Ratan: happy holidays.
India plans expansion of maritime boundary
dawn.com
India is undertaking this project to stake its claim to seabed areas extending beyond its two million square kilometre economic zone.
India is the only country after Australia to undertake such a massive exercise to expand its sea boundary. -AFP
NEW DELHI, Nov 23: India has ambitious designs to mark and expand its
sea boundary by an additional one million square kilometres beyond its existing
economic zone.
Anil Mishra, joint secretary in the department of ocean development, said the
$12m dollar project would help India stake its claim to a continental shelf,
much beyond its present size.
"We will conduct extensive seismic surveys to study sediment deposits in the
Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean," said Mr Mishra.
"Two of India's biggest rivers - the Brahmaputra and the Ganges - have
created the thickest sediment deposits in the world on our eastern boundary.
We know this gives us a big continental shelf, but we will only know how big is
big after the seismic surveys," Mr Mishra said.
The survey, which began earlier this month, is expected to take more than a
year to complete.
The department of ocean development says India could gain up to one million
square kilometres of additional area in the adjoining seas after the delineation
of India's continental shelf is over.
Only a few countries such as India, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Britain,
Canada, Iceland, Ireland, Madagascar, Mexico, New Zealand and the United
States have continental shelfs that extend beyond 200 nautical miles.
The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea gives each country sovereignty
over 12 nautical miles of its territorial sea. This means a foreign ship needs
permission to sail in these territorial waters.
On the other hand, a country does not enjoy the same navigation rights in its
exclusive economic zone which stretches 200 nautical miles from the coastline.
"A country, however, gets exclusive access to resources like marine-life,
minerals and oil falling within its economic zone," said Mr Mishra.
"That is precisely why this seabed project will mean, a long- term strategic gain
for India. Our continental shelf will be for our exclusive use."
The government insists any expansion of India's sea boundary would not lead
to bitter wrangling with neighbours such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka or Pakistan.
"We will be staking our claim as per international procedures spelled out very
clearly by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to which all of
us our signatories.
"In the case of conflicting claims, the two countries simply split things down the
middle. India has never entered into a dispute with a neighbour regarding
maritime boundaries which we could not settle amicably," said Mishra. "There
is no reason to fight."
However, scientists here say India must stake its claim to the mineral and oil
rich continental shelf before any other country puts in a conflicting bid.
After ascertaining the outer reaches of its continental shelf, India will present its
case to the New York-based United Nations Commission on Limits of
Continental Shelf, which decides on such claims.
India is undertaking this project to stake its claim to seabed areas extending
beyond its two million square kilometre economic zone.
India is the only country after Australia to undertake such a massive exercise to
expand its sea boundary. -AFP |
