Nicobar project to safeguard Indo-Pacific interests, Rajnath tells Congress

📌 Summary:

• Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has defended the Rs 81,000 crore Great Nicobar Island project as a strategic national initiative to safeguard India's maritime and commercial interests in the Indo-Pacific — his first response to Congress MP Jairam Ramesh
• Strategic rationale: The project (near vital Sea Lanes of Communication, SLOCs) will boost India's ability to sustain presence, move assets and monitor critical sea lanes, enhancing maritime domain awareness in ways distant bases (INS Kohassa, INS Utkrosh, AFS Car Nicobar) cannot
• Components: an integrated township, a trans-shipment container port, a solar and gas-based power plant, and a greenfield military-civilian airport; land earmarked for defence on the western flank of the port site
• The debate: Ramesh (in May-June letters) urged expanding existing assets like INS Baaz at Campbell Bay instead, calling the project a "recipe for ecological disaster"; Singh countered that this reflects an "incomplete appreciation" of maritime security realities
• Why greenfield: Singh said developing INS Baaz as a brownfield option was examined but rejected, as it would have required substantial land reclamation and disturbed tribal population, flora and fauna, hence the greenfield choice at Galathea Bay

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS3 (Internal/Maritime Security — Indo-Pacific, SLOCs) with a live development-vs-environment and tribal-rights trade-off (Shompen/Nicobarese, Galathea Bay ecology)

📝 Prelims Facts:

• Great Nicobar Island project ~ Rs 81,000 crore; sited around Galathea Bay
• Existing island bases: INS Baaz (Campbell Bay), INS Kohassa, INS Utkrosh, AFS Car Nicobar
• Galathea Bay is an ecologically sensitive leatherback turtle nesting site; Shompen are a particularly vulnerable tribal group here

🔑 Key Term: Sea Lanes of Communication (SLOCs) — primary maritime routes for trade and naval movement, central to Indo-Pacific security