Kachchatheevu is a 30-square kilometre island in the Indian Ocean. Kachchatheevu was part of Sri Lanka’s Northern Province until it was ceded to the Indian in 1972. This union is set to be dissolved on 2 February 2018; when India and Sri Lanka will officially be re-uniting.
The island is connected to the main land by a narrow strip of land that is barely big enough for the Indian Navy to carry out its operations to protect the area. The security of Kachchatheevu has been a major source of tension between India and Sri Lanka.
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Kachchatheevu Island History
On Sunday 21 January 2002 there was a land reclamation project in the area of Kachchatheevu Island, situated near north-east Rameswaram. The island is historically important and presently houses Sri Lankan Navy establishments as well as Indian Naval Base at Trivandrum. This island again became an issue after India established a permanent naval facility on its new satellite created from submerged rocks close to the Tamil Nadu coast line (Mahinda Rajapaksa was a member of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party).
This new military facility by India is located in close proximity to Thondamuthurkal Rock. In December 2006, the Indian Defence Minister A.K Antony claimed that his government had alerted their neighbours -the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh- about this development and requested them to keep informed on incidents related with its construction as per BBC News report.
Climate
Kachchatheevu Island is a seismically active island close to the surface at Thondamuthurkal rock which can be an excellent staging point for sea powers wishing to launch air raids against Sri Lanka, Andaman and Nicobar Islands & Maldives. It has several natural harbors that sometimes have ports placed firmly on rocks allowing ships swift access through narrow channels
The previous decade following President Rajapaksa’s election in 2005; relations between India and Sri Lanka have improved considerably, as a result of the government’s decision to end the civil conflict. President Rajapaksa has made visits to New Delhi soon after he assumed office in 2005. An important bilateral development is also worth mentioning that this pair of islands was given its formal demarcation agreement along with Palk Strait at 26th May 2009 during Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s January 2009.
Culture
Functvous area in the north of Sri Lanka This seismic activity that also caters to submarines has been developing for past few years around a major block called Thondamuthurkal or Palaly (rock). Its vicinity houses schools, hospitals and several civilian infrastructres. The fisher people living here were active followers of the cults Dravidianworship, Devisim and Islamism/Sunnias im. This tsunami was a disastrous instance of the magnitude 9 earthquake on Dec 26, 2004 which took supremacy over north-western coast and caused catastrophic losses in here itself too, as well as elsewhere along with many fatalities all around India especially Tamil Nadu but also Odisha & Bihar where some rare attempts were made to help them out
Tourism
Horticulture, fruits and food is one touristic sector which has highly progressed in this part of the country after it was freed from several restrictions during Rajapaksa’s tenure.TNADS also conceived a new tagline for South Asia featuring Sri Lanka’s tourism potential but by mid-July 2009 discussions were dropped due to insufficient progress on important issues such as cheap air tickets enabling Indians to visit other countries that have less favourable exchange rates than the compensation paid by India for Jet Airways’ sick-leap earlier in April 2009.Tourism is undoubtedly developed from a fundamental segment, however there are other hidden profit generating which can be easily added to this sector such as medical tourism, excellent sea restaurants and fishing boats (both sailing & rowing), guiding about native flora/fauna too needs proper efforts.
Transport
Sri Lankan railway network is operated by the Sri Lanka Railways,which has a significant transformational drive from 61 km in 1988 to more than 4806.7 km/1163.3 miles as of 30 June 2009 and with total 2600 route km on its line system it is upgrading one stations per week under construction and realizing 3M passengers per day.Sri Lankans have nicknamed their country “Rota” which means safe , while they also praise their local trains and railway officials. Sri Lanka Railways have got ambitious projects on its way-rail loop of the country or a see-all island rail line to meander past all those special places along with track extension system which we can witness with our right eyes through photos clicking anywhere in Sri Lanka, even connected by two major seaports namely Trincomalee & Colombo port
Cuisine
Sri Lanka’s cuisine is based on locally grown and produced vegetables, nuts, fish and fruits. Rice is Sri Lankan’s staple with a wide range of flavors due to diverse land masses as well as climate conditions that produce variation in tastes across the country. The majority of Sri Lankans are vegetarians and special meals are prepared for Buddhist monks, Hindus and Christians. At home Sri Lankans prefer to use mangos and papaya over calabashes which are traditionally used alone when cooking.Sri Lanka’s Local produce: Fruit & Vegetable Produce :Fresh fruits & vegetables grown in the country include those banana chips (which is very popular on Sunday). Peppermint grows wild all across rural areas, the flowers of this plant have their roots.
Wildlife
The variety of flora and fauna stands out in Sri Lanka due to the diversity of its terrain. A combination of vegetation, climate and landscape has been responsible for a large number social life among animals as well as with humans which adapts local wildlife. The majority live within forests but maintain regular contact with forest changers who establish primary routes for managed access through their farms so that different species can thrive on their allotted land areas.The majority are either fed directly by the village people or bought in short supply. The winged members of this species is called as “a”.
Conclusion
During eating at a restaurant here in Colombo you can find a very good variety of food. You must try their traditional and local cuisines, but if you prefer an expat friendly or corporate menu the advantage is that there are different varieties for each taste i.e it will not only be one hot meal prepared per day; when you dine out with colleagues to work over some office affairs then this would also be perfect for my heart and reviews. Clocking into a regular office style official meal is great, but if you regularly dine along with your friends and colleagues after work hours then this could be the choice.
Imaginably go outside Sri Lanka they all have different foods so one or two to try out as pescatarian’s are easy available in Colombo; it even extends towards other countries of South Asia i.e Indians also enjoy Mughlai cuisine .
FAQs
1.What Is The Kachchatheevu Issue?
Ans: In this case Sri Lankan Tamils are fighting for their loyalty, identity and rights to independence. This is why they want separate statehood because the constitution of Sri Lanka does not provide any freedom or autonomy to an ethnic community. In fact it was triggered by a war between LTTE (Liberation Tigers) in 1980s ..
2.How Do I Get To Katchatheevu?
Ans: The nearest we get to katchatheevu is Vavuniya; it will break the four hours journey. However you may have to spend more time waiting for a flight or if not with your train ride taking over six magical and adventurous days passing through the track lines of Colombo – Trincomalee- Batticaloa- Ampara, Nadugamwewila on way outbound with Vaddukkodi as a sort of gateway, and Kankesanthurai as a back entrance to the island.
3.What Is It Like?
Ans: Kakatheevu according to locals its considered safe and peaceful place; here you can enjoy its serenity, tribal culture amongst lush greenery evergreen tropical wilderness with no city for miles! Despite being very close by but in another state so easily accessible may be different compared to Galle – more dodgy men.
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