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India’s mega-plan for Great Nicobar promises maritime might—but highlights the caveats for endangered species, tribal rights, and fragile ecosystems.
Image Source: Getty
Situated close to the Strait of Malacca—one of the busiest sea routes globally—the Great Nicobar Islands (GNI) hold an important strategic value in India's maritime security and connectivity programmes. Hosting the Indian Navy's INS Baaz (Great Nicobar) airbase, the region concretises the existing defence and surveillance operations in the eastern Indian Ocean. Its positional advantage also offers greater economic engagement with Southeast Asia. Capitalising on this potential, the Government of India sanctioned an INR 80,000 crore mega infrastructure project on GNI. As part of the Holistic Development of Islands programme—a larger vision to transform the Andaman and Nicobar Islands into a maritime, trade, and tourist hub—the NITI Aayog-led initiative consists of four major components. These include a transshipment terminal in Galathea Bay, an airport, a greenfield township, a tourism project and a gas-powered power plant.
Capitalising on this potential, the Government of India sanctioned an INR 80,000 crore mega infrastructure project on GNI.
Against this backdrop, this article attempts to critically analyse the strategic, economic, and ecological dimensions of the GNI infrastructure project to evaluate the project’s potential in transforming national security and north-south regional connectivity while simultaneously examining the socio-environmental consequences of such large-scale development.
It is worth exploring the rationale behind the aforementioned initiatives under this ambitious plan to understand the broader vision. The project seeks to transform the GNI into a viable tourist destination with its picturesque scenery, deltaic coastline, and immaculate beaches. The region’s variegated terrain is conducive to ecotourism pursuits such as river cruises, kayaking, and bird watching. Currently, limited infrastructure and unfavourable weather conditions define the GNI’s limited connectivity to the Indian mainland and international destinations. Hence, the proposed project will allow tourism to flourish and ensure enhanced access to nearby countries, benefiting the local economy. The project will be executed in three distinct stages over a span of thirty years, with ANIIDCO (Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation) serving as the central coordinating agency responsible for overseeing critical components such as—infrastructure development, land acquisition, and relocation, while also ensuring the interests/participation of the local communiti are taken into account.
While management of cargo bound for or originating from India causes Indian ports to lose millions annually, port handling fees at overseas hubs and transshipment further increase expenses for Indian businesses. Additionally, India's reliance on foreign ports raises national security issues and compounds the problems mentioned above.
Furthermore, India’s dependence on foreign ports for transshipment creates grounds for several problems. While management of cargo bound for or originating from India causes Indian ports to lose millions annually, port handling fees at overseas hubs and transshipment further increase expenses for Indian businesses. Additionally, India's reliance on foreign ports raises national security issues and compounds the problems mentioned above. Thus, GNI's Galathea Bay port project aims to counter the vulnerabilities that Indian trade faces today. The Mega Transshipment Port is expected to handle more than 14 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) annually, making it an alternative to Colombo, Singapore, and Klang ports. The Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways (MoPSW) oversees this transshipment port project, which is set to be completed in 2028.
The Airport Authority of India has been authorised to set up the Greenfield International Airport, which is envisioned to handle wide-body aircraft and augment connectivity and tourist flow. The plan also includes a township along with renewable and gas-based power generation plants that will sustainably provide energy. Furthermore, the strategic location of the GNI also offers great potential for offshore mining of polymetallic nodules rich in cobalt, nickel, copper, and manganese—vital for attaining mineral self-sufficiency.
The southernmost island of the Nicobar Islands Archipelago—the Great Nicobar—stretches across 103,870 hectares of unique tropical evergreen forest. It is home to over 1,800 species of fauna and supports a variety of rich ecosystems, including 650 species of angiosperms, ferns, gymnosperms, and bryophytes. Many species are endemic to this region to the extent that one in three bird species and one in four plant species of Great Nicobar cannot be found anywhere else in the world. The Galathea River is an important migratory route for leatherback turtles, which migrate from Australia to breed on its shores. The Nicobar Islands are the only place designated as a Sundaland global biodiversity hotspot in India, acknowledging their rich biological diversity. They include several unique species such as the rare Nicobar megapode, Nicobar tree shrew, cat snakes, and tree frogs. Adjacent to this area lies the famous Coral Triangle, which hosts over 75 percent of the world's coral species and an astounding variety of fish and marine invertebrates.
The Mongoloid Shompens—with a population of roughly 200—inhabit the woodlands of the biosphere reserve, situated on riverine and stream valleys. They are hunters and food gatherers who primarily depend on the forest and marine resources. The Nicobarese, another Mongoloid tribe with a nearly 300 populace, lived in villages along the west coast. In the wake of the 2004 tsunami that wiped out their village on the west coast, they were relocated to Afra Bay on the North Coast and Campbell Bay.
Ever since the project’s launch in 2021, it has witnessed significant backlash from environmentalists, indigenous rights advocates, and conservationists, raising concerns about how the development project can exploit the rich repository of biodiversity and threaten the existence of the tribal communities. Noted for their rare, endemic flora and fauna, coral reefs, mangroves, and tribal communities, most of the island is uninhabited and covered with forest, which has historically resulted in a protective governance model to safeguard the natural and cultural heritage. However, as of 2025, the ‘Vision 2030’ and NITI Aayog's initiatives to promote development, using green infrastructure, eco-tourism, and community engagement, raise alarms about deforestation, biodiversity loss, and threats to tribal rights and marine ecosystems.
Although the environmental clearance granted in November 2022 included several mitigation measures—such as creating a leatherback turtle sanctuary on Little Nicobar and restoring lost rainforests and coral reefs—environmental experts remain apprehensive. Their concerns stem from the biogeographical uniqueness of the Nicobar Islands, the lack of clarity on how many trees will be felled, and India’s poor track record with compensatory afforestation efforts. The consequences of clearing mature tropical rainforests are equally alarming—an estimated release of 4.3 million tonnes of CO₂ and the risk of extensive soil erosion. Moreover, the Social Impact Analysis of the project has grossly neglected the Shompen communities, a ‘Primitive Vulnerable Tribal Group’ (PVTG), with tribal rights activists warning that the project can annihilate one of the world’s most isolated tribes.
The Great Nicobar Island mega-project is thus a high-stakes confluence of considerations of national security, economic aspiration, and environmental stewardship.
A petition submitted by activists contests the legality of the forest rights certificate issued on 18 August 2022, which purportedly complied with the Forest Rights Act for diverting 130 sq km of forest land in Great Nicobar. It questions the certificate’s legitimacy on the grounds of inadequate representation of the Scheduled Tribe in giving consent to the project, as the law stipulates, since the Act expressly does not allow representation or proxy consent for particularly vulnerable tribal groups. Tribal rights activists and experts are of the view that despite government assurances, the joint impacts of this project, mixed with a design for a major demographic shift to admit 650,000 new residents, will be a death knell to the Shompens. Such contact could lead to severe psychological distress among the Shompen, potentially resulting in a dramatic population decline. Even an initial encounter with outsiders might cause near-instant fatalities, since the Shompen have little or no immunity to external infectious diseases. The damage to the Shompen will be immense, even without considering the effects that the loss of ecology and the subsequent environmental changes will have on them.
The restoration measures, more so because of the highly complex coral ecosystem and endemic species in the area, have been called into question as well. Another area that has come under flak is the relocation of corals from the affected areas, mainly because of the low success rates of such operations. Thus, these measures do not provide solutions to the irreparable impacts on island biodiversity, especially concerning endangered species such as the leatherback sea turtle and Nicobar megapode.
The Great Nicobar Island mega-project is thus a high-stakes confluence of considerations of national security, economic aspiration, and environmental stewardship. Although the island's position is advantageous to India's maritime posture and regional connectivity, the island has irretrievable anthropogenic costs to biodiversity, fragile ecosystems, and the indigenous cultures, alongside the cultural survival of groups—comprising very ethically questionable and morally disturbing ecological dilemmas. Even with ongoing restoration efforts, such actions cannot replace the region’s unique biogeographical characteristics. The parameters of sustainable development in ecologically fragile areas must be inclusive governance, transparent decision-making, and a sincere respect for the rights of nature and original peoples. Thus, the balance between development and conservation should be shaped by thoughtful policy and guided by principles that reflect both environmental responsibility and cultural sensitivity.
Anasua Basu Ray Chaudhury is a Senior Fellow in Neighbourhood Initiative at the Observer Research Foundation.
Sreedipta Roy is an Intern at the Observer Research Foundation.
The views expressed above belong to the author(s). ORF research and analyses now available on Telegram! Click here to access our curated content — blogs, longforms and interviews.
Anasua Basu Ray Chaudhury is Senior Fellow with ORF’s Neighbourhood Initiative. She is the Editor, ORF Bangla. She specialises in regional and sub-regional cooperation in ...
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