India’s plans for a remote island paradise

0:00This is Ira Glass. On This American Life, one thing we like is a good mystery. Sometimes about really big things. But most times, the little mysteries are the best. Our lost and found is currently filled with pants. I don't know. I've never seen this happen. Is this true? This is true. Mysteries of every size, each week, This American Life, wherever you get your podcasts. Today on State of the World, India's plans for a remote island paradise.

0:32You're listening to State of the World from NPR. We bring you the day's most vital international stories, up close where they're happening. I'm Greg Dixon. On Great Nicobar Island, you might see nesting leatherback turtles, the largest sea turtles, or the blue and green streaked Nicobar pigeon, the closest living relative of the dodo. This island is a remote speck in the Indian Ocean. It's a 30-hour ferry ride from its nearest neighbor. But India has plans to transform this pristine island into a bustling township. NPR's Omkar Kandikar went there to find out why. We are at the edge of a forest with field biologist Sumit Kumar.

1:16He's trying to find a particularly shy creature. He hits play on a small speaker. And replays it until we hear this. Kumar flashes his torch and on a branch is a wide-eyed owl a small, fat, Nicobarish, scops owl Kumar says they are rare and a bit unfriendly He says they glare at you as if to say you don't belong here and he says they are not wrong Until folks started settling here from mainland India a few decades ago the Great Nicobar was just inhabited by a few thousand indigenous people. Now, more change is coming. This is Indian journalist Faye D'Souza on her YouTube channel. Have you heard of the Great Nicobar Project?

2:09It's an 80 ,000 crore mega plan to turn a biodiverse island into a trade, tourism and transport hub with a transshipment terminal, airport, township and power plant. The Great Nicobar Project. It will also include a military base. The billion-dollar project is expected to cover an area twice the size of Manhattan. India says a transshipment port here could help them grab a share of the regional goods traffic. That makes sense, says Nitya Lab. She's a maritime researcher at the think tank Chatham House. My sense is that this is part of a greater strategy. She says India likely sees a bigger imperative to do that now, at a time when other global supply routes are under pressure.

2:55If we think about global choke points today, especially in light of conflict in the Strait of Hormuz, India is one of many countries that are looking to secure their own supply lines. She's referring to the Strait of Malacca. It's a maritime route that lies between Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. And a military base on the Great Nicobar? Lapp says that is about countering China's increasing military presence in the Indian Ocean. But some say the cost-to-benefit ratio just doesn't add up. Abhijit Singh is a former naval officer who also specializes in maritime economy. He says a transshipment port on the Great Nicobar only makes sense if it can lure shipping companies from their current stopovers in Singapore and Sri Lanka.

3:42A transshipment port does not just come up in a vacuum. It requires a logistical network. The big problem with the geography of Nicobar is that it is over 700 miles away from the Indian mainland. That means the production centre, as far as that trans-shrieping hub is considered, is quite far off. And he says India already has infrastructure to counter Chinese security threats in the region. This strategic gain that we are talking about seems to me a bit speculative. But the damage to the environment is going to be very real. The damage to the environment. India's environment minister has said that they will have to cut more than 700 ,000 trees to build high-rises, discos and maybe even theme parks like Disneyland.

4:32And so there has been a massive outcry against this project for years, from former government officials to academics like Manish Chandi. He specializes on the islands and says that the Great Nicobar Project sounds like an open invitation to disaster. A huge amount of natural resources that the island is dependent on, the biological diversity that the island also has, and the indigenous communities, they're all at a serious threat from such an idea. Indian officials, ministers and departments overseeing this project did not respond to NPR's emails with a list of questions. But they have previously claimed that the project will do little harm to the island's environment.

5:15Interior Minister Amit Shah said that the development would make the island chain the world's most popular tourist hotspot. After a decade, a city will be the most important part of the world. And that would also create tens of thousands of potential jobs. For that reason, many Indian settlers here welcome the project, but not the island's indigenous communities. Like the hunter-gatherer Shompin tribe. Over a hundred live in the island's rainforests, with little contact with the modern world. The conservation group Survival International says a massive tourism push risks wiping out the tribe because it will lead to contact between them and other people.

6:07The island's other indigenous folk, the Nicobarys, are also worried

6:15In 2004, they were displaced by the Indian Ocean tsunami As it washed away their homes by the coast Tribal Chief Barnabas Manju says Indian officials had promised to help them return

6:31That never happened Then four years ago, Manju says officials told him about the Great Nicobar Project and asked him to sign a consent letter. He says they promised him it wouldn't impact their ancestral lands. So he gave his consent. Later, when he saw the project's maps, he noticed that part of the Great Nicobar Project would be built over his community's ancestral lands.

7:01But Manju says what keeps them going is faith

7:11Every Sunday, the community gathers to pray For everyone Including the Prime Minister and his ministers Manju says he hopes someday one of them will listen to their prayers and reconsider the project. Omkar Khandekar, NPR News, with producer Leisha Nair in Great Nicobar.

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