KSG Podcast - The Navy's frontline multi - mission aircraft | daily editorial analysis for upsc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AukBjJjIQMc
#UPSCOnlineClasses #OnlineClassses #IASOnlineclasses

KSG Podcast - The Navy's frontline multi - mission aircraft | daily editorial analysis for upsc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AukBjJjIQMc&list=PLCUwtp5IghZmJBi1h7xiAhsORKmmumVsR&index=63
#UPSCOnlineClasses #OnlineClassses #IASOnlineclasses

Watch: 6th Edition of Maritime Exercise 'JIMEX', KSG India
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Am_X7GYVxMQ

Watch: 6th Edition of Maritime Exercise 'JIMEX', KSG India
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Am_X7GYVxMQ

Watch: World Maritime Day (30 Septmber), KSG India
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/5lGxfzyIr3Q

Today's Headlines - 13 August 2023
Katchatheevu island a political issue
GS Paper - 2 (Polity)

Ahead of Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremsinghe’s visit to New Delhi, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin wrote to PM Modi requesting him to retrieve the island. The transfer of Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka, by the Union government, without the state government’s consent, has deprived Tamil Nadu fishermen’s rights and adversely impacted their livelihoods.

Where is the island of Katchatheevu?

Katchatheevu is a 285-acre uninhabited speck in the Palk Strait, between India and Sri Lanka.
It is no more than 1.6 km in length and slightly over 300 m wide at its broadest point.
It lies northeast of Rameswaram, about 33 km from the Indian coast. It is about 62 km southwest of Jaffna, at the northern tip of Sri Lanka, and 24 km away from the inhabited Delft Island, belonging to Sri Lanka.
The only structure on the island is an early 20th century Catholic shrine – St Anthony’s church. During an annual festival, Christian priests from both India and Sri Lanka conduct the service, with devotees from both India and Sri Lanka making the pilgrimage.
This year, 2,500 Indians made the journey to Katchatheevu from Rameswaram for the festival.
Katchatheevu is not suited for permanent settlement as there is no source of drinking water on the island.
What is the island’s history?

The island is relatively new in the geological timescale, being the product of a 14-century volcanic eruption.
In the early medieval period, it was controlled by the Jaffna kingdom of Sri Lanka. In the 17th century, control passed to the Ramnad zamindari based out of Ramanathapuram, about 55 km northwest of Rameswaram.
It became part of the Madras Presidency during the British Raj. But in 1921, both India and Sri Lanka, at the time British colonies, claimed Katchatheevu in order to determine fishing boundaries.
A survey marked Katchatheevu in Sri Lanka, but a British delegation from India challenged this, citing ownership of the island by the Ramnad kingdom.

What is the agreement now?

In 1974, Indira Gandhi made attempts to settle the maritime border between India and Sri Lanka, once and for all.
As a part of this settlement, known as the ‘Indo-Sri Lankan Maritime agreement’, Indira Gandhi ‘ceded’ Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka.
At the time, she thought the island had little strategic value and that ceasing India’s claim over the island would deepen its ties with its southern neighbour.
Moreover, as per the agreement, Indian fishermen were still allowed to access Katchatheevu “hitherto”. Unfortunately, the issue of fishing rights was not ironed out by the agreement.
Sri Lanka interpreted Indian fishermens’ right to access Katchatheevu to be limited to “rest, drying nets and for visit to the Catholic shrine without visa”.
Another agreement in 1976, during the period of Emergency in India, barred either country from fishing in the other’s Exclusive Economic Zone.
Again, Katchatheevu lay right at the edge of the EEZs of either country, retaining a degree of uncertainty with regards to fishing rights.

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Today's Headlines - 09 September 2023
India, ASEAN agree to deepen strategic ties
GS Paper - 2 (International Relations)

India and 10-nation ASEAN agreed to deepen their comprehensive strategic partnership with concrete actions through practical implementation of the 'Plan of Action' to implement the ASEAN-India partnership for peace, progress and shared prosperity.

More about agreement

In a joint statement on maritime cooperation, it was agreed to support India's connectivity initiatives in the region to ensure seamless connectivity in the Indo-Pacific, besides boosting cooperation in a range of areas including blue economy, space and food security among others.
The two sides agreed to deepen their comprehensive strategic partnership with concrete actions through practical implementation of the 'Plan of Action' to implement the ASEAN-India partnership for peace, progress and shared prosperity.
They reaffirmed the importance of maintaining and promoting peace, stability, maritime safety and security, freedom of navigation and overflight in the region, and other lawful uses of the seas and unimpeded lawful maritime commerce and to promote peaceful resolutions of disputes, in accordance with universally recognised principles of international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
The two sides agreed to further strengthen ASEAN-India cooperation on maritime safety and security, promote cooperation in a Blue Economy and develop new and renewable energy including marine-based renewable energy, among others.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is considered one of the most influential groupings in the region, and India and several other countries including the US, China, Japan and Australia are its dialogue partners.
ASEAN-India dialogue relations started with the establishment of a sectoral partnership in 1992.
This graduated to a full dialogue partnership in December 1995 and a summit-level partnership in 2002. The ties were elevated to a strategic partnership in 2012.
What is ASEAN?

On 8 August 1967, five leaders – the Foreign Ministers of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand – came together in Bangkok.
Thailand was brokering some disputes among Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, and it eventually led to the signing of a document.
The five Foreign Ministers who signed it – Adam Malik of Indonesia, Narciso R. Ramos of the Philippines, Tun Abdul Razak of Malaysia, S. Rajaratnam of Singapore, and Thanat Khoman of Thailand – would subsequently be hailed as the Founding Fathers of probably the most successful inter-governmental organisation in the developing world today. And the document that they signed would be known as the ASEAN Declaration.
The ASEAN Declaration signed by the five leaders conveyed the aspiration to further regional cooperation. These were about cooperation in the economic, social, cultural, technical, educational and other fields, and in the promotion of regional peace and stability and adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter.
Its major pillars that help lay out a blueprint for cooperation are Political-Security Community (APSC), Economic Community (AEC) and Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC).

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