Andaman and Nicobar Islands: Development, Security and Ecology

(Text of Dr Ram Madhav’s Welcome Address at the Inaugural Session of the Conference on “Andaman and Nicobar Islands: Development, Security and Ecology on June 12, 2026.)

Good Morning Friends !

We are here for a day long conference today, on a very important subject.

The United States had once described Diego Garcia as its unsinkable aircraft carrier.  Incidentally, we have 300 unsinkable aircraft carriers in the form of Andaman Nicobar Islands.

Andaman Nicobar Islands is a huge island territory of India which is  300 times the size of Diego Garcia, 1.5 times the size of Bali, bigger than states like Sikkim, three times the size of Goa, almost six times the size of Delhi and NCR.  It’s a significantly large island region that is an integral part of our country.

Unfortunately, its significance is less appreciated for various reasons.  One very important reason was highlighted by Admiral Joshi himself in his recent op-ed in Indian Express.

We have somehow developed a kind of a continental mindset. We have not developed a strategic maritime outlook about our territories, or our land .  If you ask any student or any child about what the southernmost point of India, they will immediately say Kanyakumari.  The fact of the matter is India’s southernmost territory is Indira Point, which is a part of the Andaman and Nicobar Island chain. It is also a critically strategic location, just about 100 nautical miles or less than 150 kms. from the most important sea lane of the Malacca Straits.

Remember, Malacca Straits annually carries almost 100,000 ships.  One lakh ships pass through Malacca Straits every year and we are sitting just less than 150 kms from that critical place.  We have a region which is economically important, strategically important and very significant in terms of developmental opportunities.

But somehow there is not enough appreciation about its importance.  Today’s conference is intended to highlight the important role that this region, this island chain of Andaman and Nicobar should play in India’s developmental, strategic and economic trajectories.

When talking about the economic opportunities in the region, a point of discussion is often Singapore. Singapore began its journey as an independent nation in the mid-1960s.  And today, it is the transshipment hub of the Indian Ocean. Andaman and Nicobar Islands, had we developed them into a good port facility, it would have probably emerged as a bigger transshipment facility than Singapore itself, by now. Imagine the amount of economic prosperity this would have brought to not just Andaman and Nicobar but to the whole country.

Strategically, it’s located in the heart of Bay of Bengal at a crucial point in the Indian Ocean region. 80% of the energy needs of countries like China and Japan pass through the Malacca strait.  We could have had our eyes on that region, perpetually.  We have a very important strategic facility there, in the form of our tri-services. The only Indian special services establishment exists in Andaman and Nicobar.

But the amount of strategic importance that could have been attached to it has not been done in many decades in the past.

There is a lot of potential even in terms of developmental activities such as tourism, .  I mentioned Bali and Goa, earlier. Goa gets 10 million tourists a year while Bali gets 15 to 20 million, but Andaman gets less than a million tourists annually.  700,000 to be precise which is also a 250% increase from 200,000 in the last four years, thanks to the efforts of Admiral Joshi and his team.

Lack of understanding about the importance of the region and lack of appreciation about the various opportunities that await us is one important reason of our inability to fully  exploit the potential of the Andaman and Nicobar Island chain.

Today the government is putting a lot of focus on its development.  Tourism has gone up by almost three times in last, probably, five years.  It has the potential to grow much more.

Now, a massive port development project is also being commissioned there with an investment of almost $10 billion which is almost 80,000 crores INR.  Today, there are naysayers for everything in our country.  Jawaharlal Nehru was lucky that he could build some infrastructure, had this kind of activism existed then we would not even have had the Bhakra Nangal dam.

We must understand that the project that the government has conceived is not going to destroy the ecology or pose threat to the people.  It’s all completely untrue.  Admiral Joshi also clarified this in his article. He wrote that less than 2% of the territory of Andaman and Nicobar is going to be used for this project. Less than 1.3% of the forest cover is going to be affected.

This is an enormous opportunity for India and for that some amount of compromise and understanding is required.

Today’s conference was supposed to be a one-hour lecture by Hon’ble Lieutenant Governor, initially, but we thought of expanding the scope to give a broader idea about various kinds of economic, strategic and developmental issues related to this very important region.

We are happy that we have Admiral Devendra Kumar Joshiji, who is the Lieutenant Governor of that important union territory, is himself present today. He will give us his own view of the whole issue.  Hearing from the horse’s mouth, as they say.  Admiral Joshi served as the Chief of Naval staff from 2012 to 2014 and in last several years he has been the LG of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

So friends, we are starting with Hon’ble Lieutenant Governor and we also have with us the  former Lieutenant Governor and other dignitaries to address various sessions through the day.

Let us try to have better understanding about this very crucial region.

I welcome all of you to this day long seminar.