Why a 2004-vintage scheme is still active
The Boxing Day Tsunami of 26 December 2004 devastated A&N agriculture — particularly in the Nicobar group. By scientific assessments (ICAR-CIARI, post-event surveys), roughly 11,000+ hectares of agricultural land was permanently inundated or made unfit by saltwater intrusion; another 25,000+ ha was made marginal. The subsidence in the Nicobar group (up to 1 — 3 metres in Great Nicobar) was geologically permanent — large parcels have not recovered to pre-2004 productivity even two decades on. The scheme is therefore deliberately structured as a long-tail rehabilitation programme.
By 2025, approximately 3,500 hectares remain in the active restoration tail-list, concentrated in Car Nicobar, Katchal, Nancowry, Trinket and Great Nicobar. The numbers shrink each year as parcels are restored or written off, but the scheme remains technically open and field-active.
What the scheme provides
- Saline-tolerant planting material: ICAR-CIARI (Port Blair) supplies dwarf coconut hybrids developed for saline groundwater conditions (West Coast Tall × Gangabondam, Lakshadweep Ordinary × COD crosses); CARI-paddy varieties bred for saline soils (CARI Dhan-5, CARI Dhan-6); banana tissue-culture plantlets of salt-tolerant cultivars.
- Drainage and bunding rehabilitation: funded through the A&N Administration's RKVY share — restoration of pre-tsunami drainage channels, salt-leaching bunds, and check-dam reconstruction. Convergence with the Cellular Jail-anchored MGNREGA pool on labour.
- Soil amelioration: gypsum + organic matter application, green-manure (Sesbania, Crotalaria) cycles, salt-leaching sequences. CIARI advises a 2 — 3 year leaching- and-amendment protocol before commercial replanting.
- Cooperative-level support: Nicobarese cultivator cooperatives — Tribal Council managed land — receive cluster-level packages rather than household disbursal, as most Nicobarese land is community-held.
Eligibility
- Cultivator with land that has been certified as tsunami-2004-affected by the Revenue Department (the post-event affected-land register is the master list).
- For Nicobarese parcels — the Tribal Council / cultivator cooperative is the unit of eligibility, not the individual.
- Parcels currently under restoration cycle that have not yet been certified commercially productive.
How to access
- Visit your Tehsil Agriculture Office; cross-check that your land record is on the post-2004 affected-land register.
- CIARI field officer + Agriculture Officer jointly inspect and prescribe the leaching- and-amendment protocol appropriate for the parcel salinity profile.
- Planting material is released from CIARI / CDB nursery in the appropriate window; drainage works are scheduled through the A&N PWD and Agriculture Department joint coordination.
- Periodic post-restoration monitoring; certification as commercially productive ends the restoration cycle for that parcel.
Latest changes (2024 — 2026)
- 2024 Cyclone Remal: damaged some already-restored parcels, especially in Car Nicobar; secondary restoration cycle authorised for affected lots.
- 2025: ICAR-CIARI released CARI Dhan-7 (salt-tolerant paddy with higher yield potential); seed multiplication for cluster distribution underway.
- 2025-26: Scope review by the A&N Administration; ~3,500 ha tail-list re-confirmed for continued restoration.
Common rejection reasons
- Land not on affected register: parcels not on the 2004 affected-land master list don't qualify; appeals go through the Revenue Department.
- Already certified commercially productive: parcels off the restoration cycle are not eligible — they enter the regular CDB/MIDH programme instead.
- Non-cooperative individual claim on Tribal Council land: Nicobarese community-held land is processed at cooperative level only.
How this stacks with other schemes
A&N Post-Tsunami Restoration is the land-rehabilitation layer. A&N Coconut Cluster takes over once a parcel is certified commercially productive. PVTG Welfare covers the Nicobarese community-welfare layer. PMFBY, KCC-MISS and PM-KISAN run in standard form for individual cultivators outside the tribal-cooperative route.