FIle photo of senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh.

| Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma

Congress leader and former Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday (May 26, 2026) wrote back to Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram, highlighting that the issues he had flagged about the non-implementation of the Forest Rights Act in Great Nicobar Island remain unaddressed.Mr. Ramesh, who has been writing to Union Ministers about the alleged violations of procedures in the clearances granted for the Centre’s ₹92,000 crore Great Nicobar Island infrastructure project, added in his letter to Mr. Oram that he should ensure his Ministry takes a “categorical stand” in the Calcutta High Court to protect the implementation of the Forest Rights Act in the island. The Ministry has repeatedly told the High Court that it wanted to be dropped as a party to the case.The Congress leader’s communication came after Mr. Oram replied to his concerns about the non-implementation of the Forest Rights Act in diverting forest land for the project that involves building an international transshipment port, an airport, and a tourism-driven township on Great Nicobar Island. The Minister had argued that the development of the island and protection of tribal interests need not be mutually exclusive and insisted that all tribal rights are being protected.Ignoring rights of local tribalsMr. Ramesh said that instead of addressing the specific “legal violations” of the FRA that he had pointed out, the Tribal Affairs Minister’s response read like an “attempted justification for deliberately ignoring the rights of local tribal communities guaranteed under the Forest Rights Act, 2006”.In his letter earlier this month, the Congress leader had emphasised that consent for diverting forest land was taken from Gram Sabhas representing settler families and not the Tribal Council representing the Nicobarese and Shompen Scheduled Tribes, who are the people with an actual claim under the FRA over the forest land. Further, he had argued that there was no provision allowing the government to obtain consent of the Shompen community through the A&NI administration-run Andaman Adim Janjati Vikas Samiti.Mr. Ramesh also cited a video report prepared by anthropologist Prof. Vishvajit Pandya, in which a member of the Shompen community can be categorically telling him that they do not want their forest lands in the hills to be encroached upon by the project. “This is as clear and close to a direct opinion from the community that we can get and needs to be respected,” Mr. Ramesh said.In his letter to the Minister of Tribal Affairs on Tuesday, Mr. Ramesh stressed that it was Mr. Oram’s Ministry that had issued a No Objection Certificate (NOC) for the project on the express conditions that all provisions of the FRA are complied with. Mr. Ramesh said, “That process has not been followed.” He also called for Mr. Oram to ensure that the Ministry take a clear stand in the Calcutta High Court where the alleged FRA violations in Great Nicobar Island are currently being litigated, especially given that the Tribal Affairs Ministry is the nodal Ministry for the law’s implementation.Ministry’s affidavitsIn repeated affidavits to the Calcutta High Court, the Tribal Affairs Ministry has been taking the position that it should not be a party to the case because the on-ground implementation of the law remains with the State and U.T. administrations.“The pendency of the writ petition mentioned by you is not a fetter on the Ministry of Tribal Affairs but actually an opportunity to ensure strict legal compliance with the Forest Rights Act, 2006, which would, no doubt, be appreciated by the judiciary itself,” he said.On the arguments made by Mr. Oram about the Great Nicobar Island project’s significance in protecting India’s strategic interests in the Indian Ocean, Mr. Ramesh said that he had already written to the Defence Minister about possible alternatives to the Great Nicobar Island project as it has been conceived, including suggesting expanding the INS Baaz on Great Nicobar. Published - May 26, 2026 07:49 pm IST