exercise ekatha for 16 December 2025

Exercise Ekatha 2025 Latest News

Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff (DCNS), Indian Navy, is on an official visit to Maldives to attend the closing ceremony of Ex Ekatha 2025.

About Exercise Ekatha 2025

• Established in 2017, Exercise Ekatha is an annual bilateral maritime exercise between the Indian Navy and the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF).
• It aims to enhance bilateral maritime cooperation, and 2025 marks its eighth edition.
• The exercise involved a series of professional interactions designed to boost interoperability and operational collaboration between the two navies. 
• Activities included technical and combat diving, boarding operations, firing drills, demolition and explosive handling, asymmetric warfare tactics, and special heli-borne operation drills.

Key Facts about Maldives

• It is an independent island country in the north-central Indian Ocean. 
• It consists of a chain of about 1,200 small coral islands and sandbanks (some 200 of which are inhabited), grouped in clusters, or atolls.
• It has a total land area of 298 sq.km. 
• It is Asia's smallest country by area. 
• However, the islands of the country are dispersed across about 90,000 sq.km. of the ocean.
• The country has no rivers or streams and the average elevation is under 2 meters, making it highly vulnerable to sea-level rise.
• Gan is the country's largest island.
• Formerly a British colony, the Maldives became an independent nation in 1965. 
• Capital: Male.
• Official language: Dhivehi (an Indo-European language); Arabic, Hindi, and English are also spoken.
• Religion: Islam is the state religion and plays a central role in national governance.
• Economy: Heavily dependent on tourism, along with fisheries and foreign aid.
• Form of Government: The 2008 Constitution defines a presidential system with direct elections for a maximum of two five-year terms.

Source: PIB