The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are by far one of the most neglected regions of India and most of us only know them as a tourist destination. Very few of us know that if utilized properly, these Islands can turn India into one of the most powerful regions in the world. But despite being a crucial part of India, just like the North-East, the government of India has barely done anything to empower these islands and to use them to gain a geopolitical advantage on the world. However, in 2015, the government announced to invest 10,000 crores into transforming the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. This is expected to turn them into an economic engine and a critical military touch point.

Under the BRI initiative, China is indirectly surrounding India. They have taken over the Hambantota port in Sri Lanka, the Gwadar port in Pakistan, the Kyauk Viewport in Myanmar, and Dawei port in Myanmar for a pipeline to mainline China. Down South too, Indonesia is getting cozy with China where joint military drills were being conducted. Looking closely, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are so strategically located that out of these five touch points of china, four of them fall within the missile range from Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

And about the economic importance of the Islands, the first thing India is capable of doing is attracting a billion-dollar market and giving stiff competition to both the Colombo port and Singapore port. And this can be done by turning these Islands into something called the trans shipment hub. A trans-shipment hub is an intermediary point wherein ships can load and unload their cargo. Dubai became an important trans-shipment hub because of its deep water port called the Jabel Ali port and because of that today the port brings in billions of dollars as income for UAE. So trans-shipment hub is an extremely profitable and high-income venture for any government. But for that many high-level infrastructures needs to be developed in the region. The Government of India has recently planned to invest 10,000 crores to turn it into a trans-shipment hub of the world.