Public Accounts Committee asks Home Ministry for report on Great Nicobar Project

This development illustrates the crucial role of Parliamentary Committees in ensuring executive accountability. The Public Accounts Committee, formed annually with 22 members (15 from Lok Sabha, 7 from Rajya Sabha), is a cornerstone of legislative oversight. Its primary function is to examine the audit reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to verify that government expenditure is legal, authorized, and economically sound.

While the primary agenda was the CAG report on the medical institute (which itself revealed significant governance failures like a 40% equipment shortfall and inter-ministerial blame-shifting between the MHA and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare), the chairperson used his prerogative to seek information on the Great Nicobar Project. This highlights how committees can act proactively, demanding transparency on significant projects even if they fall outside the immediate scope of an audit report. For UPSC Mains (GS Paper 2), this is an excellent example of parliamentary oversight mechanisms in action and the ongoing tension between the executive's developmental agenda and the legislature's demand for accountability.

The Great Nicobar Project is a flashpoint in the classic 'development vs. environment' debate, highly relevant to GS Paper 3. Proposed by the NITI Aayog, the ₹72,000 crore mega-project includes an International Container Transshipment Terminal (ICTT), a greenfield international airport, a power plant, and a township. The environmental cost is staggering: the felling of approximately 8.5 to 10 lakh trees (the article states 1.5 crore, which appears to be an error or exaggeration by the source, highlighting the need to verify data; official estimates are closer to 1 million) in pristine tropical rainforests.

The project threatens the delicate ecological balance of the island, which is part of the Sundaland Biodiversity Hotspot. It imperils endemic species like the Nicobar megapode, the leatherback turtle (nesting sites are near the proposed port), and the Nicobar macaque. Furthermore, the island is home to vulnerable indigenous tribes, notably the Shompen (a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group or PVTG) and the Nicobarese. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) granted environmental clearance, raising concerns about the efficacy of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) processes when major infrastructure projects are prioritized. UPSC often tests the trade-offs involved in such mega-projects in fragile ecosystems.

Beyond the environmental concerns, the Great Nicobar Project has significant geostrategic and economic dimensions. Great Nicobar's location, just 90 nautical miles from the western entrance of the Malacca Strait, makes it a critical point in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). The proposed transshipment port aims to capture a share of the massive maritime trade passing through this chokepoint, currently dominated by ports like Singapore and Colombo.

From a security perspective, enhancing infrastructure in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands is seen as a counter to China's increasing naval presence in the IOR (the 'String of Pearls' strategy). The mention of the naval base INS Baaz not receiving land for expansion underscores the complex interplay of civilian commercial interests and military requirements on the island. The PAC's scrutiny suggests a need for a holistic assessment to ensure that the project's strategic and economic benefits genuinely outweigh its monumental environmental and social costs, a critical point for evaluating national infrastructure policies.