Dreams of mega development herald disaster for a highly vulnerable island. Great Nicobar Island is the southernmost and largest landmass in the chain that makes up the Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal. A Rs.72,000 crore project that is planned for the development of this island will result in ultimately destroying both the island’s delicate rainforest ecosystem and its indigenous people. […] In The Great Nicobar Betrayal, Pankaj Sekhsaria, one of the best known chroniclers of contemporary issues in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, has compiled articles written by various experts across publications that examine the proposed project from every angle—environmental, geological, impact on local communities, law, due process, and ecology. These pieces together shed light on the magnitude of the disaster that will be unleashed on this pristine place if the project comes through.
Edited by Pankaj Sekhsaria
Frontline Publication (Rs. 499)
Book Synopsis & Endorsement by Amitav Ghosh
Dreams of mega development herald disaster for a highly vulnerable island. Great Nicobar Island is the southernmost and largest landmass in the chain that makes up the Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal. A Rs.72,000 crore project that is planned for the development of this island will result in ultimately destroying both the island’s delicate rainforest ecosystem and its indigenous people.
In The Great Nicobar Betrayal, Pankaj Sekhsaria, one of the best known chroniclers of contemporary issues in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, has compiled articles written by various experts across publications that examine the proposed project from every angle—environmental, geological, impact on local communities, law, due process, and ecology.
These pieces together shed light on the magnitude of the disaster that will be unleashed on this pristine place if the project comes through.
The book is a warning and a catalogue of the manmade catastrophe that lurks on the horizon, one that will destroy more than the tsunami of December 2004 ever did.
An edited collection of short pieces by different writers, annexures and 12 colour plates pictures on the mega infrastructure project being pushed in Great Nicobar Island
Articles by Pankaj Sekhsaria, Aathira Perinchery, Janki Andharia, V Ramesh & Ravinder Dhiman, B Chaudhari, Ishika Ramakrishna, Uday Mondal, Mahi Mankeshwar, Shrishtee Bajpai, S Harikrishnan, Manish Chandi, Ajay Saini, Norma Alvares.
Foreword by: Madhav Gadgil
“Even at a time of accelerating environmental vandalism around the world, what the Indian government is planning in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands stands out for its sheer folly and short-sightedness. As this excellent collection of essays shows in painful detail, these plans are a perfect example of ‘disaster capitalism, in which the government is taking advantage of the displacement of the native Nicobarese by the tsunami of 2004 to make a massive land grab for a completely senseless plan of development.” – Amitav Ghosh
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