📍 India’s Great Nicobar Project: Balancing Strategic Goals with Environmental Concerns 🌏

The Government of India is ambitiously pushing ahead with the Great Nicobar Island Project, aiming to transform this crucial island in the Indo-Pacific into a strategic economic and military hub.

Plans include:

A trans-shipment port

A new international airport

A power plant

A township and industrial cluster

Strategically located near the Malacca Strait, this region holds immense geopolitical value. However, this developmental vision is raising serious socio-environmental concerns:

🔸 Indigenous tribes like the Nicobarese and Shompen may face displacement

🔸 Large-scale deforestation threatens the region’s rich biodiversity

🔸 Most critically, the area sits on the seismically active Nicobar-Sumatra fault line—a region devastated by the 2004 tsunami

Despite geological warnings, the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) downplays these risks, calling the chance of a major disaster "low." This has sparked strong opposition from scientists, environmentalists, and tribal rights advocates alike.

As India looks to assert its influence in the Indo-Pacific, can we afford to sideline the environment and indigenous rights?

Let me know your thoughts.

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