve. [13] [14] Survival International, a global NGO campaigning for indigenous rights, has said that the mega-development will put the Shompen at risk of being wiped out. In February 2024, 39 genocide experts from 13 countries warned that the development “will be a death sentence for the Shompen, tantamount to the international crime of genocide”. They said that the proposed population increase and exposure to outside populations would lead to mass deaths because the Shompen have little to no immunity to infectious outside diseases. [15]
The Andaman Islands are an archipelago, made up of 200 islands, in the northeastern Indian Ocean about 130 km (81 mi) southwest off the coasts of Myanmar's Ayeyarwady Region. Together with the Nicobar Islands to their south, the Andamans serve as a maritime boundary between the Bay of Bengal to the west and the Andaman Sea to the east. Most of the islands are part of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a Union Territory of India, while the Coco Islands and Preparis Island are part of the Yangon Region of Myanmar.
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a union territory of India. It consists of 836 islands grouped into two island groups: the northern Andaman Islands and the southern Nicobar Islands, separated by a 150 km (93 mi) wide channel. Port Blair is the capital and largest city of the territory, located about 1,190 km (740 mi) from Chennai and 1,255 km (780 mi) from Kolkata in mainland India. The islands are sandwiched between the Bay of Bengal to the west and the Andaman Sea to the east with the northern-most point located 901 km (560 mi) from the mouth of Hooghly river. Indira Point at 6°45’10″N and 93°49’36″E at the southern tip of Great Nicobar is the southernmost point of India.
The Nicobar Islands are an archipelagic island chain in the eastern Indian Ocean. They are located in Southeast Asia, 150 kilometres (93 mi) northwest of Aceh on Sumatra, and separated from Thailand to the east by the Andaman Sea. Located 1,300 kilometres (810 mi) southeast of the Indian subcontinent, across the Bay of Bengal, they are part of India, as the Nicobar district within the union territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Together with the Andaman Islands to their north, the Nicobar Islands serve as a maritime boundary between the Bay of Bengal to the west and the Andaman Sea to the east.
According to official estimates in India, 10,749 people were killed, 5,640 people were missing and thousands of people became homeless when a tsunami triggered by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake near the Indonesian island of Sumatra struck the southern coast on 26 December 2004. The earthquake registered 9.1–9.3 Mw and was the largest in five decades. It was followed by strong aftershocks on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The death toll of the earthquake was 1,500 people.
The Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve encompasses a large part of the island of Great Nicobar, the largest of the Nicobar Islands in the Indian Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Nicobars lie in the Bay of Bengal, eastern Indian Ocean, 190 km (120 mi) to the north of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The reserve has a total core area of approximately 885 km2, surrounded by a 12 km-wide "forest buffer zone". In year 2013 it was included in the list of Man and Biosphere program of UNESCO to promote sustainable development based on local community effort and sound science.
Port Blair is the capital city of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a union territory of India in the Bay of Bengal. It is also the local administrative sub-division (tehsil) of the islands, the headquarters for the district of South Andaman, and the territory's only notified town.
Great Nicobar is the southernmost and largest of the Nicobar Islands of India, north of Sumatra. It is part of India, in the Nicobar district within the union territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The Shompen or Shom Pen are the Indigenous people of the interior of Great Nicobar Island, part of the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Indira Point, the southernmost point of India's territory, is a village in the Nicobar district at Great Nicobar Island of Andaman and Nicobar Islands in India. It is located in the Great Nicobar tehsil.
Mount Thullier, also known as Mount Thuillier, is a mountain on Great Nicobar Island, located in the Indian Ocean and bordering on the Andaman Sea. At 642 m (2,106 ft) above sea level, it is the highest point on the island and in the Nicobar Islands.
The Nicobar Islands rain forests is a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion in the Nicobar Islands, which is part of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands union territory of India. The Nicobar Islands are in the Indian Ocean, lying north of Sumatra and south of the Andaman Islands. The islands are politically part of India, although physically closer to Southeast Asia. Millions of years of isolation from the mainland has given rise to a distinct flora and fauna, including many endemic species.
Nicobar district is one of three districts in the Indian union territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The district's administrative territory encompasses all of the Nicobar Islands, which are located in the Indian Ocean, between the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. The headquarters of the district is the village of Malacca, located on the island of Car Nicobar.
Galathea National Park is a national park located in the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India. It is located on the island of Great Nicobar in the Nicobar Islands, which lie in the eastern Indian Ocean.
Campbell Bay National Park is a national park in India, located on the island of Great Nicobar, the largest of the Nicobar Islands in the eastern Indian Ocean, some 190 km to the north of Sumatra. It was gazetted as a national park of India in 1992, and forms part of the Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve. The park has an approximate area of some 426 km2, and is separated from the smaller Galathea National Park by a 12-km wide forest buffer zone. The climate is humid and warm.
Shompen, or Shom Peng is a language or group of languages spoken on Great Nicobar Island in the Indian union territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, in the Indian Ocean, northwest of Sumatra, Indonesia.
The Vizhinjam International Seaport Thiruvananthapuram(English IPA: ,VIZH-in-jam in-ter-NASH-uh-nuhl SEE-port thir-uh-vuh-nuh-thuh-PUR-uhm) is India's first deep water container transshipment port, currently under trial run from July 2024. Located in the city of Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, the port is designed to be a multi-purpose, all-weather, green port located 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) away from the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport. It is poised to become India's first automated port and holds a unique position as the only Indian port directly adjacent to an international shipping lane. It is the deepest port in India and the third deepest in the world. The port's location offers a significant advantage: it lies just 10 nautical miles (19 km) from the heavily trafficked east-west shipping channel connecting Europe, the Persian Gulf, Southeast Asia, and the Far East. Additionally, the port boasts a natural depth of 20 meters, eliminating the need for dredging. Vizhinjam is the first international deepwater transhipment port in the Indian subcontinent, with a natural depth of more than 20 metres, scalable up to 24 metres, which is crucial to allow entry of large vessels and motherships.
The Andaman and Nicobar Police is the law enforcement agency for the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India. A&N Police comes under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. The A&N Police has a sanctioned strength of 4130 posts of various ranks in Civil Police, Criminal Investigation Department, Immigration Branch, Foreigners Branch, Motor Vehicle Section, Traffic branch, Security Unit, Forensic Science Laboratory, Finger Print Unit, Dog Squad, Special Armed Police, Armed Police, Island Communication, Fire Service Units and India Reserve Battalion.
Tourism in Andaman and Nicobar Islands relates to tourism in union territory of India, Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Andamans are an archipelago of over 572 tropical islands, of which only 38 are inhabited. In 2004 Radhanagar beach at Havelock Island was bestowed with the title of "Asia’s Best Beach" and as the world's seventh most spectacular beach by Time Magazine.
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands is an archipelago of 572 islands of which 37 are inhabited. It is an union territory of India.
The Great Nicobar Island International Container Transshipment Terminal (GNIICTT), also known as Galathea Bay Transhipment Port (GBTP) is a 20 meters deep natural draft deep-water container transshipment terminal proposed to be constructed at the cost of US$9 billion at Galathea Bay in Nicobar Islands in the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It will be the second deep water container transshipment terminal in India after the Vizhinjam International Seaport, Thiruvananthapuram. Once completed, the transhipment volume at this port is expected to surpass the international trans-shipment terminal at Kochi.
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