{"id":46390,"date":"2025-04-27T09:46:12","date_gmt":"2025-04-27T04:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=46390"},"modified":"2025-05-17T21:45:15","modified_gmt":"2025-05-17T16:15:15","slug":"india-expands-its-extended-continental-shelf-claim-in-the-arabian-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/india-expands-its-extended-continental-shelf-claim-in-the-arabian-sea\/","title":{"rendered":"India Expands its Extended Continental Shelf Claim in the Arabian Sea"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>What\u2019s in Today\u2019s Article?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>India\u2019s Maritime Boundary Dispute with Pakistan Latest News<\/li>\n<li>Background &#8211; Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and ECS<\/li>\n<li>India\u2019s Current Oceanic Claims<\/li>\n<li>Dispute with Pakistan and Sir Creek Issue<\/li>\n<li>India\u2019s Strategic Response &#8211; Modified and Partial Claims<\/li>\n<li>Overlap with Other Countries &#8211; Oman, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka<\/li>\n<li>India\u2019s Maritime Boundary Dispute with Pakistan FAQs<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>India\u2019s Maritime Boundary Dispute with Pakistan Latest News<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>India has expanded its Extended Continental Shelf (ECS) claim <strong>by nearly 10,000 sq km<\/strong> in the <strong>Central Arabian Sea<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>India has also <strong>modified earlier claims<\/strong> to avoid a long-standing maritime boundary dispute with Pakistan.<\/li>\n<li>Revised submissions were made in April 2025 to the <strong>United Nations&#8217; Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf<\/strong> (CLCS).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Background &#8211; Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and ECS<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>EEZ:<\/strong> Coastal countries have exclusive rights to mining, fishing, and resources up to 200 nautical miles from their baselines.<\/li>\n<li><strong>ECS:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Countries can <strong>claim additional seabed areas<\/strong> if they can <strong>scientifically prove it is a natural extension<\/strong> of their landmass to the CLCS.<\/li>\n<li>Rights include commercial mining of <strong>polymetallic nodules<\/strong>, oil reserves, and other valuable minerals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>India\u2019s Current Oceanic Claims<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>12 nautical miles:<\/strong> Territorial sea.<\/li>\n<li><strong>200 nautical miles:<\/strong> EEZ.<\/li>\n<li><strong>New extension:<\/strong> ~1.2 million sq km of ECS being added to ~2 million sq km EEZ.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Combined seabed and sub-seabed area:<\/strong> It would become almost equal to India&#8217;s land area of 3.274 million sq km.<\/li>\n<li><strong>India&#8217;s first submission to the CLCS: <\/strong>It was made in <strong>2009 <\/strong>covering the Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean, and Arabian Sea.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Dispute with Pakistan and Sir Creek Issue<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>In <strong>2021<\/strong>, Pakistan objected to India&#8217;s claims, citing an overlap of 100 nautical miles near the disputed Sir Creek region.\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Sir Creek<\/strong> is a disputed tidal estuary between Rann of Kutch in Gujarat and Sindh province (Pakistan).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>As a result, CLCS rejected India&#8217;s full claim in the Arabian Sea in March 2023.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>India\u2019s Strategic Response &#8211; Modified and Partial Claims<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>April 3, 2025: <\/strong>India submitted two partial claims to safeguard uncontested regions.\n<ul>\n<li>This approach avoids <strong>weakening India\u2019s position<\/strong> in the valuable Central Arabian Sea region.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Statement by M Ravichandran [Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES)]: \u201cWe have increased our claim by an additional 10,000 sq km based on new data.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Institutions of the MoES, such as the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (<strong>NCPOR, Goa<\/strong>), have played a key role in the technical aspects of determining India\u2019s continental shelf.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Overlap with Other Countries &#8211; Oman, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Oman: <\/strong>Overlaps exist but not under dispute due to a 2010 agreement.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Myanmar and Sri Lanka:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>India&#8217;s claims in the Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean (~300,000 sq km) face objections from Myanmar and Sri Lanka.<\/li>\n<li>CLCS will begin new consultations later this year on these claims.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>India\u2019s Maritime Boundary Dispute with Pakistan FAQs<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Q1. <\/strong>What is the significance of India&#8217;s extended continental shelf (ECS) claim in the Central Arabian Sea?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ans.<\/strong> The ECS claim enhances India&#8217;s sovereign rights over seabed resources like minerals and hydrocarbons, almost matching India&#8217;s land area and strengthening the Blue Economy.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q2.<\/strong> Why did India modify its original ECS claim in the Arabian Sea recently?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ans.<\/strong> India modified its claim to avoid overlap with the Pakistan-disputed Sir Creek region, ensuring uncontested areas in the Central Arabian Sea are secured.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q3.<\/strong> What role does the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) play in maritime boundary claims?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ans.<\/strong> The CLCS scientifically evaluates and recommends states&#8217; extended continental shelf claims beyond their EEZ based on geological and geomorphological evidence.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q4.<\/strong> Explain the Sir Creek dispute and its impact on India&#8217;s maritime boundary claims.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ans.<\/strong> The Sir Creek dispute between India and Pakistan over a tidal estuary led to Pakistan\u2019s objection and the CLCS\u2019s rejection of parts of India&#8217;s original Arabian Sea claim.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q5.<\/strong> Name the key institutions involved in supporting India&#8217;s technical claims for the extended continental shelf.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ans.<\/strong> The National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR) and the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) are leading institutions involved in India&#8217;s ECS submissions.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/india-skirts-maritime-border-dispute-with-pakistan-by-fresh-continental-shelf-claim\/article69493962.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">TH<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>India has expanded its Extended Continental Shelf (ECS) claim, and has modified earlier claims to avoid a long-standing maritime boundary dispute with Pakistan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":46391,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-46390","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\/46390","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=46390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}