The recent AI global summit has proved again that if we don’t move ahead, we fall into the abyss of stillness and death. This is true for human beings as well as the land.
Imagine having a workstation on top of Mt Everest to watch the world around; Great Nicobar holds the same significance for India in the sea. It is closer to Indonesia and Malaysia than Chennai and gives India a most enviable strategic position in the Strait of Malacca and the Indo-Pacific. Unfortunately, whenever India takes up a big project for defence and development, opposition to it begins from some quarters—from the Narmada Dam to Siang and Kudankulam. I remember Dr Manmohan Singh’s statement criticising the Kudankulam protesters and moving ahead with the project.
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands—totalling approximately 572, of which only 38 have been inhabited—remained as good as their British-era popular name, "Kala Pani", until the Modi government took up their development on a massive scale. There is a special reason that the government has kept former Naval Chief Admiral D.K. Joshi continuing as the Lt Governor of the Islands for the last eight years. From investing thousands of crores for safe water availability for locals to better facilities for tourists and dedicating islands in the name of revolutionaries and Param Vir Chakra awardee soldiers, the government envisaged a massive strategic push in Great Nicobar Island that had been waiting for several decades.
It was in August 2020, when PM Modi inaugurated India’s first 2,312-kilometre-long submarine optical fibre cable from Chennai to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, laid at a cost of ₹1,224 crore, that he announced the building of a transhipment port at Great Nicobar Island to provide shippers with an alternative to similar ports in the region. The Island’s administration had already floated an expression of interest for the container transhipment terminal with the Free Trade Warehousing Zone in South Bay, Great Nicobar Island, to provide Indian shippers with an alternative to Colombo, Singapore, and Port Klang (Malaysia) transhipment ports, growing the Andaman and Nicobar Islands as a hub of port-led development, as it is at a competitive distance from many ports around the world. The ₹72,000 crore project received cabinet approval in 2021. As usual, the project was challenged in the National Green Tribunal and the Calcutta High Court, leading to delays and cost escalations.
Great Nicobar, when looked at on a world map, is a tiny, invisible particle of sand—literally the last tip of India, called Indira Point. It oversees the Strait of Malacca, which is described by geopolitical analysts as “one of the most strategically, economically, and politically significant maritime chokepoints in the world. Therefore, it is of critical importance to the Southeast Asian countries that border or rely on it, as well as to great powers with interests in the Indo-Pacific” (Kaewkamol Pitakdumrongkit).
It is important to understand, before we discuss Great Nicobar in detail, what the Strait of Malacca means to India. Like the Indus water that we continued to give Pakistan in amounts greater than what was agreed upon, while Great Nicobar was untouched and underutilised, the world was happy and our adversaries kept silent as it suited them all. The moment our strategic plans were drawn and reached the point of implementation, all the usual concerns—environmental, biodiversity, and displacement—came up.
Eighty per cent of China’s oil imports and large volumes of trade take this route. China has built what is known as a ‘string of pearls’. Its Belt and Road Initiative has seen huge investments in the Indian Ocean region in Pakistan (Gwadar), Sri Lanka (Hambantota), and Djibouti. China’s ambitious blue-water navy mission presents a direct challenge to our region. It is quite obvious that China would not like Indian initiatives to bolster its strong presence in this area, especially at the mouth of the Strait of Malacca.
Kaewkamol Pitakdumrongkit of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies says, “The Strait of Malacca is a vital part of the Indo-Pacific because it is one of the key sea lanes linking two oceans—the Indian and the Pacific. Sea lanes such as this are particularly economically and strategically important to the Indo-Pacific because the region has nine of the world’s ten busiest seaports, and about 60% of global maritime trade passes through this region. The economies in the region together account for 60% of global GDP. Its biodiversity is the world’s greatest, housing about 3,000 marine species, which reflects the region’s environmental importance”.
If Khyber was pivotal to Central Asia, the Strait of Malacca is pivotal for the East. It has been the most important trade route for us since the days of the Cholas, during the Srivijaya era and the time of Zheng He. It remained the main link between Europe, the Middle East, and South Asia, and Southeast and East Asia. Our cultural and civilisational links flourished through this route, and the spread of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Brahmin culture throughout East Asia is a result of our maritime heritage.
India has always been essentially a maritime nation; it is only after the Islamic invasions through Khyber that our principal energies and focus were directed towards the western frontier. According to maritime strategists, the Great Nicobar to Strait of Malacca route is more important than the Panama Canal and the Strait of Gibraltar. Approximately 90,000 vessels per year, representing more than one-third of the world's shipping, pass through this route, which is approximately 1,000 km long. The region is seeing tense Sino-US rivalry, the expansion of Chinese influence, and a comparatively ‘waking up late’ India.
Great Nicobar is a beautiful Indian island, yet it remains largely unknown to us. It is just 180 km from the island of Sumatra. It has an area of 921 km² (356 sq mi) and a population of 8,067. Until Modi introduced Indian names to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, one felt as though the British still lived here. One of the rivers in Great Nicobar is known as the Alexandra, named after the wife of King Edward VII. The others are the Dogmar and Galathea (after the Danish colonial vessel Galathea, which was responsible for conducting a survey for minerals in Great Nicobar in 1845–47), and the third is the Amrit Kaur River—named after India’s first health minister. There is also Mount Thullier—642 m above sea level (named after the British Surveyor General Thuillier).
It is true that we cannot remain oblivious to ecological and biodiversity issues, as well as the safety and cultural preservation of the tribes; these issues have been amply explained by government officials and the Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. India must not repeat the follies of 1962 and must remain vigilant on the defence front. The full-scale development of Great Nicobar is an essential part of it.
(The writer is a former Member of Parliament)
(The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of THE WEEK.)
