Text & Context: The Katchatheevu Controversy
Current Affairs for 21st August,23
Text & Context: The Katchatheevu Controversy
• Katchatheevu is an uninhabited and barren 285 acre islet about 14 nautical miles off Rameswaram.
• Why in news?
Problems regarding the arrest of Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan authorities, leading to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister demanding retrieval of the islet from Sri Lanka.
• It became a part of Sri Lanka after the then prime PMs Indira Gandhi and Sirim R.D. Bandaranaike signed an agreement in 1974 to demarcate the boundary between the two countries. A joint statement stated that it "falls one mile off the west coast of the uninhabited" Katchatheevu.
• That the fisherfolk of the two countries have been using the islet traditionally was acknowledged in the agreement.
However, the supplemental pact in March 1976 made it clear those fishermen of the two countries "shall not engage" in fishing in the historic waters, territorial sea and exclusive zone or exclusive economic zone of either of the two "without express permission of Sri Lanka or India".
• Sri Lanka claims sovereignty over Katchatheevu on the ground that the Portuguese who had occupied the island during 1505-1658 CE had exercised jurisdiction over the islet. India's contention was that the erstwhile Raja of Ramnad had possession of it as part of his zamin.
• In December 2022, the Centre pointed out that Katchatheevu "lies on the Sri Lankan side of the India-Sri Lanka International Maritime Boundary Line".
1 nautical mile = 1.85 km
1 mile = 1.61 km