Explained: Why the Great Nicobar Project is vital for India's national security

The Centre’s Great Nicobar Project is under attack again. On Monday, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi slammed the initiative as a “planned misadventure.”

Sonia, in an op-ed, claimed that the project poses an “existential danger” to the island’s indigenous tribal communities as well as to one of the world’s most unique flora and fauna ecosystems.

“The totally misplaced Rs 72,000 crore expenditure poses an existential danger to the island’s indigenous tribal communities,” Sonia wrote.

“Instead, the project denotifies a significant part of the Shompen tribal reserve, destroys the forest ecosystems where the Shompen live, and will cause a large-scale influx of people and tourists on the island,” she added.

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What do we know about the project? Why is it so vital to India’s national security?

What is it?

The Great Nicobar Project is a massive Rs 80,000 crore initiative on Great Nicobar Island. The Nicobar Islands are part of the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar, which is around 1,300 kilometers from Sri Lanka. They cover an area of 1,841 square kilometres.

Great Nicobar, which lies in the south of the islands, is around 144 kilometers from the northwestern tip of Indonesia’s Sumatra.

The island was settled in 1969. Until then, only the Shompen and the Great Nicobarese called the island home. The Shompen are hunter-gatherers who live in the island’s interior and are believed to have arrived 30,000 years ago. It is the policy of the Indian government to leave them undisturbed. There are around 230 Shompen left.

The Great Nicobarese arrived about 10,000 years ago. There are around 1,000 of them today, and they govern themselves. The island also has about 4,000 settlers who work through panchayati raj institutions.

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What has the government planned?

The project is being spearheaded by NITI Aayog in concert with the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation (ANIIDCO).

The government plans to build several facilities on the island, including an International Container Transshipment Terminal, a greenfield international airport, a township, and an energy plant.

The terminal will include a deep-sea port at Galathea Bay with a capacity of around 16 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). The greenfield international airport will cater to both civilian and defence use. The Centre says it will handle around 4,000 passengers per hour by 2050.

The planned township development will be home to between 300,000 and 400,000 people. It will have residential, commercial, and institutional buildings. The gas and solar plant will generate 450 megavolt-amperes. Roads, water supply, and supporting infrastructure will also be constructed.

Why is it important?

The planned facilities—particularly the shipping terminal—will link the island to major trade routes along the Indian Ocean and the Suez Canal.

The island is near the Strait of Malacca, one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, and part of the Six Degree Channel. Around 30–40 percent of global trade, including much of Chinese goods (around 60 percent), passes through the Strait of Malacca.

The idea is to make India a major player in global shipping and logistics—on par with Singapore, Colombo, and Port Klang. Much of India’s cargo currently goes through foreign ports, resulting in higher costs and logistical delays.

A world-class port in the region also positions India as an alternative to China, which has invested massively in ports across Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Africa, and Pakistan, seeking to increase its influence in the Indo-Pacific.

The region is also vital to India’s strategic and national security interests. The island already hosts the Indian Navy’s INS Baaz (Great Nicobar) airbase. The project will also overhaul airfields and jetties, construct logistics and storage facilities, build a base for military personnel, and enhance surveillance infrastructure.

All of this will allow India to have sharper eyes and ears in the Indian Ocean Region, particularly the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal.

The defence infrastructure on the island will allow the Navy and Air Force in the Andaman & Nicobar Command—India’s only tri-services command—to respond to threats in real time.

The project is also linked to India’s Act East Policy and Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR) doctrine. India, which is part of the Quad (alongside Australia, the US, and Japan), has vowed to keep the Indo-Pacific “free and open.” The project is thus a key part of India’s strategy.

The project also promises to boost international trade and tourism in the region. The Centre says the island will be home to around 650,000 people by 2055, when the project is completed.

Environmental concerns

However, not everyone is pleased.

Environmentalists, rights activists, and conservationists have been raising concerns about the project since its announcement.

Anstice Justin, an anthropologist from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, said he is particularly worried about the Shompen. “The loss will be especially huge and traumatic for them,” Justin told the BBC. He has been documenting the island for decades. “Whatever we call development in the outside world is not of interest to them. They have a traditional life of their own."

Others, including opposition leaders, have pointed to the threat of deforestation and the risk of upsetting a delicate ecosystem known for its rare, endemic flora and fauna, coral reefs, and mangroves—as well as rare species such as the Nicobar megapode and leatherback turtles.

Congress MP and former environment minister Jairam Ramesh has said, “The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has been claiming that 8.5 lakh trees will get felled… independent estimates, including those by the ministry itself, put the number anywhere between 32 lakh and 58 lakh trees."

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi last week wrote to Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram expressing concern over the alleged violation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) in granting clearances to the project.

“The tribal communities were displaced during the 2004 tsunami and have been unable to return to their ancestral lands. They now fear that the project will threaten their way of life and lead to further marginalisation due to the diversion of their land,” Rahul said in his letter.

With inputs from agencies