Jairam Ramesh urges Centre to reconsider Great Nicobar airport, backs INS Baaz expansion

📌 Summary:

• Congress RS MP Jairam Ramesh wrote to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh urging reconsideration of the rejection of a full runway expansion at INS Baaz on Campbell Bay
• He argued the alternative — a greenfield airport at Galathea Bay in Great Nicobar — carries far heavier ecological and social costs than acknowledged
• Follows the Defence Ministry's June 8 decision to invest ~Rs 13,000 crore in a dual-use (civilian + naval) airport and runway, to be built in five years with the Ministry of Civil Aviation
• Strategic rationale cited by government: sharper maritime domain awareness, logistics and rapid deployment in the Indo-Pacific; Great Nicobar lies ~40 km from the Six Degree Channel, a major global shipping lane
• Core tension: strategic/connectivity gains of the Great Nicobar mega-project vs. loss of tropical rainforest, impact on Shompen and Nicobarese tribes, and coral/leatherback turtle habitats at Galathea Bay
• Ramesh's case: upgrading the existing INS Baaz naval airstrip would deliver strategic value at lower ecological cost than clearing pristine forest for a new greenfield airport

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS3 Environment — environmental clearances/EIA trade-offs, development vs. conservation, tribal rights (FRA, PVTGs), and strategic infrastructure in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

📝 Prelims Facts:

• INS Baaz: India's naval air station at Campbell Bay, Great Nicobar — India's southernmost air base, near the Malacca Strait approaches
• Galathea Bay is a nesting site for the giant leatherback turtle; the Shompen are a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG)
• The Six Degree Channel separates Great Nicobar (India) from Aceh (Indonesia)

🔑 Key Term: Dual-use airport — an airfield serving both civilian aviation and military/naval operations.