In the late 1960s and ’70s, ex-servicemen from the mainland were given land deeds by the Indira Gandhi government to settle on the isolated island, inhabited only by indigenous people belonging to the Shompen and Nicobarese tribes and facing threats from neighbouring countries and poachers. About 330 families were settled as part of the drive. “Then poachers from Indonesia and Malaysia, which is just 40 nautical miles away, would reach the shores and hunt the endangered wildlife,” says Tarun Karthick, editor of the news portal Nicobar Times. To make a living, Kumar also works as a driver for tourists and officials visiting the island. The southernmost point of India, the Indira Point, lies at the tip of Great Nicobar.
