save arabian seas

8/3/2019 SAVE ARABIAN SEAS

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53-B, Calve Subburayar Street, Puducherry 605001 India

Tel:0413-2221025 Web: www.dravidaperavai.org.in Email :[email protected]

Honble Chief Minister of Kerala19.10.2011

Thiru.Ooman Chandi

Tiruvananthapuram

Respected Chief Minister

Subject: Need to safeguard Arabian Sea-Indian Ocean-Bay of Bengal from Chinese encirclement of India, expansionism toindulge in sea floor mining and plans to dominate sea lanesconnecting Saudi to China through oil pipelines beneath our seasand to awaken vigilance towards Indias security and national interests through Government of Kerala regarding.

Let me alert the Government of Kerala about the volcanic chains inArabian Sea and Bay of Bengal where mining for oil, natural gas andminerals by Indian corporate and Chinese counterparts is on the anvil.

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http://www.dravidaperavai.org.in/mailto:[email protected]://www.dravidaperavai.org.in/mailto:[email protected]


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Let me bring to your notice that The International Seabed Authority incollaboration with the Government of Fiji and the Secretariat of the PacificCommunity (SPC) SOPAC Division is organizing an International Workshopon Environmental Management Needs for Exploration and Exploitation of Deep Sea Minerals, to be held in Nadi, Fiji Islands from 29 November to 2

December 2011. Let coastal states of South India like Tamilnadu, Kerala hereafter paymore attention to such workshops and debate the impact of deep seamining off shore of respective states. Our appeal is to all Chief Ministers of Coastal states not to leave these workshops or activities of leasing out of our adjacent seas by International Seabed Authority as the domain of Indian foreign service bureaucrats of Union Government ministries. Theafter effects of deep sea mining will be borne by the people of coastal states and as their chosen representatives these Chief

Ministers and politicians of these coastal states have to keep vigilon International Seabed Authority and countries like China whichhave dreams to become world power cutting down India to size inorder to gain supremacy over India .

This workshop takes place in the aftermath of The International Seabed Authority approving the application from the China OceanMineral Resources Research and Development Association(COMRA) to explore an area of the ridge for 15 years, coveringabout 10,000 square kilometers , on July 22 of 2011 .

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Chinas approval for conducting exploration activities in the SouthwestIndian Ridge is the countrys second such area with exclusive rights,following the 75,000 square kilometer poly metallic nodule ore deposit inthe east Pacific Ocean, which was licensed in 2001.

India, however, has become highly alarmed by this development, fearingthat Beijing may use the exploration permit granted by the ISA as anexcuse to operate their warships in the Indian Ocean an area seen inIndia as clearly within its sphere of influence . Reports in India say thatthe countrys Directorate of Naval Intelligence has given awarning note to related defense departments.

In the mid 1950s the oceans came under the freedom-of-the-sea doctrine a 17th century principle that limited national rights and jurisdiction over

the oceans to a narrow belt of sea surrounding a nations coastline. TheUnited Nations convened three conferences on the Law of the Seaproducing four conventions dealing respectively with theterritorial sea and the contiguous zone, the high seas, fishing andconservation of living resources in the high seas and thecontinental shelf.

In 1970 after years of intensive efforts, the UN Assembly unanimouslydeclared the seabed and ocean floor beyond the limits of national

jurisdiction to be the common heritage of mankind and convened a

conference in 1973 which would lead to establishing the InternationalSeabed Authority to organize and control all activities in the Area with aview to administering resources. It is from this Authority China had wonapproval to mine in Indian Ocean.

The current areas of Chinese exploration are within the Clarion-ClippertonZone (CCZ) in the Equatorial North Pacific Ocean and the Central IndianBasin in the Indian Ocean.

Here it is pertinent to point to the Government of Kerala that China

plans to bring oil through pipelines beneath Arabian Sea and Indian Oceanencircling India and to reach Hampanthotta harbor it has built in SouthernSrilanka facing Indian Ocean. From there the current sea-lane where itbrings oil through shipping vessels reaches South China Seas. China plansthe oil pipeline to reach Yangoon in Myanmar. Then through vessels orpipelines in River Iravadhi it would reach the nearest point to China.

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Picture of Oil Shipping lanes and Chinas security posts called as String of Pearls.

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Proposed oil pipeline through Myanmar to reach Chinas Yunnan province.China's largest oil firm and parent company of PetroChina will build andoperate the pipeline whose construction is due to finish in 2013.The Sino-Myanmar oil and gas pipeline starts at Kyaukryu port on the west coast of Myanmar and enters China at Yunnan's border city of Ruili. The 2,380-kmlong oil pipeline will end in Kunming City, capital of Yunnan. It is expectedto carry 22 million tonnes of crude oil per annum to China from the MiddleEast and Africa.

The natural gas pipeline will be even longer, running from Kunming intoGuizhou Province and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in southChina for a total length of 2,806 km. It is expected to transport 12 billioncubic meters of gas to China every year. The project is the fourth wayfor oil and natural gas to enter China, after ocean shipping, theSino-Kazakhstan pipelines and the Sino-Russian crude oilpipeline .

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The oil pipeline saves 1,200 km of shipping. It will reduce China's relianceon the Straits of Malacca for oil imports.

As inter-link between Bay of Bengal and South China Seas TENTHDEGREE CANAL was mooted to avoid traffic congestion in MalaccaStraits.

August 15 th 2003, from Pondicherry Dravida Peravai wrote a letter to theLt.Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Mr.N.N.Jha on the need to dig acanal in Thailand connecting Bay of Bengal and Gulf of Siam. It also urgedthat such Indo-Thailand joint venture be named as Thamizhan Calvaay.(Daily Thanthi 15.08.2003). Then Dinamani dated 28.08.2003 stated thata memorandum for construction of a " New Canal for benefiting Chennaiand Tuticurin Harbors had been handed over to the Union Minister of State for External Affairs Mr.Digvijay Singh. Mr.Singh lauded this projectwhich will reduce 1500 nautical miles to reach South China Seas.

Dravida Peravai also sent Memorandums to Indian Prime MinisterAtal Bihari Vajpayee and Thailand Prime Minister ThakashinShinawatra on 3.11.2003.

The contents of that memorandum are given here .

Dear Respected Prime Ministers

You may be aware that the Suez Canal (1869) and Panama Canal (1915),Sethusamudram Canal (1860) and the Tenth degree canal have been

mooted to create short navigational routes to bring prosperity torespective regions and countries. The French initiative to build Siene-

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Norde Canal is an example for the keen interest evinced by developedcountries to promote trade and overall development. Since the recent visitof The Indian Prime Minister had given tremendous boost to thecooperation between India and Thailand, Dravida Peravai is bringing to

your knowledge certain historical facts with the humble request to youboth to take an active interest for the construction of the Tenth DegreeCanal, which can bring prosperity to Andaman and Nicobar islands of Indiaand Thailand apart from boosting bilateral trade.

You must go back to the pages of history to know that Thailand thenknown as Siam is an enemy country of the British and an ally of the Japanduring the World War II. On the conclusion of the Second World War one of the last secretive acts performed by the colonial Government of India wasthe signing of a Peace Treaty with Siam [Thailand]. A Peace Treaty

between Her Majesty's Government and the Government of India on onehand and the Kingdom of Siam on the other on January 1, 1946 wassigned at the Government House Singapore. The signatories were for theBritain Mr. Moberly Dening, political adviser of Lord Louis Mount batten forthe Government of India M, S.Aney AND for Siam Prince Viwat Anajai

Jaiyant, Lt.General Phya Abhai Songramm and Nai Serm Vinichayakul. Thistreaty contains 24 articles. Out of this Article 7 assumes great importancein context of this letter.

Article 7: Siam undertakes to construct NO CANAL linking theIndian Ocean and Gulf of Siam [i.e. across the Kra of Isthmus]without British consent. [Keesings Contemporary Archives 1946-47 Vol VI p 7695].

This article had done great havoc to Indian shipping costing our nationbillions of extra money by way of fuel imports, in view of shelving of the

Tenth Degree Canal by imposing a condition in the Peace Treaty. It hasalso blocked the economic prosperity of Thailand and held up thedevelopment process by half a century and more.

Hence Dravida Peravai urges the Government of India and Government of Thailand to look into the unfavorable condition imposed by a colonial rulethat too on a defeated country in World War II. It is in the interests of Indiaand Thailand that a Canal be cut across the Isthmus of Kra where Isthmusnarrows to just 75 miles and to develop this canal vigorously so that adetour of 1500 nautical miles down the Malayan coast via Straits of Malacca and up the Gulf of Thailand in the South China Sea is avoided.

The proposed tenth degree canal will be an extension of the tenth degree

channel of Andaman Nicobar islands. The opening of Tenth Degree canal

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will save millions of tons of fuel for world shipping. Tenth Degree Canalwill reduce the importance of Panama and Suez Canals.

Tenth Degree Canal would develop Andaman and Nicobar islands andbring prosperity to its economy. The opening of this canal will also benefitIndian Ports like Haldia, Paradip, Vizag, Chennai and Tuticorin.There aremore than 138 minor and intermediary ports under the control of variousstate governments in India.

If Indian Government creates a National Seaway Authority and permitsprivate sector vessels to transport cargo and passengers connecting allIndian ports, these 138 minor and intermediary ports which are inoperablewill be busting with activity.................So continues the memorandum.

It must be noted that Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee spokeabout "Sagarmala" scheme which is nothing but National Seaway mootedby Dravida Peravai before Planning Commission and other forums.

N.Nandhivarman General Secretary

[2011 : India did not act but China got this 10th degree Canal Project in Thailand. Our bureaucrats have no patriotism in their blood, their lethargy gives our enemy nations to progress at out cost, creating security concerns for us]

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Srilankan President Rajapakshe had allotted one block for China andone block for India out of 8 blocks in its zone. And he had announced inOctober 3 rd of 2011 that Cairn {India] Limited had found natural gas below1354 meter depth in Gulf of Mannar. Gulf of Mannar starts from Adamsbridge and extends up to Lakshadeep. This has brought China into Bay of Bengal and particularly Gulf of Mannar which extends up to Lakshadeep.

Hardly a fortnight after Cairn India moved into Sri Lanka to drill the depthsof the Gulf of Mannar, a team from Russian oil major Gazprom arrived.Gazprom is one of the world's largest energy companies. Its majorbusiness lines are geological exploration, production, transportation,storage, processing and marketing of hydrocarbons as well as generationand marketing of heat and electric power.

Srilanka had said that it eyes on 30,000 square kilometersbeginning from Gulf of Mannar in Bay of Bengal up toLakhshadeep in Kerala coast for oil exploration. After thisstatement only we Tamils understood why Srilanka on almostdaily basis is harassing and killing Indian Tamil fishermen fromsouthern districts of Tamilnadu.

The dispute is not over fishing boundary, the real motive is todrive out all fishermen from fishing activity and to hand over Bay

of Bengal to oil companies of India, China and others waiting tograb oil blocks in tender.10


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Bay of Bengal had been divided into 33 blocks and Reliance obtained 23blocks and later British Petroleum joined the venture. Originally publicsector undertaking ONGC had explored and found oil/gas reserves andwanted to take British Petroleum as partner, but Government of India didnot grant approval. British Petroleum had proposed in 2005-2006 topartner ONGC in three of its deep sea blocks off East and West coast of India. British Petroleum made formal proposal to take 40-50 percent stakein ONGC allocated Krishna-Godavari oil block and Gujarat-Kutch basin oilblock. But Oil Ministry and Directorate of Hydrocarbon rejected it, becausebabus there wanted private sector to prosper. Similarly ONGC in August-September of 2007 proposed to give 15 percent stake in KG-DWN-98-2 oilblock to Brazils oil giant Petrobras and 10 percent stake to Norways oilmajor Statoil Hydro. Oil Ministry did not approve this for a year and bothoil giants went back. It shows how officials scuttle public sectorundertakings and promote private sector. Comptroller and Auditor Generalof India too had indicted that the more capital intensive the project, thelower governments share of profits in petroleum. Oil exploration blocksgranted to Reliance which controls 90 percent of area in Bay of Bengal

Hoping to set up refineries and other industries to process oil and otherminerals mined in deep sea, corporate sector had started to grab

beaches. Our people thought for tourism and for real estate beach frontsare being bought and got, but Andhra Pradesh incident woke us from

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slumber. Out of total Andhra coast of 975 kilometers 348kilometers of beach front had been given to private corporatesector. A secret note of Union Shipping Ministry brought out thisgrab to light . One fine day in the beginning of this year at Ministry of

Shipping under Union Minister G.K.Vasan there was a meeting todeliberate on setting up a harbor cum ship building yard in the Andhracoast. It was to be a joint venture between Visakapatnam Port Trust,Cochin Ship Building Yard and Union Ministry of Shipping. In that meetingthe Principal Secretary for Infrastructure and Investments in AndhraPradesh Government claimed it wont be a problem to identify 5000 acresof beach front land in Andhra coast for setting up this project. While forthe new project they were hunting to locate 5000 acres the Union Ministryof Shipping was shocked to find out that 348 kilometers of beach frontland had been given to Krishnapatnam, Machilipatnam and Vanpic privateports.

Vishakapatnam harbor occupies 15.3 kilometer of beach front and oldestChennai harbor has only 10.6 kilometers for its purpose whereas threeprivate ports have been given 348 kilometers out of total Andhra coast of 975 kilometers. Yes private parties have captured one third of Andhracoast.

Definitely this port exclusive zone is not for port purposes only, it is forprocessing exploits from our seas. In Tamilnadu for every powerproject one captive port had been given resulting in Tamilnaduhaving ports in every 30 kilometer. Fishermen to vacate beachesand Corporate to grab beaches is what I wrote in a local Tamilweekly Manasatchi, which is in the CD given to you now. SAVEOUR SEAS, we in EAST COAST are demanding, hope in WESTCOAST Kerala aborts corporate conspiracy before it is too late.

All our Riverbasins from Indus to Cauvery had been identifiedas potential areas for shale gas. Our memorandum to Tamilnadu

Chief Minister which is in the CD, prays for Saving our Seas andRiver basins. My article in Manasatchi which is in the CD, highlights thatboth Nagapattinam District of Tamilnadu and Karaikal of UT of Puducherryhad been identified as areas of shale gas, and the danger of oil companiestaking over both districts looms large .

Fertile Cauvery basin and its farmers had to give up farming myarticle forewarns. Hence the need of the hour is to remind the callLand for Tillers Sea for Fishermen once again.

Hydrocarbon rich Bay of Bengal seems to be emerging as anothercentre of oil politics. This was recently manifested by a standoff between12


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Myanmar and Bangladesh, when Dhaka sent three naval vessels to stopMyanmar from conducting exploration activities in their disputed ExclusiveEconomic Zones (EEZs). The crisis has since been diffused, though it is farfrom over.

Myanmar and India have made major discoveries of oil and gas in the Bay,and Bangladesh is feeling left out of all this action. Probably because of confidence that existing gas resources would meet its needs for decades,Dhaka had felt that there was no need to explore for new gas and oilfields. The lack of interest could also be because of the lack of necessarytechnology and capital within the country. At the same time, there wasunwillingness to collaborate with foreign companies because of thewidespread feeling that multinational companies were overcharging forexploring hydrocarbon.

Subsequently, however, Bangladesh has felt compelled to move on thisfront since its existing gas reserves have proved smaller than anticipated.

The country currently produces 1,750 million cubic feet of gas a day(mmcfd) and faces a shortage of nearly 200 mmcfd for daily domesticconsumption. But multinational companies have lost interest inexploring gas, given Bangladeshs reluctance to allow them tosell gas to India the nearest large market . As a result, there havebeen no new gas field discoveries since the 1990s. And now in the wake of the Indian and Myanmar successes in finding oil and gas resources, Dhakais hurrying to engage in exploration of its own in the Bay of Bengal. Thechanging energy scene in the Bay of Bengal and the shortage of gaswithin the country prompted Bangladesh to divide its territorial watersinto 28 blocks, which it auctioned off in January 2008. According toestimates provided by British Petroleum, Myanmar has 21.19 trillion cubicfeet of gas reserves or 0.3 per cent of the world's total, while Bangladeshhas 13.77 trillion cubic feet or 0.2 per cent of the world total at the end of 2007. Much of this is located in the Bay of Bengal. Bangladesh hasdisputes over territorial waters in the Bay with both India and Myanmar.International Law grants every country an EEZ of 200 nautical milesextending from its coast. However, given that the coasts of Bangladesh, India and Myanmar in the Bay follow a curve, there isoverlap of the EEZs of the three countries, leading todisagreement on where exactly their respective maritime bordersfall . Under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), India andMyanmar have to delimit their maritime borders and file their claims withthe United Nations before June 29 and May 21, 2009 respectively, whileBangladesh had to do this before July 27, 2011.

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Efforts have been made since 2004 to sort out this dispute over EEZs, butwithout any success so far. In their last meeting, both Myanmar andBangladesh agreed that they would not carry out any exploration indisputed territory.

But Bangladesh broke this agreement, which led to Myanmarauction off a block (AD-7) to the South Korean company Daewoo,which began exploration work in September 2008 . In response,Bangladesh sent three naval ships on November 2, 2008 to stop thisactivity. At the same time, it also launched a multi-pronged diplomaticeffort. Bangladesh approached China and requested it to persuadeMyanmar to stop exploration, and at the same time also requested theSouth Korean government to convince Daewoo to stop work.

From the Indian perspective, a most important aspect of thiscrisis is the key role that China seems to have played.Bangladesh sought to influence the Myanmar government through Beijing. It did not bother to even consult India, probably because it has a similar dispute over its maritime borders withIndia as well. But the fact remains that China is quietly stealing amarch over India in its own backyard .

KERALA

The geophysical field team of the ONGC found traces of oil in Kerala-Konkan basin as early as 1977.ONGC employed the service of Geo-searcher, a Norwegian seismic-survey ship, to find evidence of oil in theKK basin, located 55-nautical miles (102 Km) off the Kochi shore. Laterthat year, another survey ship owned by a London based companyconducted a comprehensive survey of the Kerala coast. The ship mappedsea floor from the Kochi coast to Ponnani. In 2008, Norsecot,commissioned by ONGC began experimental drilling off the Kochi coast.

A floater type energy driller rig, capable of reaching 3500 meters into the

sea was employed. In 2009, there were unconfirmed reports that the teamhad struck gold. The exploration was reported to have found traces of hydro carbons at a depth of 1500 meter.

The war for the Continental shelfs in Arabian Sea & Bay of Bengal

There is oil in the Bay of Bengal and the evidence of Methane gas in theShale treasures of the Arabian Sea point to rich deposits of Carbon basedriches on the shorelines of Pakistan. Bangladesh, Myanmar and Pakistanare stuck in protracted stalemates on resolving the issues of the law of

the sea. Indias claim over 300,000 sq. km of seabed in the Bay of Bengal that could potentially have large hydrocarbon reserves is14


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being disputed by its eastern neighbours Myanmar andBangladesh.

Myanmar,in 4 August 2009 letter to the United Nations (UN), hascomplained that India has unilaterally extended the maritime boundarybetween the two countries, contravening a 1986 bilateral agreement. Acopy of the letter is available on the UN website.

The maritime boundary between nations is an important reference pointfor establishing claims over untapped oil and gas, and mineral wealth incontinental shelves. A continental shelf is the relatively shallowseabed surrounding a continent that could, in many instances,extend beyond a countrys exclusive economic zone, defined bythe UN as a sea area within 200 nautical miles (360km) from the

shore .The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea permits countries toclaim continental shelf regions beyond the exclusive economic

zone (giving exclusive fishing and mining rights), provided they can back it up with scientific data. On 12 May 2009, India staked claim to large swathes of seabed under the Arabian Sea and theBay of Bengal, which a government scientist involved with thesurvey process pegged at approximately 0.6 million sq. km of continental shelf .

The Bay of Bengal is not the only Continental Shelf that is beingcontested. The Arabian Sea is also being contested. Sir Creek makes ahuge difference in the number of Nautical miles which come under thecontrol of Pakistan or Bharat.

Northwestern branch of the Indian Ocean, covering 3,859,000 sqkm/1,489,970 sq mi, with India to the east, Pakistan and Iran to the north,and the Arabian Peninsula and Somalia to the west. It is linked with theRed Sea via the Gulf of Aden, and with the Gulf via the Gulf of Oman. Its

depth is 2,730 m/8,956 ft. The chief river flowing into the Arabian Sea isthe Indus, which is linked with a large submarine canyon in thecontinental shelf. The sea is rich in fish.

Chinese released a guideline on the oceanic science and technologydevelopment between 2011 and 2015, vowing to invest more to boost thecountry's maritime economy. China is the fifth country to send a man3,500 meters below sea level, following the United States, France, Russiaand Japan.

In our opinion, each country should think carefully of consequences ocean mining will have on the environment.15


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Regarding who should share the profit, I think that both rich andpoor countries should have the same rights. Those rights shouldbe set by the International Law and everybody should respectthat agreement .

CHINA : THORN TO INDIAs EXISTENCE

Indias foreign policy makers must watch the Chinese moves in each andevery issue in international arena. China had been for years scheming tobecome the sole Super Power of Asia. Nothing wrong in any nation toaspire for higher status, but that status when it tends to downsize India, itis our duty to counter Chinese dragon.

The handing over of Coco island by the Indian foreign policy experts of seventies to Myanmar had paved way for China obtaining it in lease fromMyanmar and to build a harbour apart from installing Russian made radarsand satellites to spy on Indian Missile programme operated from Orissa, astate of India just facing Coco islands in the west of the Bay of Bengal.Sitting entrenched in Eastern side of Bay of Bengal that too just 40nautical miles away from Indian Territory of Andaman Nicobar islands,China had established its access and control over Bay of Bengal.

The intelligent foreign policy experts who had no broad vision hadopened the gateway of Bay of Bengal to the Chinese dragon .

But the threats from China are not only in our border buteverywhere. Unless India watches every move of China, we willfail in our patriotic duty to preserve our nation and its statusamong comity of nations .

India and China are now members of the Financial Stability Board, theapex institution to monitor global risks of financial crisis. Their voting

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shares in the International Monetary Fund will also be slightly increasedthrough an accelerated quota reform process. However post-reform theUSA will retain its de-facto veto power with a 17 percent share and the US,EU and Japan will control 53 percent of IMF shares. Individually the shares

of US, UK, France and Japan will still be larger than Chinas share of fewerthan 4 percent. Hence China had planned a new offensive according toProfessor of National Institute of Public Finance and Policy Mr.SudiptoMundle.

Zhou Xiaochuan, Governor of the Chinese Central Bank had in pastsuggested that dollar should be replaced with SDRs as the new reservecurrency. The huge dollar reserves held by Central Banks and other globalinvestors would be severely eroded if the dollar were to suddenlydepreciate. Yet these investors cannot easily diversify away from the

dollar since this itself would trigger dollar depreciation. The Chinese areparticularly concerned, an estimated 1 trillion dollars of their totalreserves of around 2 trillion are held in dollar asset. The SDR exchangerate is a weighted average of exchange rates of the major convertiblecurrencies. Accordingly under Zhous proposals, China and other countriescould convert their reserves from dollars to SDRs at current exchangerates without any erosion in their value. Implementing such a proposalwould also mark the end of the dollar as reserve currency. This is thegame plan of China which has let the cat out of its bag.

If China launches SDR missiles to strike at the Dollar regime,India had to toe Chinese line, if Indo-China-Srilanka partnershipto ethnic cleansing of Tamils is a forerunner to such cooperation .

USA realizing the Chinese designs had been urging India to sign End-useMonitoring Agreement, Communications Interoperability and SecurityMemorandum agreement, and Logistics Support Agreement. China causesgrave concern for USA, hence USA urges India to sign these pacts. Chinahad become emboldened to say to USA to concentrate on western Pacific

and China will look after eastern Pacific. Pacific Command Chief Admiral Timothy J Keating had recently exposed this game.

Are we with USA or are we with China? Is USA a grave danger tothe territorial integrity of India or is China, the aggressor whoclaims our Indian State of Arunachal Pradesh will be a threat withhigh magnitude ?

China had encircled India with tie-ups starting from Myanmar to Srilanka,Maldives to Pakistan and Bangladesh. With harbours in all these countries

carefully built from 1990, China had acquired a might India cannotchallenge. If China could suggest to USA to divide Pacific Ocean as17


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eastern zone and western zone between them, will it not say toIndia confine to your coast in Bay of Bengal and from Myanmar China will control half of Bay of Bengal?

Will not China with harbours in Pakistan and Maldives suffocateIndian presence in Arabic Ocean? Sitting in Srilankas southern tipChina could block passage to Bay of Bengal and from Myanmarcontrol Malacca Straits. Each and every step China plans is toestablish it as Super power of Asia . It is the neo-colonial power whichwill colonize Myanmar and Srilanka. In Indian state of Bihar, the influx of Chinese women to marry Indians born in Buddhas land is silentlyestablishing a Chino-Indian population like early Anglo-Indians.

Chinese products are flooding India, and in my face-book one

friend wrote at this rate China will prepare Tirunelveli halwacheaper than in Tirunelveli and sell in India.

Our foreign policy must be debated in Indian Parliament. Fewindividuals should not decide the foreign policy of a continent likeIndia with 100 crore population .

Ours is Indian Union, though it became unitary due to the traumaof partition, it must be borne that Indian States have a right toshape Indias foreign policy .

Consensus can emerge in our National Integration Council, debates inParliament can offer constructive course corrections, and Cabinet shouldnot be bypassed, few people should not be shouldered with craftingnations foreign policy, however super brains they may be. But seeing howChina had outwitted us by encircling India, and within India opening a Redcorridor from Nepal to Andhra Pradesh where Maoists rule the roost, itbecomes evident that China wants India again to become a colony.

N.Nandhivarman, General Secretary, Dravida Peravai

Borders and Boundaries: Follies galore

India must publish maps showing Tibet as independent country underoccupation of Chinese. Only then Chinese maps on Jammu and Kashmircould be countered effectively. There is a Tibetan Government in exilewithin Indian soil and we are within our right to declare Tibet as disputedarea which belong to Tibetan people. Having said the way to counterChinese moves, as impassionate observer of history let me share mythoughts with readers and invite a debate. The maps of 1930 show Indian

border in North East sector, which is McMahon line between Indias Assamand Tibet region as Boundary Un-demarcated. In Northwest, North sectors18


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[from Kashmir Ladakh to Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh it was inscribedas boundary undefined. Miss Dorothy Woodman in her book HimalayanFrontiers in 1969 wrote, The innumerable discrepancies on maps mightlead to the most nave student of cartography to the view that the devil

can quote maps to serve its own purpose. The discrepancies in maps area disease infecting both sides.

In Indian side as per eminent parliamentarian and scholar Kuldip Nayyar The Government itself with drew several official maps and books whichdid not indicate meticulously a curve here or a bend there or which leftthe boundary undefined. Many maps of the Survey of India and the booksof Publications Division were withdrawn, and there was a circular sent toreturn all such materials [Between the Lines p 137-138]. SimilarlyChinese Premier Chouen-lai made it clear in April 1955 during Bandung

Conference, that Chinas borders with neighbouring countries had not yetbeen fixed.

BANGLADESH BORDERS:

The legacy of past not only haunts India and China, it also hurts India andBangladesh. There are 111 Indian enclaves in Bangladesh and 51Bangladesh enclaves in India. The legacy of high stake card gamesbetween two kings, rulers of Cooch Bihar and Rangpur within old BengalState centuries ago where they used estates as stakes when they ran out

of cash, resulted in our nation having Bangladesh enclaves andBangladesh having our enclaves.The sudden raking up of a claim overArunachal Pradesh by China had created heartburns amidst Indian people.But whatever China does aims to cut India down to size and todwarf India as super power, eating into its geo-political spheresof influence.

BUREAUCRATIC BLUNDERS

India had spent crores of public money to safeguard our borders;

thousands of our brave men have given their lives to secure our borders. The War with our neighbour is not a footnote in history, but a chapter of sacrifice made by our army men.The Indian Army only needed a nod fromIndian Prime Minister at a crucial period of Indian history to drive Pakistanout of Kashmir. The Indian Home Minister Sardar Vallabai Patel was urgingIndian Prime Minister to give green signal to our Army Chief Major GeneralKariappa to secure Hyderabad and Kashmir at one go. While Pandit

Jawaharlal Nehru consented for army intervention in Hyderabad, which fellfor Indian army in a day, hesitated to give his consent with regard to

Kashmir. This indecision resulted in ever bleeding never-ending Kashmirdispute between India and Pakistan. It is not treason to look back at19


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history. This today BJP claims that nation had paid heavy price for Nehrusfolly.

Similarly it is not a sin to pin point the blunders committed by ourbureaucrats. Only politicians are portrayed as villains but bureaucratsenjoy immunity. This is bad practice. While workforce of the country, thereal masters in a democracy are subjected a hire and fire policy, why nothire and fire policy be framed for bureaucrats and only such a whip willmake them deliver goods without delay to the people.

I reproduce a letter addressed by me to then Indian PrimeMinister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on 5.1.2004. His government did notact nor I hope any government by bureaucrats and forbureaucrats will punish the guilty. But people of the country, the

supreme power in a democracy have the right to know where andhow it went wrong.

Honble Prime Minister of India Thiru.Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Respected Atalji

Subject: A white paper sought on the Kashmir issue to evolve nationalconsensus and fix responsibility for faulty maps

All Indians will echo your feelings with regards to the Pakistans bartering

away of Kashmiri territory to China, our neighbour. At the moment out of the total area of 222.336 square kilometers of Kashmiri state thepossession is as follows:

Area of Jammu & Kashmir in possession of India: 101,387 square km

Illegally occupied by Pakistan: 78,114 squarekms

Illegally handed over to China by Pakistan: 42,735 square

kmIllegal occupation of China and Pakistan: 120,849 square km

All this is shown as total area of Jammu and Kashmir 222,336 squarekilometers. This figure is shown from 1988/89 to 1999 in all manualsbrought out by the Ministry of information and Broadcasting.

So while with spirit of nationalism and patriotism we are ready to shareyour feeling of hurt for Pakistans handing over an area of 42,735 squarekilometers to China. But let me request your office to trace out my

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letter-dated 24.8.1999 in which I had complained first about thefollowing grave mistake.

I humbly submit that from the Source of INDIA: A REFERENCE MANUAL1953 brought out by the Publications Division of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in page 1. THE AREA OF JAMMU ANDKASHMIR STATE WAS GIVEN AS 92,780 square miles which is equivalentto 240,300.20 square kilometers. How could this become 222.336 squarekilometers in 1988?

Pakistan holds 78,114 square kilometers. China owns 42,735 squarekilometers. India owns 101,387 square kilometers. By mistakes committedby our bureaucracy in preparing faulty maps, we have lost 18,036.20square kilometers. Are we to take it for granted that 18.036.20 square

kilometers vanished into thin air? Like Bermudas triangle in our earthsoceans do we have a Bermudas triangle in our Ministries, which hadswallowed 18,036.20 square kilometers? Who is responsible for this? Whois going to be held accountable for this? Are we going to find scapegoats?Or whether The National Democratic Alliance Government has the moralguts to fix the responsibility on the Congress governments that causedthis national loss to our country?

While 1953 Manual says 92,780 square miles equivalent to 240.300.20square kilometers, in 1960 Edition the area becomes 86,024 square miles

equivalent to 222.802.16 square kilometers. Official reference journalpublished by a Ministry of the Government of India in 1960 at page 24-25,a district wise break up of the area of Jammu And Kashmir State is given.

The total of this area arrives at a figure of 84,476 square miles, which isequivalent to 218,792.84 square kilometers.

In 1964 Edition page 7 has a different story to tell. It contains twodifferent figures. In the column area figure a) shows 86,023 square milesequivalent to 222.799.57 square kilometers. Figure (b) shows 56665square miles, which is under Indian possession. This amounts to146,762.25 square kilometers? In 1965 Edition page 7 changes over to222.896.78 square kilometers? In 1966 Edition page 7 Area of Jammu andKashmir once again changed to 222,800 square kilometers? In 1968Edition page 8 area of Jammu and Kashmir once again changed to222,870 square kilometers .In 1988-89 edition the area of Jammu andKashmir was shown as 222.236 square kilometers. In the very sameedition in a different page693, the area of Jammu and Kashmir was shownas 222.236 square kilometers and a note inserted which stated That thisarea includes 78,114 square kilometers under illegal occupation of Pakistan, 5280 square kilometers illegally handed over by Pakistan to

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China and 37,555 square kilometers illegally occupied by China N.Nandhivarman General Secretary 5.1.2004

After recalling the effort of Dravida Peravai seven years ago, now whenscam after scam hits head lines, I felt the need to overhaul ourbureaucracy, purging them, and enacting stringent acts to punish them.Unless bureaucracy is tamed, blunders like this will only be in archives of history.

Instead of a short memorandum, we chose to be little elaborate becausein a state where literacy is hundred percent and where media acts aswatchdogs of society, we from Tamilnadu and Puducherry want the KeralaGovernment and politicians of Kerala to have greater national vision andto be the spokesperson of peoples conscience. American President

Obama said two years ago that in USA we did not have peoplesdemocracy but only corporate democracy. Yes true the book WHOREALLY RUNS THE WORLD ? by Thom Burnett created in me a newawakening to read in between the lines. After mining scams in landcorporate are for mining our seas, and herein sneaks enemical forces likeChina.

Let Public sector Mining and Nationalisation of Private Mining Companiesbe thought of as if Indira Gandhi would have done had she been alive.

Let people of Kerala save Arabian Sea-Bay of Bengal and Indian Oceanfrom corporate over exploitation driving fishermen out of traditionalprofession.

Let Indian river basins be for farmers and agricultural production and letus prevent shale gas sharks from grabbing farm lands.

On this visit we wanted Kerala Government to forget the usual rivalrywith Tamilnadu over river waters and act as brothers in need to save the

Tamil fishermen who are getting killed by Srilanka only to grab Gulf of

Mannar for oil companies. Our appeal to International Tribunal of Law of Seas is made with no locus standi, just to act as catalyst for generatingawareness and make Government of India take up the issue of Tamilfishermen killing and retrieval of Katcha Tivu to the International Tribunalof the Law of Seas.

Few decades ago there was a Southern Chief Ministers Council, let aCoastal Chief Ministers Council be thought of to safeguard our seas, andtraditional fishermen.

With Regards

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Yours fraternally

N.Nandhivarman General Secretary Dravida Peravai

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save arabian seas

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