India’s top wildlife and biodiversity institutes tasked with assessing the environmental impact of a Rs 81,000-crore project on the Great Nicobar Island worked under intense pressure to deliver reports favourable to the project. While a 130 sq km swathe of ancient rainforest will be razed, scientists were pressured to report that fragile habitats may be translocated, and that the ecological impact of a shipping terminal, power plants, airport and township would be minimal.