A dilemma for Delhi

With the union government proposing a slew of infrastructure projects to boost business and tourism on the Great Nicobar Island, environmentalists are concerned. They fear that the construction activities on the ecologically sensitive islands could lead to a large-scale loss of biodiversity and could threaten local indigenous people. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands (ANI) are an oceanic outpost for continental India. With a critical vantage location overlooking the ten-degree and six-degree channels (through which a vast majority of cargo and container traffic in the eastern Indian Ocean transits), the islands give India a unique surveillance and maritime interdiction capability. They…