The Great Nicobar Project | India's BIGGEST Environmental Disaster | Dhruv Rathee

The video opens by highlighting the leatherback sea turtle, an endangered species that has survived since the dinosaurs, whose primary nesting ground in India is Galathea Bay on Great Nicobar Island. The Modi government's ₹81,000 crore mega-project threatens to destroy 90% of the turtles' nesting sites. The project consists of four components: an International Container Trans-Shipment Terminal, a dual-use military and civilian airport, a 450 MVA power plant, and a commercial township intended to house 3.5 to 6.5 lakh people.

Rathee systematically exposes what he calls government lies about the project's environmental impact. While the government claims only 1.82% of forest area will be cut, this figure refers to the entire Andaman and Nicobar Islands chain — on Great Nicobar Island alone, it represents 15% of the area. The government estimates 7.11 lakh trees will be felled, but independent researchers put the number as high as 1 crore trees. The project would also destroy over 16,150 coral colonies, which scientists say cannot be successfully relocated. The Shompen tribe, with a population of only 229 as of the 2011 census, faces existential risk from disease exposure and habitat destruction, prompting 13 genocide experts and Survival International to warn of potential genocide.

The video details how the government allegedly circumvented legal environmental protections to approve the project. The Forest Rights Act process was improperly followed — the sub-divisional committee lacked proper scheduled tribe representation, and the approving Gram Sabha contained no Adivasi members. The Environmental Impact Assessment was completed in just 6 to 7 days instead of the usual months or years, with negative findings excluded. Galathea Bay's wildlife sanctuary status was quietly de-notified in January 2021, and coral reef data was removed from government maps between 2020 and 2021 to obscure the scale of destruction.

The bulk of Rathee's argument dismantles the national security framing used to justify the project. He argues that India cannot choke the Strait of Malacca from Great Nicobar because the island sits in the Andaman Sea, 200–300 km from the strait's entrance, while the actual choke points are near Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. He further argues that China has already developed multiple alternative routes — including the China-Myanmar pipelines, CPEC through Pakistan, Central Asian land routes, Arctic shipping lanes, and alternative sea straits like Sunda and Lombok — making any Malacca blockade strategically ineffective. He also points out that India already has naval infrastructure at INS Baaz and the Tri-Services Command Centre in Port Blair.

Rathee concludes by questioning the government's actual motives, noting that project plans include casinos, resorts, and entertainment clusters across 149 of the 166 square kilometers. He connects the project to Adani Ports, one of 11 companies that expressed interest in building it, and frames the destruction as part of a broader pattern of exploiting natural resources and indigenous communities for corporate benefit. He calls on the judiciary to intervene and urges viewers to sign a petition opposing the project.