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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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