One more report of yours truly on Great Nicobar has just been published. This time around, by TIME. Here is a link.
The report is different from its forerunners in Frontline and ET in two ways. It better blends ecological, social and economic costs. Also, riding on others’ reportage and my own conversations, it updates the story from where it stood at the start of this year. I am also glad that the issue has been picked up by TIME. The Indian government will ignore local reportage on such issues. I am curious to see the effect of foreign reportage.
In the meantime, there are further updates on the project. Going by the Andaman LG’s speech some weeks ago, its cost has spiked higher yet — from Rs 82,000 crore to Rs 92,000 crore. This further strengthens concerns about the project’s non-viability. The tribal ministry itself has been under fire for accepting the administration’s claim that forest rights have been settled. It seems to be finally sinking in — for the secretary and his bureaucrats — that their own reputations + any reasons for the tribal ministry’s existence are on the line as well.
That is another report to really do. Does India need the environment ministry? Does it need the tribal ministry? What public purpose do they serve apart from working as a sort of overpaid NREGA for bureaucrats? I am serious. Can you name one environmental parameter on which this country has improved?
Anyway. One more report is out. I have to now clear time and space and finish my forest stories.
Update: At From The Marginlands, Arati Kumar Rao and Prem Panicker hosted a discussion on the GNI project. See the video here.
Fractured/Earth 
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