Neil Island, officially known as Shaheed Dweep (), is an island of the

Andaman Islands The Andaman Islands () are an archipelago, made up of 200 islands, in the northeastern Indian Ocean about southwest off the coasts of Myanmar's Ayeyarwady Region. Together with the Nicobar Islands to their south, the Andamans serve as a mari ...

, located in

Ritchie's Archipelago Ritchie's Archipelago is a cluster of smaller islands which lie east of Great Andaman, the main island group of the Andaman Islands. The Islands belong to the South Andaman administrative district, part of the Indian union territory of Andam ...

. It belongs to the

South Andaman South Andaman Island is the southernmost island of the Great Andaman and is home to the majority of the population of the Andaman Islands. It belongs to the South Andaman administrative district, part of the Indian union territory of Andaman an ...

administrative

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

, part of the

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

union territory Among the states and union territories of India, a Union Territory (UT) is a region that is directly governed by the Government of India, central government of India, as opposed to the states, which have their own State governments of India, s ...

Andaman and Nicobar Islands The Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a union territory of India comprising 572 islands, of which only 38 are inhabited. The islands are grouped into two main clusters: the northern Andaman Islands and the southern Nicobar Islands, separated by a ...

. The island is located northeast from

Port Blair Port Blair (), officially named Sri Vijaya Puram, is the capital city of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a union territory of India in the Bay of Bengal. It is also the local administrative sub-division (''tehsil'') of the islands, the headqu ...

Etymology

Neil Island was named after British Brigadier general James Neill, who had fought on the side of the British East Indian company in the

Sepoy Mutiny The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the form ...

of 1857. In December 2018, it was renamed as Shaheed Dweep as a tribute to

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Subhas Chandra Bose (23 January 1897 – 18 August 1945) was an Indian nationalist whose defiance of British authority in India made him a hero among many Indians, but his wartime alliances with Nazi Germany and Fascist Japan left a l ...

. Bose had hoisted the Indian flag at Port Blair on 30 December 1943 and proclaimed the Andaman and Nicobar Islands as territories liberated from British rule. He had subsequently named Andaman Island as Shaheed and Nicobar Island as Swaraj.

History

Shaheed Dweep, then Neil Island, was uninhabited until the arrival of settlers in the late 1960s. Like Swaraj Dweep, then Havelock, the vast majority of settlers at Shaheed Dweep were refugees from erstwhile East-Pakistan, following the exodus of Hindu Bangladeshis prior to that country's war of independence in 1971. On 30 December 2018,

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

announced that Neil Island would be renamed as Shaheed Dweep.

Geography

The island belongs to the

and is located between Swaraaj Dweep and Rose Island. It is a comparatively flat island, and much of the landmass was deemed suitable for paddy cultivation. Unfortunately, as a result of this, very little forest cover remains at Shaheed, and almost all of it is concentrated in the reserve forest on Shaheed's north-western side. Shaheed Dweep tends to remain a degree or two warmer than Havelock as a result of the lack of forest cover.

Administration

Politically, Shaheed Dweep is part of Neil Kendra panchayat, of

Taluk A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administrative ...

Demographics

The population of 3040 lives in five villages, listed below, with population at 2011 census in parentheses: * Sitapur (274) * Bharatpur (629) * Neil Kendra (1000) * Lakshmanpur (382) * Ram Nagar (755)

Transport

There is a jetty at Neil Kendra, which serves as the only access point of the island. There are regular Government ferry from Port Blair to Shaheed Dweep. There are private cruise ships such as Makruzz, Green Ocean, Nautika and ITT Majestic.

Economy

Agriculture is the primary occupation of the villagers, and the island supplies vegetables to the rest of

Andaman Andaman may refer to: * Andaman Islands, an island group in the Bay of Bengal * Andaman Island, Penang, an artificial island in George Town, Penang * Andaman Sea, a sea of the eastern Indian Ocean * ''Andaman'' (1998 film), an Indian Kannada-lang ...

. Neil Island is known for its organic cultivation and provides much of the organic produce to remaining part of the islands.

Image gallery

File:Natural Bridge, Neil Island, Andaman, India.JPG, Hawrah Natural Bridge, Neil Island. File:Shaheed Island, Andamans, Mangrove beach, Wilderness.jpg, Mangrove trees File:Shaheed Island, Andaman Islands, Tropical beach.jpg, Tropical beach File:Neil Island - Bharatpur beach as seen from jetty.jpg, Bharatpur beach as seen from jetty File:Shaheed Island, Andamans, Interior jungle.jpg, Interior forest File:Andaman Islands, Full moon night, Forest by the sea at night.jpg, Forest by the sea at night File:Entry to Niel Island from Bharatpur Jetty, Andaman Island, India.JPG, Entry to Neil Island from Bharatpur Jetty. File:Bharathpur Jetty.JPG, Bharathpur Jetty File:Ritchies Archipelago locale.png, Ritchie's Archipelago within the Andaman Islands File:Ritchie's Archipelago Neil Island.png, Neil Island within Ritchie's Archipelago File:Andamane 7 1250001-1.jpg, Neil Island on 26 December 2004, after earthquake and tsunami

References

External links

Neill Island brochure at Andaman Tourism
Ritchie's Archipelago Islands of South Andaman district Islands of the Andaman Sea Islands of India Populated places in India Islands of the Bay of Bengal {{DEFAULTSORT:Neill Island