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First Post
25 minutes ago
- Business
- First Post
India must act fast on solving fishers' dispute with Sri Lanka
With campaigning for next year's Tamil Nadu Assembly elections already heating up, there is an urgent need for Delhi to delineate the 'Kachchatheevu issue' from the stand-alone fishers' dispute, and keep the former especially out of domestic politico-electoral bickering in India read more The Sri Lankan side has indicated a willingness to allow a limited number of southern Tamil Nadu fishers from India if and only if they give up their bottom trawlers and purse seine nets. Representational image: REUTERS Bilateral relations between India and Sri Lanka, including defence and security ties, are at an all-time high, but the festering fishers' dispute especially has the potential to negate some of these collective gains. This has to be read in the context of ocean security that became India's major post-Cold War concern after an adversarial China, the superpower US, and other extra-regional powers set their strategic sights on this side. The Mumbai-based naval shipbuilder Mazagon Docks' recent takeover of the Colombo Docks should be seen in context. Both are public sector undertakings, and the majority stakes for Mazgon Docks now ensure that India does not lose out to China or any other, as happened with the strategically located Hambantota Port and the financial hub, Colombo Port City (CPC). STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Earlier, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's April visit to Sri Lanka, the two sides initialled a defence MoU—one of a total of seven—formalising existing arrangements for joint military exercises and capacity-building. It is seen as a cautious first step to bigger things, so to say. In between, you had a quiet visit to Sri Lanka by a high-level defence delegation from India. The usually nosy Colombo media and their set of strategic analysts were quiet on the subject. Political reservations were also restricted to the vocal yet miniscule Frontline Socialist Party (FSP), which broke away from the ruling Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) a decade or so back. In some ways, such initiatives followed confidence-building measures, which in Sri Lanka's case included India's Covid-era assistance, followed by fiscal doles at the height of the nation's unprecedented economic crisis. Further, India infused a sense and purpose into Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Neighbourhood First' policy from his first term through his SAGAR and MAHASAGAR socio-economic framework. The two nations are also partners in the 'Colombo Security Conclave' (CSC) along with other near neighbours in the Indian Ocean, focusing initially on non-traditional ocean security like oil leakage. This has since been expanded to include cyber security and terrorism, among others. Despite hiccups caused by domestic political changes in member nations, the future trajectory of the CSC is being keenly watched. Incidentally, socio-political changes in Sri Lanka did not affect the nation's relations with India. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Significantly, the centre-left JVP-National People's Party (NPP) combined government of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has also stuck to the 'right-liberal' President Ranil Wickremesinghe's commitment to check all boxes in their new SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) while clearing entry for foreign research vessels in Sri Lankan waters and ports. This follows India's continual concern over the frequent presence of so-called Chinese research vessels, better known as 'spy ships' in the shared waters. Until now, Colombo has not yielded to the Chinese Embassy's more recent endearments and reprimands that bilateral maritime relations should not be influenced by third nations (read: India, and at times the US, too). Exclusive Waters It is in this background that India and Indians need to visualise the festering and fomenting fishers' dispute. The dispute is an unintended and unanticipated product of a bilateral accord from 50 years back. The twin accords of 1974 and 1976 solely aimed at defining the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) under the up-and-coming UN Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Today, the fishers' dispute and the accompanying 'Kachchatheevu issue' have deflected attention from the unique nature of the twin IMBL accords. By adopting the UNCLOS provision and by deliberating deviation from the median-line prescription for IMBL identification, the two nations made the Palk Strait link their exclusive waters, denying access to third nations. The geopolitical and geostrategic criticality of the 'exclusivity', legitimised by UNCLOS, has not been adequately acknowledged in the two countries. In context, the fishers' dispute flows from the Indian fishers' deployment of high-speed bottom trawlers and big-size purse seine nets, both since declared as 'ecologically destructive' by the West that had introduced them in the first place. From the Sri Lankan side, the Tamil fishers of the North especially are badly affected even as they seek to recover lost life and livelihood after long years of ethnic war. At bilateral and multilateral talks involving the respective governments and/ortheir fishers' representatives over the past several years, the Sri Lankan side has indicated a willingness to allow a limited number of southern Tamil Nadu fishers from India if and only if they give up their bottom trawlers and purse seine nets. By now, it is acknowledged that this fishing equipment also destroys the boats and nets of their 'umbilical cord Tamil brethren' from Sri Lanka, apart from scooping up fishlings and eggs and scraping the natural habitats of fish schools. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Twin Components On the ground, the twin dispute has twin components. On the one hand, the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN), mandated to secure the nation's territorial waters, cries foul whenever Indian fishers' cross the IMBL. In recent years, they have also termed Indian fishers' catch as 'poaching' under the law. Over the past two decades or so, there have been multiple occasions when SLN patrols have arrested Indian fishers and their boats and produced them before local courts for trial and punishment. There have also been occasions when the SLN had opened fire or otherwise harassed and bullied the Indian fishers while rounding them up. Lately, the Sri Lankan Tamil fishers too have started reacting mid-sea. There have been skirmishes and clashes between the two groups, often closer to Sri Lanka's northern Tamil coast. A new group of yet-to-be identified 'Sri Lankan pirates' has also emerged in recent months, doing what the SLN was otherwise doing all along, though there have not been any shooting incidents involving them, thus far at the very least. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Traditional Rights, Historic Waters India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Indian missions in Colombo and northern Jaffna have been interceding on behalf of the Tamil Nadu Government and the state's fishers when arrested, but that is not a permanent solution. Alongside, India's federal government and that in southern Tamil Nadu have launched a joint subsidy scheme for the Rameswaram fishers to procure long-liners for taking to deep-sea fishing and stay away from harm's length. Successive governments in Delhi have argued with their Colombo counterparts to provide more space and time for such conversion. It is being pointed out that the conversion also involves 'cultural readjustment', as the affected Rameswaram fishers are not used to staying out in the sea for more than one night at a time, which deep-sea fishing entails. There is also a need to create a market for tuna and other species caught in the deep sea, where Maldivian and Sri Lankan neighbours have had an upper hand all along. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Yet, even in recent talks with Tamil-speaking Sri Lankan Fisheries Minister R Chandrasekar, Indian High Commissioner Santosh Jha reportedly made a pointed reference to the deep-sea fishing efforts initiated by the government in India. The High Commissioner also underscored the need to revive bilateral fishers' talks, facilitated by the two governments. However, the Sri Lankan Tamil fishers are clear that they would not yield until they actually get to see their Indian brethren give up their bottom trawlers and purse seine nets. The cooperation and attestation of the Sri Lankan government to any such plan also remains in the realm of speculation. Before Chandrasekar, his Tamil-speaking predecessor Douglas Devananda was known to have approached the India-unfriendly Chinese Embassy in Colombo more than once to help resolve the issue, where Beijing never ever has had a role. This opened a new angle, which thankfully rests there after last year's change of government in Colombo. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Politics, Diplomacy The simmering discontent now centres on two interrelated issues when viewed from Colombo. One, the Modi dispensation in New Delhi, unlike its predecessors, is seen as increasingly pressing the argument of the Tamil Nadu fishers and government that it was a 'livelihood issue' for both sides, and not just the Sri Lankan fishers. In this context, there is said to be a more frequent mention of phrases like 'traditional fishing rights' in 'historic waters' in Indian propositions at bilateral discourses. There are fewer or less frequent references to the 'destructive methods' employed by the Indian fishers. The second is even more serious in terms of bilateral politics and diplomacy. Successive Tamil Nadu Chief Ministers, from the late Jayalalithaa (AIADMK) and M Karunanidhi (DMK), have been calling for an annulment of what is now referred to as the 'Kachchatheevu 'Accord'—though the name of the islet never finds a place in the twin pacts. Instead, they refer only to latitude and longitude positions in the map while delineating the IMBL. In her maiden Independence Day speech as Chief Minister as far back as 1991, Jayalalithaa demanded that New Delhi 'retrieve' Kachchatheevu. Jayalalithaa and her DMK rival M Karunanidhi, both former chief ministers, moved the Supreme Court, claiming that the bilateral accords were bad in law and under the Constitution. The two petitioners challenged first the transfer and secondly the process—through an exchange of letters between the foreign secretaries of the two nations. According to them, the Indira Gandhi-led Congress Government at the Centre had 'ceded' Kachchatheevu, which had belonged to the erstwhile Sivaganga principality of the Ramanathapuram royalty, and hence should have sought Parliament's approval under the Constitution. After their death, DMK treasurer T R Baalu, MP, has sought to replace Karunanidhi in the DMK's petition, if only to keep it alive and take it forward. There is no knowing when the case will reach its finality, but the question remains if an Indian court's verdict against the Accord could negate India's international commitments under the joint UNCLOS notification from the early eighties. For now, human presence on the islet is restricted to a few Sri Lankan Navy personnel's periodic visits and to the annual St Anthony's Church festivities, for which Tamil fishers from the two countries gather for two or three days at best to hear the Mass, delivered by a Catholic priest from Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Long Shadow The fishers' dispute is one issue at the bilateral and multilateral levels where there is a national consensus in Sri Lanka, cutting across ethnic, political, administrative, and sociological divides. Suffice to point out that in 2017, it was a Tamil parliamentarian, M A Sumanthiran (not elected to the present House), who had piloted the draft, which proposed higher penalties for international trespassers and poachers—which boiled down to Tamil fishers from India. Then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, otherwise seen as 'India-friendly', was keen that it should be a government bill with all its legal and political connotations both in the country and across the Palk Strait. The House passed the bill unanimously, again reflecting the nation's mood in the matter. In this background, going beyond the existing issues that are limited to the two fishing communities and at times involving the Sri Lanka Navy, Kachchatheevu as a politico-electoral dispute in India is casting its long shadows on bilateral relations, without anyone noticing it or anyone acknowledging it. The then Sri Lankan government of President Wickremesinghe, promptly through Foreign Minister Ali Sabry, cast a lid on any domestic controversy by declaring that it was all a part of India's electoral politics of the time and that New Delhi had not made any suggestion of the kind to Colombo. However, EAM Jaishankar's reference to the previous charge recently has caused eyebrows to raise across the Palk Strait. With the Tamil Nadu assembly elections due next summer, there are concerns in Sri Lankan circles that any overheated exchanges on Kachchatheevu in India could be counterproductive to bilateral relations overall. The fact remains that the Kachchatheevu issue is not a profitable poll proposition for any party or leader in the Tamil Nadu context, as successive elections have shown. The ruling BJP at the Centre has not understood it for them to acknowledge the same by keeping silent on the subject. For their part, Chief Minister Stalin and his AIADMK challenger and predecessor, Edappadi K Palaniswami, are already playing their mutual blame game from the Jayalalithaa past. Mischievously Translocated A section of the Sri Lankan strategic community on the one side and the political opposition on the other is mischievously and meaninglessly evaluating EAM Jaishankar's statement(s) in the light of New Delhi's recent decision to review the Indus Valley Treaty with Pakistan. No one in Colombo or elsewhere in Sri Lanka is suggesting that India would seek a review of the 'Kachchatheevu Accord' here and now, but they are not sure that it won't happen in the future, especially if bilateral ties soar on another front or other fronts. Already, the seven bilateral MoUs signed recently have been challenged before the Sri Lankan Supreme Court. Politically, every opposition party, including their otherwise India-friendly leaderships, has complained that the JVP-NPP government of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake did not take the people and Parliament into confidence on these MoUs. Free Passage There is another angle to the 'Kachchatheevu debate', if opened/reopened. When New Delhi launched work on the 'Sethusamudram Canal Project' to make the narrow sea-lane cutting across Palk Strait navigable on the Indian side, the US lost no time in asserting that it would then claim 'free passage' under UNCLOS. The intended import is not fully appreciated for New Delhi to educate Tamil Nadu through the past years. Incidentally, the canal project is now before the Supreme Court of India, and on-site work was stalled very long ago. For now, any reopening of the 'Kachchatheevu Accord', whatever the reason, circumstance, and time, has the potential to open a Pandora's Box whose contents are not just known. The fish output in the islet zone is not big enough for the Rameswaram fishers to fight for. Thus, it still remains a political dispute at best in India with absolutely no electoral purchase of any kind. With Tamil Nadu assembly elections due next year, the temptation to repeat the political accusations is high. The sparks that fly then, if fuelled and oiled, can lead to unanticipated and undesirable outcomes on the bilateral front. Under the circumstances, the Indian fishers are also not going to get their due, after all. By not referring to the 'Kachchatheevu issue', per se, politically or otherwise within the country, and at the same time encouraging Indian fishers to take to deep-sea fishing in a big way and early on, New Delhi would be able to ensure that bilateral ties with Sri Lanka remained on course. It would then be for the incumbent governments in the two nations and their successors over the coming years and decades to build on the same—even as they resolve the stand-alone fishers' dispute in ways that do not extend and expand the avoidable animosity between their fishing communities. The writer is a Chennai-based Policy Analyst & Political Commentator. Email: sathiyam54@ Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost's views.
The Hindu
an hour ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
BJP persecuting Bengali speakers in Assam claims Mamata Banerjee; Himanta Biswa Sarma hits back
A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured that Bengali language and identity is paramount to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday (July 19, 2025) claimed that the BJP was persecuting Bengali speakers in Assam. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma hit back stating that the West Bengal Chief Minister has 'compromised Bengal's future — encouraging illegal encroachment by a particular community appeasing one religious community for vote banks and remaining silent as border infiltration eats away at national integrity — all just to stay in power.' Mamata Banerjee only concerned about Bengali-speaking Muslims: Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma West Bengal Chief Minister in a social media post highlighted that Bengali (Bangla) is the second most spoken language in the country and also in Assam and to 'threaten citizens, who want to coexist peacefully respecting all languages and religions, with persecution for upholding their own mother tongue is discriminatory and unconstitutional.' The Trinamool Congress chairperson said that this 'divisive agenda of the BJP in Assam has crossed all limits and people of Assam will fight back.' Ms. Banerjee said she stands with 'every fearless citizen who is fighting for the dignity of their language and identity, and their democratic rights.' Refuting the West Bengal Chief Minister's charges, Assam Chief Minister emphasised that in his State, the government was not fighting its own people but 'fearlessly resisting the ongoing, unchecked Muslim infiltration from across the border, which has already caused an alarming demographic shift.' 'In several districts, Hindus are now on the verge of becoming a minority in their own land. This is not a political narrative — it's a reality,' he said in a social media post. Mr. Biswa Sarma said that even the Supreme Court of India has termed such infiltration as external aggression. 'And yet, when we rise to defend our land, culture, and identity, you choose to politicise it. We do not divide people by language or religion. Assamese, Bangla, Bodo, Hindi — all languages and communities have coexisted here. But no civilisation can survive if it refuses to protect its borders and its cultural foundation,' he added. Migrants from Bengal being treated like trespassers in their own country: Mamata Banerjee There have been several reports of migrant workers from West Bengal being targeted in various BJP ruled States and the West Bengal Chief Minister has hit the streets on June 16 threatening protests all across the country if the persecution does not stop. Earlier this month Assam Chief Minister has said people who seek to replace Assamese with Bengali in the electoral rolls would help the government get an idea about the number of 'foreigners' in the State. Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a public rally in West Bengal on July 18 has said that for the BJP, Bengali 'ashmita (identity and pride)' is paramount and wherever there is a BJP government, Bengalis are respected, Bengali language is respected.
New Indian Express
an hour ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
'Divisive agenda of Assam BJP crossed all limits,' says Mamata; Himanta accuses Bengal CM of 'appeasement' politics
KOLKATA: Reacting to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's claim that the BJP is the only party that "protects Bengali 'ashmita' (pride)", West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday slammed the BJP government in Assam for "threatening" Bengali-speaking people in the northeastern state, who want to "peacefully coexist, respecting all languages and religions." Refuting the allegation, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma accused Banerjee of "encouraging illegal encroachment" by a particular community and "appeasing" the religious community for vote banks. Taking to X on Saturday, Banerjee said, "The second most spoken language in the country, Bangla, is also the second most spoken language of Assam. To threaten citizens, who want to coexist peacefully respecting all languages and religions, with persecution for upholding their own mother tongue is discriminatory and unconstitutional." Accusing the BJP of employing "divisive agenda" in Assam, Banerjee said the BJP has "crossed all limits" and the people will fight back. She added, "I stand with every fearless citizen who is fighting for the dignity of their language and identity, and their democratic rights."
NDTV
2 hours ago
- Business
- NDTV
PM Modi Launches 5 New Amrit Bharat Trains In Bihar, Highest Among States
The inauguration of four non-AC Amrit Bharat trains by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday has led to Bihar becoming the originating point of five such high-tech trains meant for the economically weaker sections. With this, the poll-bound state has the highest number of such trains originating from stations there. Prior to these inaugurations on Friday, Bihar had two Amrit Bharat trains -- one between Darbhanga and the Anand Vihar Terminal in Delhi that was inaugurated in 2023, and the other running from Mumbai's Lokmanya Tilak Terminus to Saharsa that was launched on April 24, 2025. Now, the number has gone up to five, officials said. They added that these four newly launched trains are upgraded versions of the earlier ones that would ensure increased passenger amenities such as enhanced comfort and superior safety technology. "The Rajendra Nagar (near Patna) - New Delhi Amrit Bharat will cover a distance of about 1,000 km in about 17-and-a-half hours and cost Rs 560 for the entire journey in a sleeper class category. Its regular service starts from July 31. The second one, between Bapudham Motihari in Bihar and Anand Vihar (New Delhi), will also cover 1000 km with a fare slab of Rs 555 for the entire journey for sleeper class. Its regular service has not been announced yet and will be done separately," a railway official said. He added, "The third train between Darbhanga in Bihar and Gomti Nagar in Uttar Pradesh will cost Rs 415 for the entire journey for the non-AC sleeper class, and its normal service will start from July 26." The fourth Amrit Bharat train was inaugurated from Bhagalpur in Bihar. But it will run weekly between Malda Town in West Bengal and Gomti Nagar from July 24. However, according to the Railways, Bihar will make the most of this Amrit Bharat train as almost the entire route is through this state only. Dilip Kumar, the executive director of information and publicity, Railway Board, said these high-tech trains are designed to run at a maximum speed of 130 km per hour and provide a smart, safe and comfortable travel experience for the middle class and economically weaker sections. "Before the inauguration of these four trains, a total of three Amrit Bharat trains were operating in the country. The Railway Ministry is working on manufacturing 100 more Amrit Bharat rakes for the benefit of the middle class and economically weaker sections," Kumar said. Highlighting passenger convenience features in these trains, he said these compartments have foldable snack tables, mobile holders, foldable bottle holders, fast mobile charging ports, comfortable seats, and radium illuminated flooring strips to show the way even in the dark. "Air spring body for shock-free travel experience, modern and divyaangjan-friendly toilets with electropneumatic flushing system and automatic soap dispenser are some added features which are never seen before in non-AC trains designed for this class of travellers," Kumar added. Railway officials also highlighted some of its safety and emergency features, such as semi-automatic coupler with crash tube, EP-assisted brake system, sealed gangway and vacuum evacuation system, talk back unit in every coach and fire detection system for the first time in non-AC coaches.
News18
2 hours ago
- Politics
- News18
INDIA Bloc To Hold First Meet Since 2024 Polls Today: Who'll Attend, Who'll Skip After AAP's Exit?
AAP announced its exit from Opposition's INDIA bloc. The grouping is set to hold its first meeting since the 2024 Lok Sabha polls today. Ahead of the Monsoon Session of the Parliament, the Opposition parties of the INDIA bloc will hold an online meeting on Saturday evening to strategise on the issues to be raised during the session that begins on Monday. The meeting of the INDIA bloc will take place after a long gap and will be the first since last year's Lok Sabha Elections in which the Opposition put up a decent fight but failed to dislodge the BJP-led NDA from power at the Centre. The meeting comes on the heels of the Aam Aadmi Party's announcement of its exit from the bloc that was formed ahead of the general elections to take on the Narendra Modi government. The grouping has since then been in tatters, as the allies were nowhere to be seen fighting as partners in the Assembly polls that followed the national elections – Haryana and Delhi being the prime examples. Who Will Attend Today's INDIA Bloc Meet? The AAP has announced its exit from the bloc and is unlikely to register its presence in the online meet. The party said that the INDIA bloc 'failed to stay united and take steps to further its agenda". West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's TMC, which earlier said that it would skip the meeting, has now affirmed its participation through Abhishek Banerjee. No other ally of the group has announced their unavailability to attend the meeting that is set to take place at 7 pm. 'A meeting of the leaders of the INDIA parties will be held online on Saturday, July 19, 2025, at 7 pm to discuss the prevailing political situation in the country," Congress general secretary KC Venugopal tweeted on Thursday. The Opposition is expected to raise issues such as the electoral roll revision in Bihar, the Pahalgam terror attack, and Operation Sindoor. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh reacted to the AAP's announcement to quit the bloc and said that all parties of the alliance have been invited. 'I cannot say anything about that. All parties of the India Alliance have been invited. Those who want will come and those who stay separated will not come," he told news agency ANI. He reaffirmed the unity of the grouping and said that the prominent leaders of respective parties will meet online on Saturday and later hold an in-person meeting in the national capital. 'People would not be able to come to Delhi on Saturday due to different programmes. It has been decided that we will have an online meeting before the Parliament session. After that, we will meet in Delhi also," news agency PTI quoted Jairam as saying. view comments First Published: Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
