India’s Coastline Grows by 3,500 km After Precise Mapping

India Coastline Expansion Latest News

• India’s coastline has increased by nearly 50%, not due to territorial expansion but because of more accurate recent measurements. 
• The number of offshore islands has also risen slightly following a reassessment and recount. While these changes hold administrative and strategic significance, they do not reflect any actual change on the ground.

India’s Coastline Now Measures 11,098 km

• India’s coastline has increased from 7,516 km to 11,098 km, a rise of 3,582 km (nearly 48%). 
• This change is due to improved measurement techniques, not territorial expansion.

From Low to High-Resolution Mapping

• The previous measurement used low-resolution data (scale 1:4,500,000), which missed fine land features.
• The new measurement used high-resolution data (scale 1:250,000), capturing more bends, curves, and irregularities, thereby increasing the measured length.

How Scale Affects Measurement

• Using a smaller-scale “ruler” (low resolution) smoothens out intricate details, showing straight lines where bends exist.
• High-resolution tools now map minute variations more precisely, thanks to modern GIS software, replacing older manual methods.

Inclusion of Offshore Islands

• Another contributor to the increase is the inclusion of many previously uncounted offshore islands, which were either invisible in older data or missed due to manual limitations.

Significance

• Though the actual land has not changed, the updated coastline data holds strategic and administrative value, improving mapping accuracy and planning for coastal development and security.

The Coastline Paradox: Why Lengths Keep Changing

• India’s new coastline measurement is more accurate but still not definitive. 
• This is due to the coastline paradox, which states that irregular natural features like coastlines have no fixed length, as the measured length increases with finer resolution.

Precision Changes Everything

• The more detailed the measurement (higher resolution), the longer the coastline appears. 
• Advancements in mapping technologies, such as GIS, lead to greater precision and thus a longer calculated length.

The Paradox Beyond Coastlines

• The coastline paradox applies to other natural features too, like river networks and mountain ranges. 
• For instance, river banks are irregular, but river lengths are typically calculated along the main stream, avoiding the same variability.

Periodic Reassessment Now a Norm

• Due to evolving technology and natural processes (like erosion and land reclamation), India has decided to recalculate its coastline every 10 years. 
• This aligns with practices in other countries to maintain updated and precise coastal data.

Implications

• The changing length has administrative, environmental, and strategic relevance, even if it doesn’t reflect a change in physical territory. 
• It emphasizes the importance of continuous monitoring and adaptive planning.

Island Counting: A Different Challenge

• Unlike coastlines, island counts don’t face measurement paradoxes, but they do suffer from classification ambiguities—such as whether a landmass submerged at high tide qualifies as an island.

Previous Discrepancies in Island Numbers

• In 2016, the Surveyor General of India listed 1,382 offshore islands, while state agencies, Coast Guard, and Navy reported a lower count of 1,334. 
• The difference arose due to varying definitions and criteria.

Standardisation and Updated Island Count

• A data reconciliation and standardisation exercise resolved these discrepancies. The final count is:
  • 1,298 offshore islands
  • 91 inshore islands
  • Total: 1,389 islands
• This count excludes river islands like those in Assam and West Bengal.

Why It Matters

• Standardising island counts has administrative, security, and environmental implications, especially for maritime boundaries, disaster planning, and coastal development.

Source: IE | WION

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