The Great Nicobar Betrayal

In this powerful speech, Pankaj Sekhsaria, renowned environmentalist and researcher, discusses his work “The Great Nicobar Betrayal” and the grave threats posed by the mindless, large-scale development push in the  Great Nicobar Islands. He highlights the island’s rich biodiversity, including the nest of rare leatherback turtles, and points towards the grave ecological, geological, and social risks posed by so called development initiatives to this biodiversity.

Sekhsaria critiques the government’s oversight and apathy in devising mindless development programs underscoring how it impacts the fragile ecosystem as well as indigenous communities. He warns of the irreversible damage to the island’s environment and its vulnerable tribal populations. Through his insights, he calls for a course correction to sustainable development initiatives. The speech was made at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala on March 8, 2025 as part of a memorial function in honour of legendary Indian journalist N. Gopinathan Nair, whose pioneering journalistic investigations in Nicobar are valued highly by environmentalists and scientists.