Ferry service from India to Sri Lanka resume

Subject: International Relations

Section: Places in news

Context: Ferry service from India to Sri Lanka resumed after 40 years.

More about the news:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe inaugurated a ferry service between India and Sri Lanka, reviving a connection that had been canceled due to the civil war.
The ferry runs between Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu and Kankesanthurai in Sri Lanka’s Jaffna, strengthening cultural and historical ties.
The leaders also discussed potential collaborations in fintech, energy, and digital payments.
The service aims to enhance people-to-people contacts, promote regional connectivity, and boost tourism, covering a 60-nautical mile journey in approximately 3.5 hours.
The service will be operated by the Shipping Corporation of India.

Some facts about Palk Strait:

It is a strait that lies between the Tamil Nadu state of India and the island nation of Sri Lanka.
The strait is named after Robert Palk, who was a governor of Madras Presidency (1755-1763) during the British Raj period.
It is bounded on the south by Pamban Island (India), Adam’s (Rama’s) Bridge (a chain of shoals), the Gulf of Mannar, and Mannar Island (Sri Lanka).
It connects the Bay of Bengal in the northeast with the Gulf of Mannar in the southwest.
The southwestern portion of the strait is also called Palk Bay.
The strait is 40 to 85 miles wide, 85 miles long, and less than 330 feet deep.
Several rivers flow into it, including the Vaigai River of Tamil Nadu.
The port of Jaffna, the commercial center for northern Sri Lanka, lies on the strait.