{"id":26059,"date":"2024-08-25T12:25:54","date_gmt":"2024-08-25T06:55:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=26059"},"modified":"2025-04-07T23:21:23","modified_gmt":"2025-04-07T17:51:23","slug":"great-nicobar-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/great-nicobar-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Nicobar Project"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>About the Great Nicobar Project:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Great Nicobar Project is a multi-development initiative aimed at the holistic development of Great Nicobar Island, a strategic location in the southern end of the <strong>Andaman and Nicobar Islands.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>It was cleared by the <strong>Ministry of Environment in November 2022<\/strong> and is part of a broader strategy to enhance India&#8217;s strategic presence and infrastructure in the region.<\/li>\n<li>The project is expected to be developed over 30 years in a phased manner.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Key objectives<\/strong>:<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Strategic importance<\/strong>: The project is designed to counter expansionist activities by neighbouring countries, particularly China, and to safeguard India&#8217;s maritime interests by curbing illegal activities like poaching by <strong>Myanmarese fishers.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Infrastructure development<\/strong>: The project is valued at <strong>\u20b972,000 crore<\/strong> and includes key infrastructure such as the development of an <strong>international container trans-shipment terminal, a greenfield international airport<\/strong> with dual military-civilian functions, <strong>township development,<\/strong> and a <strong>450 MVA power plant (gas and solar-based).<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Geographical context<\/strong>:<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Location<\/strong>: Great Nicobar Island is the southernmost island in the Andaman and Nicobar group, separated from the Andaman Islands by <strong>the Ten Degree Channel<\/strong>.\u00a0\n<ul>\n<li>It is also home to <strong>Indira Point,<\/strong> India&#8217;s southernmost point, located less than <strong>150 km from Indonesia<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ecosystem<\/strong>: The island features tropical wet evergreen forests, mountain ranges up to <strong>650 meters high<\/strong>, and coastal plains.\u00a0\n<ul>\n<li>It also houses two national parks and a biosphere reserve, supporting endangered species like <strong>the leatherback sea turtle.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Impact on Indigenous Tribes<\/strong>:<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Tribal population<\/strong>: The island is home to the <strong>Shompen<\/strong>, a hunter-gatherer tribe, and the Nicobarese. An estimated 237 Shompen and 1,094 Nicobarese live in a tribal reserve covering 751 sq km, of which 84 sq km is proposed to be denotified for the project.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Environmental and seismic considerations<\/strong>:<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Deforestation<\/strong>: Approximately<strong> 13,075 hectares of forest land<\/strong>, or <strong>about 15%<\/strong> of the island\u2019s area, is slated for diversion, with nearly <strong>9.64 lakh trees <\/strong>expected to be felled.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><strong>Seismic risks<\/strong>: The region is seismically active, having experienced a major earthquake <strong>(9.2 on the Richter scale) in 2004.\u00a0<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Experts suggest a similar event may not occur for another 400-750 years, though smaller quakes are anticipated.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>The project will adhere to the National Building Code for earthquake-resistant structures.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q1. <\/strong>What is a Coral reef?<\/h3>\n<p>A coral reef is a diverse underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. These reefs are formed from the calcium carbonate skeletons of coral polyps, tiny marine animals. Coral reefs are often called the &#8220;rainforests of the sea&#8221; because of their rich biodiversity.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/sci-tech\/energy-and-environment\/nicobar-project-will-not-disturb-or-displace-tribes-environment-minister-bhupendra-yadav\/article68562705.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Nicobar project will not disturb or displace tribes: Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav &#8211; The Hindu<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Great Nicobar Island is the southernmost island in the Andaman and Nicobar group, separated from the Andaman Islands by the Ten Degree Channel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":26060,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-26059","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}