The Great Nicobar Holistic Development Project is a massive initiative originally proposed at ₹75,000 crore, but now estimated at ₹91,000 crore. While the government cites its positioning near the Malacca Strait as key for national security and trade, critics argue the lack of written strategic plans shows security was used as an excuse to avoid environmental scrutiny.

Galathea Bay is a nesting ground for the giant leatherback turtle. The environment ministry granted clearances for the port in 2022, but because of the ‘strategic’ tag, the government refused to share the environmental impact assessment reports and the recommendations of the High-Powered Committee set up by the National Green Tribunal.

The PIB is a premier body under India’s Ministry of Finance. It examines and approves large public investment proposals by various ministries before they go to the Cabinet for final clearance. Its focus is on evaluating the economic viability and financial prudence of high-value government projects.

After the Finance Ministry’s PIB questioned the project’s strategic value in August 2024, the Ministry of Defence declared it strategically vital. This designation was subsequently used to bypass public consultations and withhold crucial environmental clearance details, drawing criticism that the security rationale was an afterthought.

The Public-Private Partnership Appraisal Committee (PPPAC) is India’s apex body under the Ministry of Finance for clearing PPP projects. Viability Gap Funding (VGF) is a government grant (usually up to 20% of the project cost) to support infrastructure projects that are socially and economically essential but financially unviable for private developers. Refusing VGF for a project indicates severe administrative and economic doubts about its returns.

Great Nicobar is the southernmost island of India, situated just 150 km north of Sumatra. It is home to the Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve, which includes two national parks (Galathea and Campbell Bay). The island features unique biodiversity, including primary rainforests, coral reefs, nesting leatherback turtles, and endemic species like the Nicobar Megapode.

Great Nicobar Island is an ecological hotspot. The leatherback turtle (the world’s largest marine turtle) nests heavily at Galathea Bay. The Nicobar megapode is a unique, endangered bird that builds mounds of decaying vegetation to incubate its eggs. Because these species rely entirely on the island’s coastal forest and beaches, the mega-project threats their survival.

Under Indian law (Forest Conservation Act), when forest land is diverted for non-forest use, compensatory afforestation must be undertaken. For Great Nicobar, the government planned compensatory afforestation in Haryana, thousands of kilometers away. Scientists argue that planting trees in a semi-arid zone cannot replace the lost biodiversity of a 130-million-year-old tropical evergreen rainforest.

Great Nicobar is home to two primary indigenous tribes: the Nicobarese (primarily agriculturists and fishers, resettled after the 2004 tsunami) and the Shompen (a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group or PVTG, who are semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers living in the interior forests). The project threatens their ancestral lands, resource access, and cultural survival.

Under India’s Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (FRA), any diversion of forest land requires the free, prior, and informed consent of the local Gram Sabhas. In Great Nicobar, the tribal councils withdrew their consent in 2022, alleging that the administration obtained it by concealing that their villages would be taken over.