Overview
- Congress leaders confirmed a three-day visit with a stop on the Nicobar islands planned for the final day.
- Rahul Gandhi accepted an invite from the Great Nicobar Tribal Council after a meeting last month and is scheduled to meet its members during the trip.
- The visit will spotlight the Centre’s Rs 81,000 crore Great Nicobar Holistic Development project and its impact on fragile forests, sea life, and indigenous communities.
- Tribal leaders say the plan would divert their land and affect at least five to six pre-2004 tsunami village sites that hold cultural and family ties.
- Council members also allege officials asked them to issue “surrender certificates” for some ancestral villages, while Congress has pressed environmental concerns in Parliament.