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REMEMBER THE ISLAND, THE TRIBE & NATURE (14/10/24 THE TIMES OF INDIA REPORT) GREAT NICOBAR PROJECT BOTH IMPEDE SHOMPEN’S STATUTORY RIGHTS AND END ISLAND BIODIVERSITY     BY BKP SINHA & ARVIND JUMAR JHA    

Deep within the Great Nicobar Island forests live the Shompen tribe, classified as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG). Traditionally hunter-gatherers, their lives revolve around forests, rivers and wildlife, their diet a range of forest foods, wild animals and crops such as pandanus lemon, and colocasia.     Recognising the significance of preserving their right to life and livelihood, the 1991 amendment to the Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, despite enforcing a nationwide ban on hunting, safeguarded Shompen’s traditional hunting rights, specified in the A&N administration’s notification of April 28, 1967.    

TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE: Surveys on Shompen show their lifestyle, rites, rituals and practices are linked intricately to the natural world, forming a unique repository of traditional knowledge systems. In their social structure, the community is supreme and family, the smallest unit, their economy subsistence-based.     Indian Journal of Medical Research, in its March 2024 publication, documented that the Shompen tribe have a robust ethnomedicine system that uses resources from the wild. This indicates the richness of biodiversity as well as the uniqueness of their indigenous knowledge.    

LANDS LOST, HEALTH RUINED– An area of 1044.5 sq km was declared a reserve for these indigenous people in 1957. This gradually shrank to 853.2 sq km with encroachment by outsiders, despite protective measures under the A&N (Protection of Aboriginal Tribes) Regulation, 1956. Significant influx since 1969 was exacerbated by the construction of a 43 km East-West Road through Shompen territory, also impacting their cultural fabric.     While the population of outsiders grew steadily, the number of Shompen fluctuated: 131 in 1991, 398 in 2001, and 229 in 2011. Their nomadic and hunter-gatherer lifestyle, combined with an aversion to external interference, is cited as a major reason for these fluctuations.     Destruction of habitat is undermining Shompen’s local health tradition. The nutritional mix provided by wild foods (fruits, tubers, honey, fish, and game) has deteriorated. Shompen’s health and nutrition survey 2024 showed chronic undernutrition. High stunting rates were observed in 63% of children; 33% of children were underweight.    

LEGALLY PROTECTED– The Scheduled Tribes and Other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, familiarly known as FRA, defines the community tenures of habitat and habitation as a ‘forest right’. It favours primitive tribal groups and pre-agricultural communities. For Shompen, their habitat is the space where their bioculturally evolved life and traditional institutions coexist. Shaped over centuries, their habitat has nurtured a unique lifestyle, livelihood system, culture, economy, and worldview.     Sections 3(1)(e) and 4(1) of FRA, in particular, provide for the recognition of habitat rights of forest-dwelling STs like the Shompen. FRA also facilitates their recognition by defining hamlets as a ‘village’. Further, a gram sabha that initiates the recognition process can consist of a village’s all adult members, rather than voters. Accordingly, processing of ‘habitat rights’ cases as well as those of access to biodiversity, intellectual property and traditional knowledge, was easily possible.

    SAFEGUARDS DILUTED– Per the tribal affairs ministry website, FRA implementation in A&N Islands has been limited to setting up committees and organising awareness programmes. Instituting a state-level monitoring committee and training of officials hasn’t been done. While it says Shompen have rights under the A&N (Protection of Aboriginal Tribes) Regulation, 1956, in the tribal reserve notified as reserve forests & protected forest reserve, a Jan 2022 report, for the first time, enters a ‘Nil’ figure under progress to date.     Thus, their forest rights and Shompen’s opportunity at empowerment under FRA Section 5 are disregarded. The ‘Nil’ figure also makes their gram sabhas virtually inconsequential in future diversions of their habitat.

THEN THE CONSTRUCTION — Compounding these issues is the looming threat posed by the Great Nicobar Island (GNI) Project. Valued at Rs 72k cr, the project includes a port, a greenfield airport, and other infrastructure constructions. The project deserved stricter scrutiny of environmental and FRA compliance, poised as it is to severely impact Shompen’s already fragile habitat. The project area overlaps with a UNESCO biosphere reserve, nesting grounds for leatherback turtles, habitat of the vulnerable Nicobar megapode, and CRZ 1A areas (ecologically sensitive areas part of the Coastal Regulation Zone, which regulates industrial activity near coastlines). The proposed felling of an estimated 1mn trees puts at risk both the Shompen and the island’s biodiversity.

RECOGNISE THEIR RIGHTS — Unless Shompen’s statutory rights are recognised and adequately protected, any action with such adverse impact on their habitat amounts to a gross injustice. Consequences could be catastrophic, potentially rendering the Shompen as ‘ecological refugees’, just like the Pardhi tribe after the total ban on hunting in 1991. Historical precedents should serve as stark reminders of the perils of disregarding indigenous peoples’ rights and conservation practices. Shompen’s survival and prosperity require an inclusive approach that respects their rights and protects their habitat while acknowledging the importance of the island’s ecological uniqueness. Destruction of their habitat and pressures of large-scale development demand urgent action to recognise Shompen’s statutory rights and preserve pristine natural resources.

(Sinha is a former principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF), UP. Jha is a former PCCF & commissioner (tribal department), Maharashtra.

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