Ferry service from India to Sri Lanka resume
- October 15, 2023
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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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.