The Andaman and Nicobar islands, located almost 1,200 kilometres from mainland India does not make much news in the mainstream narrative, but for the occasional talk of development and tourism or on discussions about the 2004 December tsunami that wrecked havoc on the island chain.
In a presentation centred around his latest book, Islands in Flux at the Catholic Club recently, researcher and author Pankaj Sekhsariaused official documents and data to showcase the impact that unbridled growth and development could have on the fragile and seismically-active island chain. The book is a collection of articles and papers published by Pankaj in the course of his two decades of work in the islands, in journals, newspapers and magazines.
“I was repeating a year in engineering when I went to the islands in 1998 and fell in love with them,” Pankaj says. “I have been visiting the islands since. It has been 20 years and I cannot still claim to understand them fully. I am always amused when politicians claim they know everything about the islands after flying in and out of Port Blair.”
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Talking about the lack of understanding, Pankaj says, “I have seen reports written in the 1960s and 2016. Both are similar and talk about developing the islands by enhancing tourism and using it as a piece of the strategic real estate. There is also no concern shown for the tribal communities in the islands, who have been living there for more than 40,000 years. The report in the 1960s uses terms such as ‘colonisation’ and getting rid of ‘Jarawa (indigenous people of the islands) infested forests’. It is amusing that even after 20 years of Independence, the Republic of India was using the terminology of the Raj.”
He adds, “In our rush to make these islands a mini Dubai or Singapore, we tend to forget that a large portion of the islands went under water after the tsunami in 2004. To plan something like a nuclear power plant, as suggested by former president Abdul Kalam could result in disaster. I just hope that these factors are taken into account when any such move is planned. It is also important that the tribal communities in these islands get their due and are not treated as a problem to be dealt with by the State.”
Pankaj talked about climate change and water pollution pointing out, “At the current rate, many scientists fear that our oceans will have more plastic than fish by 2050. I think it is important to build awareness. Not using plastic straws, for instance, would be a positive step. In the islands, random felling of trees has meant that weeds and new plant species have started to make their presence felt.”
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