Key Points
It seems like everyday business with the smell of salty sea water and fish at the boat jetty in Tamil Nadus Rameshwaram but there is a new spirited chatter here on Katchatheevu island only about 16 nautical miles from this point which has come into focus after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a fortnight before Tamil Nadu goes to polls on April 19, blamed the Congress and Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (then led by Indira Gaandhi and M Karunanidhi, respectively) for ceding the Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka in 1974.o)..
Edison Aruldas, who was born the same year when the island was ceded, accompanies his father on the boat to fish across Katchatheevu since he was six years old..
They want their current issues to be solved from retrieving the rights of Indian fishermen to fish in Katchatheevu to bringing back arrested fishermen and detained boats to reducing the cost of diesel prices..
They want to access the island to dry their fishing nets and halt for repair work which is promised under article 5 of the 1974 agreement to determine the boundary line between India and Sri Lanka in the presence of late prime minister Indira Gandhi and her Sri Lankan counterpart Sirimavo Bandaranayake..
The fishermen say that the Indian side doesnt have much fish and they are forced to go past Katchatheevu and the Indian Maritime Border Line (IMBL which is 12 nautical miles from this point) for fish which leads to their arrest by the island nation..
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