INDIA - SRI LANKA RELATIONS – INTERNATIONAL
News:
‘Neighbourhood first’ at work in India’s help to Sri Lanka
What's in the news?
● India
did not wait for other bilateral creditors but did “what is right” for Sri Lanka’s economic recovery, visiting
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said following talks with Sri Lankan
President Ranil Wickremesinghe in Colombo.
Key takeaways:
● On
January 16, India sent written financing assurances to the IMF, becoming the first bilateral creditor of the island
nation to officially support its crucial debt restructure programme after last
year’s economic meltdown.
● The
Fund’s provisional $2.9 billion package
will be cleared only after Sri Lanka’s official creditors - China, Japan and India have provided
adequate financing assurances.
India - Sri Lanka Relations:
Backdrop:
● The
relationship between India and Sri Lanka is more than 2,500 years old. Both
countries have a legacy of intellectual,
cultural, religious and linguistic interaction. In recent years, the
relationship has been marked by close contacts at all levels.
● Trade
and investment have grown and there is cooperation in the fields of infrastructure
development, education, culture and defence.
Areas of cooperation:
1. Economic Relations:
● India-Sri Lanka Free
Trade Agreement (ISFTA) in 2000 contributed
significantly towards the expansion of trade in areas such as infrastructure,
connectivity, transportation, housing, health, livelihood and rehabilitation,
education, and industrial development.
● India
has traditionally been among Sri Lanka’s largest trade partners and Sri Lanka remains among the largest trade
partners of India in the SAARC.
● In
2020, India was Sri Lanka’s 2nd largest trading partner with the bilateral
merchandise trade amounting to about USD $ 3.6 billion.
● India
is also one of the largest contributors to Foreign
Direct Investment in Sri Lanka. According to BoI, FDI from India amounted
to about US$ 1.7 billion during the period 2005 to 2019.
2. Institutional Relationship:
● India
and Sri Lanka are member nations of several regional and multilateral
organizations such as the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), South Asia Co-operative
Environment Programme, South Asian Economic Union and BIMSTEC.
3. Development Cooperation:
● Demand-driven and
people-centric nature of India’s development
partnership with Sri Lanka have been the cornerstone of this relationship.
● The
Indian Housing Project so far
committed to construct close to 62,500 houses in Sri Lanka, making it one of
the largest projects undertaken by GoI abroad.
● Emergency Ambulance
Service is now expanded to all the Provinces.
● India
is also involved in projects for
renovation of Palaly Airport, Kankesanthurai Harbor, construction of a
Cultural Centre in Jaffna, interconnection of electricity grids between the two
countries, construction of a 150-bed hospital in Dickoya and setting up a coal
power plant in Sampur as a joint venture between National Thermal Power
Corporation (NTPC) and Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB).
● India
- Sri Lanka agreed for joint development of Trincomalee Oil Tank farmed in 2022 after 35 years of wait.
4. Political Relations:
● Political
relations between the two countries have been marked by high-level exchanges of visits at regular intervals.
● The
nearly three-decade long armed conflict between the Sri Lankan forces and the
LTTE came to an end in May 2009. During the course of the conflict, India
supported the right of the Sri Lankan Government to act against terrorist
forces.
● India’s
consistent position has been in favour of a negotiated political settlement,
which is acceptable to all communities within the framework of a united Sri
Lanka and is consistent with democracy,
pluralism and respect for human rights.
5. Cultural relations:
● The
Cultural Cooperation Agreement
signed by the Government of India and the Government forms the basis for periodic
Cultural Exchange Programmes between the two countries.
● The
Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre (SVCC)
- since its inception in 1998, is actively promoting awareness of Indian
culture by offering classes in Bharatnatyam, Kathak, Hindustani and Carnatic vocal,
Violin, Sitar, Tabla, Hindi and Yoga.
6. People-to-people ties:
● Buddhism
is one of the strongest pillars connecting the two nations and civilizations
from the time when Emperor Ashoka sent his children Arhat Mahinda and
Sangamitta to spread the teachings of Lord Buddha at the request of King
Devanampiya Tissa of Sri Lanka.
● India
in 2020, announced USD 15 million grant assistance for the protection and
promotion of Buddhist ties between India and Sri Lanka.
7. Tourism:
● Tourism
also forms an important link between India and Sri Lanka. The Government of
India formally launched the e-Tourist
Visa (eTV) scheme for Sri Lankan tourists in 2015.
● Sri
Lanka included India in the free visa on arrival scheme and commenced the
scheme in 2019.
8. Defence and Strategic Relations:
● Two
navies participate in the SLINEX
bilateral naval exercises. The two Armies participate in the Mitra Shakti
bilateral exercises.
● Srilanka
plays a major role in India’s ambition towards "Net Security Provider in the Indian Ocean Region".
● Srilanka
is considered as a strategic location to monitor the International Sea Lanes of Communication.
● The
Hambantota port to which China had access is considered as the String of Pearls initiative developed
by China to contain India’s strategic Growth.
Challenges in India - Sri Lanka Relations:
1. Increasing Chinese Presence:
● In
the period of low profile relationship between the two nations, Sri Lanka
apparently started favouring China over India.
● The
presence of China in Sri Lanka increased significantly in recent years. As part
of Maritime Silk Route (MSR) policy, China
built two ports, one in Colombo and another in Hambantota.
● China
has also collaborated in satellite launching activities with Supreme SAT (Pvt.), Sri Lanka’s only
satellite operator.
2. Issues of Tamilians in Sri Lanka:
● Denial of Citizenship: The
problem of the Srilankan Tamils began earlier than the 1950s. After
independence in 1948 the Srilankan Government felt that the Tamils were not
Srilankan because they had Indian ancestry.
● Linguistic
Discrimination: The conflict between Sinhalese and
Tamils in Sri Lanka started in 1956 when Sinhala was made the official language
by the country’s President and large-scale discrimination began against the
Tamils.
● Religious Discrimination:
The discrimination against the Tamil population continued throughout the 1960s
as Buddhism was given the primary place in the state.
3. Fisherman Problem:
● Fishing
disputes have been a constant area of concern between the two South Asian
neighbours for a long time.
● Sri
Lanka has long expressed concerns about illegal
fishing by Indian fishermen within its territorial waters across the Palk
Strait.
● The
country regularly arrests Indian fishermen for crossing the International
Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) that demarcates India and Sri Lankan waters.
India also detains Sri Lankan fishermen for illegal fishing.
4. Katchatheevu Island:
● It
is an uninhabited island that India ceded to Sri Lanka in 1974 based on a
conditional agreement called “Katchatheevu
Island Pact”.
● The
Central Government recognizes Sri Lanka’s sovereignty over the island as per
the 1974 accord.
● But
Tamil Nadu claims that Katchatheevu falls under the Indian territory and Tamil
fishermen have traditionally believed that it belongs to them and therefore want
to preserve the right to fish there.
5. Sri Lanka in a state of economic emergency:
● Sri
Lanka is running out of foreign exchange reserves for essential imports like
food. It has recently declared a state of economic emergency.
6. Covid Impact:
● Sri
Lanka increased policy rates after the covid pandemic in response to rising inflation in August 2021 caused
by currency depreciation.
● Tourism sector
has suffered since the Easter Sunday terror attacks of 2019, followed by the
pandemic.
7. Reluctance in approval of infrastructure projects:
● The
present Sri Lankan Government has ruled out taking forward the MoU signed by
his predecessor allowing Indian participation in energy and infrastructure
projects in Trincomalee and Indian stake in Mattala airport.
8. Sri Lanka’s security dilemma:
● Growing
too close to China could create problems with India while leaning too much in
favor of India could affect Chinese military sales to the country and other
aspects of their bilateral relationship.
WAY FORWARD:
● India
needs to invest some political capital
in resolving problems such as the long-standing dispute over fisheries.
● Beyond
its objection to China’s BRI projects, India, either alone or in partnership
with like-minded countries like Japan, should offer sustainable terms for infrastructure development.
● India
also needs to contribute more to the development of Colombo’s defence and counter-terror capabilities.
● India
must engage, understand, and assist Sri Lanka in a non-reciprocal manner with
respect to development of infrastructural projects, but it has to ensure that
it is not taken for granted under any circumstance.
● Both
countries should try to work out a permanent
solution to the issue of fishermen through bilateral engagements.
● The
Comprehensive Economic Partnership
Agreement (CEPA) must be signed to improve the economic cooperation between
both countries.
India
is “a reliable neighbour, a trustworthy partner, one who is prepared to go the
extra mile when Sri Lanka feels the need".