Great Nicobar Project: Bhupender Yadav rejects Jairam Ramesh's charges, defends environmental clearance

📌 Summary:

• Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav rejected Congress MP Jairam Ramesh's allegations that statutory environmental clearances for the Great Nicobar Island (GNI) Project relied on inadequate baseline data
• In his written response (dated May 27, 2026) to Ramesh's May 10 letter, Yadav said the appraisal was "comprehensive and multi-tiered" in accordance with the EIA Notification, 2006 and the Island Coastal Regulation Zone (ICRZ) Notification, 2019
• Asserted that concerns on environmental impact and biodiversity were "already examined in detail during statutory appraisal and the subsequent judicially mandated review process"
• The ~₹72,000-crore "holistic development" project covers an International Container Transshipment Port (ICTP) at Galathea Bay, a greenfield international airport, a 450-MVA power plant and a township spread over ~166 sq km
• Critics' concerns flagged: ~130 sq km of pristine tropical rainforest to be cleared; threat to the leatherback turtle nesting site at Galathea Bay; impact on Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) — Shompen and Nicobarese; seismic vulnerability as the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami epicentre lies nearby
• Project clearances had been upheld by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and reviewed under court direction

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS3 — Environment Impact Assessment, Coastal Regulation, infrastructure vs biodiversity trade-offs; GS2 — protection of PVTGs and tribal consent regimes.

📝 Prelims Facts:

• Great Nicobar Island: southernmost island of the Andaman & Nicobar archipelago; Indira Point is India's southernmost point
• Project size: ~₹72,000 crore; area ~166 sq km; site — Galathea Bay
• Statutes invoked: EIA Notification 2006; ICRZ Notification 2019
• Tribal groups: Shompen (PVTG) and Nicobarese
• Galathea Bay: critical nesting site for the leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea)
• Union Environment Minister: Bhupender Yadav

🔑 Key Term: Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) — a statutory process under the EIA Notification, 2006 that evaluates the environmental consequences of a proposed project before clearance; mandates baseline data, public consultation and an Environmental Management Plan.