Strategic afterthought: On the Great Nicobar project

The Great Nicobar Island Development Project — an ₹81,000 crore (~USD 9.7 billion) mega-infrastructure initiative on the southernmost island of the Andaman a...

What Happened

The Great Nicobar Island Development Project — an ₹81,000 crore (~USD 9.7 billion) mega-infrastructure initiative on the southernmost island of the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago — continues to face questions of transparency and institutional accountability.
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) pronounced its judgement in February 2026, ruling in favour of the project and citing "adequate safeguards," after reserving judgement for several months on petitions challenging the forest clearance.
Concerns persist about the adequacy of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process, the protection of critically endangered wildlife (notably the leatherback sea turtle) at Galathea Bay, and the rights of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) — the Shompen and Nicobarese — inhabiting the island.
The editorial position holds that the government's handling of the project reflects a pattern of treating environmental and tribal concerns as afterthoughts to strategic and developmental imperatives, rather than integrating them from the outset.
Ongoing cases in the Calcutta High Court and the Eastern Zone Bench of the NGT continue to challenge the "in principle" forest clearance and claims that Forest Rights Act (FRA) entitlements were duly settled.

Static Topic Bridges

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)

An Environmental Impact Assessment is a process of evaluating the likely environmental impacts of a proposed project or development, considering inter-related socio-economic, cultural and human health impacts, both beneficial and adverse. In India, EIA is governed by the Environment Protection Act, 1986 and the EIA Notification, 2006.

Projects in Schedules A and B of the EIA Notification require prior environmental clearance from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) or the State-level Environment Impact Assessment Authority, respectively.
The EIA process includes scoping, preparation of an EIA report, public hearing, appraisal, and grant or refusal of clearance.
Critics of the Great Nicobar EIA argue that the assessment was inadequate given the scale of forest diversion (130 sq km), proximity to turtle nesting sites, and the island's position within the Man and Biosphere Reserve.
A 2022 Supreme Court-appointed expert panel had raised concerns about the EIA methodology used for this project.

Connection to this news: The transparency critique centres on whether the EIA process was substantively followed or was treated as a procedural formality, with adequate public consultation and independent expert scrutiny.

Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) and the Forest Rights Act, 2006

PVTGs are among the most marginalised Scheduled Tribe communities, identified by criteria including pre-agricultural modes of existence, low literacy, declining or stagnant population, and subsistence-level economies. There are 75 PVTGs in India notified by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

The Shompen of Great Nicobar are classified as a PVTG and are a hunter-gatherer community with near-total isolation from mainstream society.
The Nicobarese, a relatively larger group, inhabit the Nicobars and have their own traditional land-use systems.
The Forest Rights Act, 2006 (FRA) recognises and vests forest rights in forest-dwelling Scheduled Tribes and OFDTs; critically, individual and community rights must be settled before any forest land is diverted.
No displacement is officially proposed, but critics question whether FRA rights recognition was completed before forest clearance was granted.

Connection to this news: The editorial's call for transparency is partly about whether the rights of the Shompen were formally recognised under the FRA process before environmental and forest clearances were issued — a legal prerequisite under the FRA.

Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) and Island Protection Zone (IPZ)

The Coastal Regulation Zone Notification, 2019 regulates development activities along the Indian coastline to protect fragile coastal ecosystems. Islands have an additional overlay: the Island Protection Zone (IPZ) Notification, 2011, which applies to Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep.

CRZ-IA (ecologically sensitive areas, including mangroves, coral reefs) and CRZ-IB (areas within 50 m of HTL on small islands) carry the most stringent restrictions.
The IPZ mandates that development on these islands protects the terrestrial and marine ecology and limits non-essential infrastructure.
Any construction within the regulated zone requires CRZ clearance from MoEFCC.

Connection to this news: The planned transshipment terminal at Galathea Bay and the associated infrastructure involve coastal and island-zone regulated areas, making CRZ and IPZ clearances legally critical — and their adequacy a matter of public interest.

Strategic Significance of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands sit at the mouth of the Strait of Malacca — through which nearly 25% of global maritime trade passes — placing them at a node of critical Indo-Pacific importance.

India's only tri-services command, the Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC), has been operational from Port Blair since 2001.
Great Nicobar is approximately 150 km from the northern tip of Aceh (Indonesia) and about 90 km from the Strait of Malacca sea lane.
The planned International Container Transhipment Terminal (ICTT) at Galathea Bay would have a capacity of 14.2 million TEU, competing with Colombo, Singapore, and Port Klang as regional transshipment hubs.
The project is being developed by NITI Aayog in three phases over 30 years, with Phase 1 targeted for completion by 2028.

Connection to this news: The editorial's "strategic afterthought" framing argues that strategic imperatives, while legitimate, do not justify bypassing due process in environmental and tribal governance — transparency in both dimensions is constitutionally and legally required.

Key Facts & Data

Project cost: ₹81,000 crore (~USD 9.7 billion).
Forest diversion: approximately 130 sq km; estimated 852,000 trees to be felled.
Great Nicobar biosphere reserve: over 85% of the island is designated as a biosphere reserve, part of UNESCO's Man and Biosphere Programme.
Galathea Bay: one of the most important leatherback sea turtle nesting sites in the Indian Ocean; the species is listed under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
Leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea): IUCN status — Vulnerable globally; in the Indian Ocean, classified as Critically Endangered.
Project components: International Container Transhipment Terminal (14.2 million TEU capacity), greenfield international airport, 450 MVA gas and solar power plant, township (16,610 hectares).
NGT ruling: February 2026, in favour of the project, citing "adequate safeguards."
Shompen population: estimated at approximately 300 individuals — one of India's most isolated tribal communities.
ANC established: 2001, Port Blair — India's only tri-services command.