Minicoy: India's Island to Destroy
Godi indian Media is abuzz with the news that India is going to build a dual purpose airport on Minicoy island and they are also hotly contesting unofficial remarks of some official of tiny island country of Maldives. Godi Media is seeing Chinese hand in Indian Ocean because they don't have the know-how of how to see Chinese Military Infrastructure on India-China border.. whenever some American satellite picture analyst will give information that China has built another village on Indian soil, then they will attack that analyst, calling him Anti-Modi. Let China's Army come inside India and do picnic across the Indian Border, they won't raise a voice.
Since Indian Media gets its knowledge from god damned wikipedia and unknown "sources" of Government, they have absolutely zero knowledge about anything, so expecting that they will be having knowledge of Minicoy island is as foolish as searching for Modi's answer sheets from university examination. What never existed, does not exist.
Let's get to the facts, the super-tiny island has an habitable area which is less than 4 square kilometers when you exclude the beaches. In last Government census of 2011, (Since present Government is busy in photo-shoots, they and their electorate both has forgotten that 2021 census is still pending) Minicoy had a population of about ten-thousand who mostly live on northern part of the island.
Remaining Minicoy island is the Government declared Forest area covered in thick coconut groves. This part has a lagoon on the north side, and Indian Ocean (locally named laccadive Sea) on the south. I have taken a screenshot of that part of Minicoy island from USGS bathymetry viewer. Although stupid Wikipedia says highest elevation is only 2 meters, but USGS bathymetry puts elevation at 8 meters on north side, 11 meters of southern end. This coconut groves had important role is protecting the lagoon and island as a whole from destruction while facing natural disasters.
The Ecological choice : Coconut grove forest or unfeasible Airport - Natural beauty Vs Cheap thrill of selfie promotion.
There are only one place there to build a dual purpose airstrip or almost something like that .. that has to be on the coconut grove forest and must be built along the east-west direction. Since the area is majorly slanted with south side elevation being 2 metres higher, its not the case cutting few trees and planting a airstrip there, whole of coconut forest has to be struck down, whole area has to be reorganised geographically..
Since Air force will be using the proposed, there has to be hangers and ammunition depots. Air Force would need living quarters for its personnel.
Air Traffic Control would need a fully operational office.
There has to be a terminal for commercial flights.
Jet-setting "wannabe Adani" tourists from mainland would want new 5-star hotels with special vegetarian restaurants, won't they?
Can anyone put all that in 3 square kilometres of coconut forests that they want to usurp?
After all that forest destruction and concrete laying, debris would invariably pile up on lagoon beaches and ultimately in the lagoon.. destroying the fish and tourism potential of the lagoon.
To say this Airport would serve entire Lakshadweep as many in Indian Media are saying, is to express one's ignorance about Lakshadweep as Minicoy is the southern most island of the Union Territory. If built, it will serve only Minicoy island itself.
Remember Lakshadweep is Union Territory and has no legislative assembly of it's own, locals have no role in local governance and no say in local development of the island. If soil erosion caused by such thoughtless development makes it uninhabitable, three-four decades earlier.. than its eventual demise under the sea because of sea-level rise caused by global warming; I don't think the Noida based Godi Media would worry much. Well, at the time of relocating inhabitants of Lakshadweep to mainland India, the descendants of present day (supposedly) Journalists would like to see their names and their forefather's name in some illusive and non-existent "National Register of Citizens" .. if we don't uproot Jingoistic Majoritarian Bigotry from the collective psyche of the Indian people. In case you didn't know, the original inhabitants of all Lakshadweep islands are muslims and the voted to choose to stay in India over Pakistan after independence of India.
But both the message of Jingoism and "Great Modern Development" are important.. for lack of good phrases, let's say "Market Forces". They need propaganda, trolls and fanfare to exist, as they don't have logical legs to stand on their own.
So what can be realistically achieved there?
One airstrip and a terminal building, with Air force manning the Air Traffic Control.. and rest will go to hotel projects of cronies of current ruling dispensation. Yes, Coconut groves has to be destroyed, which would have been illegal unless a "National Security" angle is thrown in.
Strategic Importance of Minicoy Air Field or my crazy left foot!
As we have proved this island is too small to have a full-fledged air base, this will not serve any military purpose whatsoever. You can't even warehouse ammunition safely in such a small cramped place.
The military risks in Indian Ocean are "piracy" and air force has next to no role in combating piracy in anywhere.
China will fight no war with India in Indian Ocean when it can happily encroach in Himalayas with little hue and cry from Indian Media.
Other than that, US, South Africa, Britain, France and Australia has major naval and air power in Indian Ocean .. none pose any threat to India now.
What could have been an alternative to the air-strip on land.. well, why not keep sea-planes on the lagoon, after all, Prime Tourister Mr. Modi can fly to Ahmedabad in a Sea-plane .. why not take sea-planes to the place they were meant to be, I mean, Sea and Islands.
So Why Dangle The NATIONAL SECURITY Carrot in this project?
The reason is, Defence Expenditure are always opaque and Government never releases any details about it. So the cronies stand to gain much much more in a project for military use or dual use than in a pure commercial project.
Air Force would be obliged to man, because of the national security angle. It is not easy find technical manpower for the southern most island of Lakshadweep.
Environmental and Ecological concerns do not arise when the carrot named "National Security Angle" dangles.
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