Little Andaman Island

Why in news?

• A plan for the sustainable and holistic development of the 680 sq km, fragile Little Andaman Island in the Andaman and Nicobar group has raised the alarm among conservationists.

About Little Andaman:

• Little Andaman Island is the fourth largest of the Andaman Islands of India with an area of 707 km², lying at the southern end of the archipelago.
• It belongs to the South Andaman administrative district, part of the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
• It lies 88 km south of Port Blair, the capital of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
• The island is in the Bay of Bengal and belongs to the Little Andaman Group, and is separated from Rutland Island in Great Andaman by the Duncan Passage.
• The low-lying island has widespread rainforest and several rare species of marine turtle.

What is NITI aayog’s plan?

• The ‘Sustainable Development of Little Andaman Island - Vision Document’, is the NITI Aayog’s proposal to leverage the strategic location and natural features of the island.
• This, the vision says, will be done by building a new greenfield coastal city there, that will be developed as a free trade zone and will compete with Singapore and Hong Kong.
• The proposal is pivoted along three development anchors and zones.
  • Zone 1 — spread over 102 sq km along the east coast of Little Andaman — will be the financial district and medi city and will include an aerocity, and a tourism and hospital district.
  • Zone 2, the leisure zone, will have a film city, a residential district and a tourism SEZ.
  • Zone 3 will be a nature zone, further categorized into three districts: an exclusive forest resort, a nature healing district and a nature retreat, all on the western coast.
  • Zone 2 and Zone 3 of the proposal will be developed on pristine forests.
• There will be ‘underwater’ resorts, casinos, golf courses, convention centers, plug-and-play office complexes, a drone port with fully automated drone delivery system, nature cure institutes along with an international airport , a large boat jetty.

PRELIMS QUESTION

Consider the following statements regarding Andaman and Nicobar islands:
1.They have extensive areas of Tropical rainforests.
2.Andaman and Nicobar island groups are separated by the Duncan strait.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a)1 only
(b)2 only
(c)Both 1 and 2
(d)Neither 1 nor 2

Answer to Prelims Question