Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take immediate steps for retrieving the Katchatheevu island from Sri Lanka to ensure permanent protection of the traditional fishing rights of the state’s fishermen in the Palk Bay area. Writing to PM Modi, MK Stalin cited the assembly resolution passed on April 2, 2025 seeking retrieval of Katchatheevu island from Sri Lanka, and underscored that the origin of the problem was the Indo-Sri Lankan treaty (Katchatheevu Agreement) of the year 1974. The government of Tamil Nadu has been steadfast in opposing the Katchatheevu agreement right from the beginning.
Katchatheevu Row Tamil Nadu Passes Resolution To Retrieve Island
Why In News
- Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take immediate steps for retrieving the Katchatheevu island from Sri Lanka to ensure permanent protection of the traditional fishing rights of the state’s fishermen in the Palk Bay area.
- Writing to PM Modi, MK Stalin cited the assembly resolution passed on April 2, 2025 seeking retrieval of Katchatheevu island from Sri Lanka, and underscored that the origin of the problem was the Indo-Sri Lankan treaty (Katchatheevu Agreement) of the year 1974. The government of Tamil Nadu has been steadfast in opposing the Katchatheevu agreement right from the beginning. The Members of Parliament from Tamil Nadu had strongly opposed the ceding of Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka in Parliament in 1974.
Katchatheevu Island
- Katchatheevu is an islet in the Palk Strait, roughly between Jaffna in Sri Lanka and Rameswaram in India. Since 1921, talks had been held between authorities of both the countries on rights over Katchatheevu.
- Tamil Nadu had always pointed out that the islet, before independence, had been under the Raja of Ramnad’s administration and that Tamil Nadu fishermen always had traditional fishing rights in that area.
- Katchatheevu – a strip of land spanning just about 1.9 sq km (0.7 sq miles) – is located in the Palk Strait, a stretch of ocean which divides India and Sri Lanka. It lies to the northeast to Rameswaram town in India’s Tamil Nadu state and to the southwest of Sri Lanka’s Jaffna city.
What Is The Row Over The Island About
- Eventually, in June 1974, the island was ceded to Sri Lanka by the Indian government when Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister. Agreements were signed on June 26 and 28, 1974 and on March 23, 1976.
- Though over 50 years have gone by since the ceding of the island, it continues to be a topic of debate since it involves the rights of fishermen and the innumerable instances of arrest, assault and deaths of fishermen all these years allegedly at the hands of Sri Lankan Navy and has been a cause of grief for Tamil Nadu.
What Is The Maritime Boundary Agreement 1974
- Fishermen of both countries have been fishing in each other’s waters without conflict for a very long time.
- The issue emerged when both the countries signed these Agreements in 1974-76.
- The 1974 agreement was to fix the maritime boundary in the Palk Strait.
- 1974 Agreement – Each country shall have sovereignty and exclusive jurisdiction and control over the waters, the islands, the continental shelf and the subsoil, falling on its own side of the aforesaid boundary.
- Only navigational rights of the vessels of both Sri Lanka and India over each other’s waters have been preserved.
- 1976 Agreement – Each Party shall respect rights of navigation through its territorial sea and exclusive economic zone in accordance with its laws and regulations and the rules of international law.
- It marked the international maritime boundary of India and Sri Lanka without consulting the Tamil Nadu State Assembly.
What Is The Conflict About
- Fish depletion – Indian fishermen continued trespassing the Sri Lankan water boundary, searching for better catch in the area.
- The problem turned serious when fish and aquatic life in the Indian continental shelf depleted.
- They are also using modern fishing trolleys which harm marine life and the ecosystem.
- Frequent arrests and killings – Sri Lankan authorities said that they are protecting their maritime boundaries against poaching, and securing the livelihood of Sri Lankan fishermen.
- Both sides ensure to not use force under any circumstances. However, the violent situation remains the same.
- In 2009, Sri Lanka started heavily guarding its maritime boundary in the Palk Strait to reduce the possibility of the return of Tamil insurgents in the country.
What Does CM Said
- CM said: “The frequent apprehensions of our fishermen and seizure of their boats in large numbers have put the lives of coastal community in a state of permanent anxiety and distress. The livelihood of the fishermen has also become uncertain due to the arrests and seizures. I have personally brought this issue to your notice for immediate intervention, during our first meeting on 17.06.2021 after my assumption of office as Chief Minister and also reiterated our earlier requests for a permanent solution of this issue in our subsequent meetings as well.
- Since 2021, I have also written many letters to the Minister for External Affairs and yourself on the arrests and attacks on Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy.” In the year 2024, 530 Indian fishermen have been arrested and in the first three months of the year 2025, 147 fishermen were apprehended by the Sri Lankan Navy.
- “Our fishermen are being sentenced to maximum imprisonment and are being levied hefty fines. Besides this, their boats are confiscated and put to auction. All these aggressive measures of Sri Lanka have pushed our fishermen to the brink of extreme poverty and reaffirms our repeated demand for retrieval of Katchatheevu, which is the only way to find a permanent solution to this problem.”
What Is Tamil Nadu’s Position On Katchatheevu Island
- In 1991, the Tamil Nadu Assembly adopted a resolution demanding the retrieval of Katchatheevu.
- In 2008, Tamil Nadu filed a petition in court saying Katchatheevu could not be ceded to another country without a constitutional amendment.
- In 2012, the State approached Supreme Court to expedite the issue in the wake of increasing arrests of Indian fishermen by Sri Lanka.
The case in the Supreme Court AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa and later, the DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi had filed petitions in the Supreme Court challenging the Centre’s ceding of Katchatheevu. - Over a decade ago, attorney general Mukul Rohatgi had told the Supreme Court that India may have to go to war to get back the island from Sri Lanka.
- Both the late Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi had cited the Supreme Court ruling in the Berubari Union case (1960) of a prior Parliamentary approval via a constitutional amendment for ceding of any territory to a foreign country.
