Nicobar Shompen value freedom most.

• Triloknath Pandit, a former Director of the Anthropological Survey of India (AnSI), shares a memorable encounter with Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, the fifth President of India, during a visit to the Andaman islands.
• The Shompen tribe, a semi-nomadic forest-dwelling tribe, has historically preferred limited contact outside their groups.
• Pandit recalls an awkward situation where the President and some Shompen men were present during a visit to the government guest house, leading to some Shompen visitors weeping and distress.
• The Shompen tribe, which has been resident on the Great Nicobar island for at least 60,000 years, have historically preferred limited contact outside their groups.
• In May 2024, seven of the Shompen tribe voted in the general election amidst a contentious plan to develop a transshipment container terminal, port, and solar power plant on the Great Nicobar island.
• Environmental clearances have been accorded to the project, but concerns have been voiced over the environmental consequences.
• Pandit warns that such major infrastructure projects could have disastrous consequences for the Shompen tribe, who value their living in the forest.
• Despite their small size, the Shompen and Nicobarese have lived in peace with each other, maintaining separate habitats.
• Pandit emphasizes that the tribes living on the Nicobar islands are links to humanity’s early history and that their knowledge of the forests in their islands is supreme.