This week, NPR published a lengthy report on India’s controversial Great Nicobar project.
Over the past few years, there’s been a debate in India over the future of an island that hosts less than than 0.0007% of its population.
The Hindu nationalist government of Narendra Modi wants to turn the sleepy Great Nicobar island into a trading center and a bustling township — “The Singapore of India,” as some call it.
The mega-project is estimated to cost more than a billion dollars and nearly a million trees. Critics say this would be an environmental disaster. They say the project could also endanger the Shompen, one of the last hunter-gatherer communities in the world that remain isolated from the modern world.
India’s ruling party, which sees the project as a "strategic gateway" to counter China in the Indian Ocean, has bristled at the criticism. Journalists visiting Great Nicobar have reported being under police surveillance. When NPR made a low-profile visit to the island early this year, residents were eager to talk, although some requested anonymity for fear of reprisals. That fear was palpable: after our return, the local police started a formal inquiry into the reasons for our visit. Those we spoke to reported being questioned by the police. Local authorities also barred free access to areas marked for a contentious transshipment port.
The tussle in Great Nicobar is emblematic of many state-backed infrastructure projects across India. While the Modi government is eager to push ahead with such ambitious projects in the name of the economy or national security, the clamor to protect nature has grown sharper as India sees a rise in heatwaves, glacial floods, and extreme rainfall in recent years. | 
