A state that does not secure its frontiers, alliances and trade routes cannot secure its future.” Kautilya’s lesson, written into the grammar of statecraft centuries ago, has returned with unusual force in our time. Nations today are again being tested not merely on the size of their economies or the strength of their armies, but on their ability to read geography, anticipate the future and act before opportunity turns into vulnerability. Great Nicobar is one such test for India.

Located close to some of the most important seaways of the Indo-Pacific, Great Nicobar is one of India’s most important strategic windows to the world. That is why the proposed development cannot be understood merely as an infrastructure project. It is a strategic test of whether India is prepared to convert a rare geographical advantage to further bolster its Comprehensive National Power.

For centuries, the Indian Ocean shaped India’s destiny, carrying our trade, ideas, civilisational influence and, at times, our vulnerabilities. Yet, for much of the post-Independence period, India’s strategic imagination remained heavily continental.

Great Nicobar is one of the largest islands in the archipelago, with an area of about 910 sq km. The total project area of 166.10 sq km is only about 2 per cent of the total area of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, of which 130.75 sq km, approximately 1.82 per cent of the total forest area of the islands, is proposed for diversion. Great Nicobar lies close to Southeast Asia and sits near major global sea lanes.

Its importance becomes clearer when viewed from the strategic lens of the high seas. Imagine the ships moving from the Gulf of Aden towards the Malacca Strait, energy cargo sailing from West Asia and Africa towards East........

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