India gives outdoor gym equipment worth 8 million to Maldives

By Udbhav Bhargava

India provided outdoor exercise equipment for the island-nation Maldives on 13 July through a financial grant of USD 8 million. The equipment was officially handed over to the country by the High Commissioner to Maldives, Sanjay Sudhir, in an event at Male. According to him, installing of equipment will require the involvement of the island councils and will reinforce the concept of decentralized regime      cherished by the Maldivian government.

India was among the first to recognize Maldives to recognize as an independent nation in 1965 and diplomatic relations with that country. India and the Maldives have since established strong political, military, fiscal, and cultural relationships.  India continues to contribute in maintenance of security of the island nation. This move strengthens the bilateral relations between relations between the countries. Maldives has been an important strategic ally to India with respect to oil transportation lanes, Indian diaspora and checking Chinese influence in the Indian Ocean.

The archipelago of Maldives comprising 1,200 coral islands lies next to main shipping lanes providing an uninterrupted energy supply to India. Maldives’ strategic position in the Indian Ocean is of geopolitical importance to India to restrict the growing Chinese influence. India and Maldives share cultural, linguistic, and religious relations with each other. More than 25,000 Indian people residing in Maldives (second largest expatriate community). Indian visitors account for nearly 6 percent of the annual tourists.

Events that proved to be influential in shaping the bilateral relations

• Operation Cactus

In November 1988, 80 armed terrorists of LTTE infiltrated the region. A Maldivian businessman had thought the plot to be a coup attempt waged a Maldivian businessman and politician who opposed the erstwhile President Maumoon Gayoom’s regime. Gayoom later requested India for immediate military assistance. Rajiv Gandhi, the then Indian Prime Minister, ordered 1,600 soldiers to support the government in Maldives. Indian forces arrived, in a military operation codenamed “Operation Cactus”, within just 12 hours of the request for aid being made. India armed forces thwarted the coup and took complete control over the country within hours.

• 2014 Drinking-water crisis

The collapse of the only water-treatment plant in Male resulted a drinking-water crisis in the island on 4 December 2014. Maldives has sought immediate assistance from India. India came to the rescue by sending its heavy lift air-carriers such as C-17 Globemaster, Il-76 containing huge quantities of bottled water.

• The relations got severely when President Abdulla Yameen came into power. His pro-China stance deeply severed the relations for the next five years. India canceled PM Narendra Modi ‘s visit to Male in March 2015, following the rampant political unrests in the country. The Maldives under Yameen declined India ‘s invitation to its biennial naval exercise, Milan.

• Relations between India and Maldives have improved after Yameen’s tenure came to an end. India was one of many countries to congratulate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih after the preliminary results of the presidential elections in Maldives. Modi made his first overseas visit to the Maldives, after being sworn in as Prime Minister for the second time. The two leaders reaffirmed their firm commitment to reinforcing and revitalizing historically strong and friendly relationships. 

• Recently, in April, amidst the lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Indian Air Force airlifted 6.2 tons of critical and hospital medicines and consumables onboard Indian to Male C-130 aircraft. ‘Operation Sanjeevani’ was launched by IAF and medicines were lifted from various airports across the country with the help of the Indian Army, and then flew to the Maldives.