In 2022, a State-backed tribal welfare body assumed powers it did not legally hold to issue consent—now challenged in the Calcutta High Court—on behalf of the Shompen, a reclusive indigenous tribe in the Andaman archipelago, for the Rs 92,000-crore Great Nicobar mega project. Vast tracts of primary rainforests and mangroves in the south and south-west of the island will be taken over for the project.