{"id":38964,"date":"2024-01-08T12:10:52","date_gmt":"2024-01-08T06:40:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=38964"},"modified":"2025-04-24T00:14:04","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T18:44:04","slug":"maldives-ministers-suspended","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/maldives-ministers-suspended\/","title":{"rendered":"Maldives govt suspends three ministers"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Why in news?<\/li>\n<li>Background:<\/li>\n<li>Lakshadweep<\/li>\n<li>Significance of Lakshadweep for India<\/li>\n<li>Dependency of Maldives on tourism<\/li>\n<li>Anti-India sentiments among a section of the Maldives\u2019 population<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Why in news?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Maldives government suspended three deputy ministers after they took to social media to make derogatory remarks against PM Modi.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Background<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Social media war\n<ul>\n<li>It all started with a series of posts on X from Indian Prime Minister, promoting tourism in Lakshadweep islands.<\/li>\n<li>Soon after PM Modi\u2019s post, some prominent Maldivian social media users responded to it with offensive, racist, xenophobic and derogatory comments.\n<ul>\n<li>These comments were targeted at Indians at large, as well as the Indian PM.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Among them were the three Maldivian Ministers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Accusation against India by the social media users of Maldives\n<ul>\n<li>Some Maldivian social media users began levelling accusations against India of attempting to compete with their country as a choice for a tropical vacation for travellers.<\/li>\n<li>These posts also instigated other social media users into posting a wide range of racist remarks against Indians and Indian tourists who travel to the Maldives.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Lakshadweep<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/media\/editor_images\/2024\/1\/8\/11\/39\/31\/659b919b4eb88905a5db21ab_OI.PNG\" alt=\"\" \/><\/li>\n<li>About\n<ul>\n<li>India\u2019s smallest Union Territory Lakshadweep is an archipelago consisting of 36 islands with an area of 32 sq km.<\/li>\n<li>It is a <u>uni-district UT<\/u> and is comprised of <u>12 atolls, three reefs, five submerged banks and ten inhabited islands<\/u>.<\/li>\n<li>The capital is Kavaratti and it is also the principal town of the UT.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Geographical location\n<ul>\n<li>It is located between 8\u00ba \u2013 12\u00ba 13\u2033 North latitude and 71\u00ba \u2013 74\u00ba East longitude, 220 to 440 Kms. away from the coastal city of Kochi in Kerala.\n<ul>\n<li>The maritime boundary between the <u>Maldives and Minicoy (India)<\/u> runs through the Eight Degree Channel.<\/li>\n<li>Nine Degree Channel separates <u>the island of Minicoy from the main Lakshadweep archipelago<\/u>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Coral Atolls\n<ul>\n<li>The islands are predominantly coral atolls, formed by coral reefs that surround a lagoon.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Demography\n<ul>\n<li>According to the 2011 Census, Lakshadweep has a population of 64429 persons.<\/li>\n<li>More than 93% of the population who are indigenous, are Muslims and majority of them belong to the Shafi School of the Sunni Sect.<\/li>\n<li>Malayalam is spoken in all the islands <u>except Minicoy<\/u> where people speak Mahl which is written in Divehi script and is spoken in Maldives also.<\/li>\n<li><u>The entire indigenous population has been classified as Scheduled Tribes<\/u>.\n<ul>\n<li>There are no Scheduled Castes in this Union Territory.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Climate\n<ul>\n<li>The climate of Lakshadweep is tropical, with a warm and humid climate throughout the year.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Significance of Lakshadweep for India<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Strategic Location\n<ul>\n<li>Its proximity to major international shipping routes enhances India&#8217;s strategic maritime influence.\n<ul>\n<li>Nine Degree Channel is the important passage for shipping between Middle East, Europe and Western Asia with Southeast Asia.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)\n<ul>\n<li>The islands contribute to India&#8217;s EEZ, granting the country rights over the exploration and use of marine resources in the surrounding waters.\n<ul>\n<li>Due to Maldives, India gets access to 20000 square kilometres of sea.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>This includes fisheries, oil and gas exploration, and other economic activities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Maritime Security\n<ul>\n<li>The Indian Navy and Coast Guard use the islands as a base.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Economic significance\n<ul>\n<li>The picturesque beauty of Lakshadweep makes it a significant tourist destination.<\/li>\n<li>The islands contribute to India&#8217;s overall fishery resources.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Biodiversity and Marine Life\n<ul>\n<li>The coral atolls and surrounding waters of Lakshadweep are home to diverse marine life, including coral reefs and various fish species.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Dependency of Maldives on tourism<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The <u>Maldives is heavily dependent on tourism and the industry accounts for over 28 percent of its GDP<\/u>.<\/li>\n<li>According to official figures by the Maldives\u2019 government, Indian tourists have consistently remained among the top ten nationalities who travel to the island every year.<\/li>\n<li><u>In 2023 alone, among the tourists who travelled to the Maldives, Indians formed the largest group of tourists with over 200,000 travellers<\/u>.\n<ul>\n<li>This was followed by tourists from Russia and China.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Anti-India sentiments among a section of the Maldives\u2019 population<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Sometime in 2020, the India Out campaign started as on-ground protests in the Maldives which later spread widely across social media platforms.<\/li>\n<li>By the second half of 2021, it had developed into an active and visible political campaign.<\/li>\n<li>The supporters of the campaign had claimed that it had been started to protest against what they called Indian military presence in the country.\n<ul>\n<li>They had actively targeted all aspects of India-Maldives bilateral relations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>In December 2023, on the sidelines of the COP28 climate summit, the President Muizzu said that India\u2019s government has agreed to withdraw its soldiers from the Maldives\n<ul>\n<li>These soldiers were in the country to <u>operate and manage two helicopters and a Dornier aircraft given to the Maldives by India<\/u>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Q1)\u00a0What is India Out campaign?<\/h3>\n<p>The &#8220;India Out&#8221; campaign is a foreign policy shift in the Maldives. The campaign comes after the Maldives formally requested India to withdraw its military presence from the country&#8217;s shores in December 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>Q2)\u00a0What is atoll?\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p>An atoll is a ring-shaped coral reef, island, or series of islets that surrounds a lagoon. Atolls can be made up of coral islands or cays.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/india\/maldives-statement-derogatory-remarks-action-narendra-modi-lakshadweep-visit-9098884\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Maldives govt suspends three ministers over derogatory remarks on PM Modi<\/u><\/a><u> | <\/u><a href=\"https:\/\/lakshadweep.gov.in\/about-lakshadweep\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>UT Administration of Lakshadweep<\/u><\/a><u> | <\/u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/international\/maldives-govt-distances-itself-from-derogatory-remarks-against-pm-modi-by-minister\/article67715983.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>The Hindu<\/u><\/a><u> | <\/u><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-global\/why-pm-modi-lakshadweep-maldives-social-media-9098823\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Indian Express<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>India\u2019s smallest UT Lakshadweep is an archipelago consisting of 36 islands with an area of 32 sq km.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":38965,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-38964","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}