India to donate military aircraft, helicopter to Maldives

[mkb95]

India has agreed to donate a utility aircraft and another helicopter to the Maldives, government announced Wednesday. Defence minister Adam Shareef, who is visiting India, said the announcement was made during his meeting with his Indian counterpart Manohar Parrikar on Tuesday.

“The minister gave his assurance that India will donate small aircraft and an additional helicopter to the Maldives,” he said, on his four-day visit.

According to the Maldivian defence minister, Parrikar will visit the Maldives this year.

India had donated two utility helicopters to the Maldives in 2010. Both the choppers are operated out of the domestic airport in the southern island of Kahdhoo in Laamu atoll.

India granted more than US$240,000 (MVR3.8 million) to the Maldives late last month to establish facilities to operate and maintain the two helicopters.

Indian foreign secretary Jaishankar arrived in Maldives Monday afternoon on a one-day official visit as a special envoy of the Indian prime minister.

The second visit by the Indian foreign secretary follows intensified efforts by both the Maldives and India to improve relations. In the latest such development, the Maldivian president had on December 8 hailed the foreign policy of its closest neighbour and ally.

In his message on this year’s SAARC Charter Day, the president said foreign policies of SAARC member states should prioritise improving relations with its neighbours. Such an approach, according to the president, is important for a peaceful region, which he said is integral to ensuring peaceful nations.

“In this regard, the Maldives welcomes [Indian] Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Neighbourhood First policy, and encourages other member states to adopt similar stances,” the message read.

The president’s comments came in light of recent efforts by the Maldives to bolster its ties, especially in investment and trade, with India as well as rival China.

China is funding several infrastructure projects across the Maldives. Delivery of the government’s vital electoral pledges, including the building of a bridge between capital Male and the airport island of Hulhule and the development of the country’s main international airport, also hinges on soft loans being considered by Beijing.

Chinese businesses, mostly state owned corporations, have recently forayed into the Maldives with investments in areas such as the Maldives’ upmarket luxury tourism industry.

The Maldives also held its second investment forum in the Chinese capital in October.

The close relations between the Maldives and China have come at the expense of its ties with neighbours, especially India, which worries that China was flexing its arms in its traditional clout of control.

Despite the recent attempts at improving ties with rival China, the Maldives has embarked on a mission to ramp up its long standing relationship with its closes neighbour, India. The recent thaw saw the visit of India’s top diploma Sushma Swaraj to the Maldives and the restarting in October of a joint commission after a 15-year hiatus.

In Male, Swaraj was told by President Yameen that the Maldives has a policy of “India First”.

Ties between the Maldives and India are on the mend after reaching its lowest point following the premature termination in 2013 of the agreement with Indian infrastructure giant GMR, which had been managing the country’s main international airport since 2011.

In light of the abrupt termination of the GMR agreement, New Delhi took extraordinary measures including the tightening of visa for Maldivian medical tourists and banning the sale of construction aggregate to Maldivian vendors.

The Maldives does not give a rosy outlook for Indian companies that have faced several bureaucratic and political hurdles. Most of the Indian companies doing business in the Maldives had been forced out of the country over the past five years.

The most high-profile such case relates to the subsequent eviction of GMR, which in 2010 won an international bid to manage the Maldives main international airport, by the Maldives government in 2012.

Other Indian companies including Tatva, which had won a contract in 2010 to manage the waste of capital Male, and real estate giant Tata Housing have faced many obstacles, with some leaving the Maldives entirely.

However, the Maldives now appears eager to court back Indian investors.

At talks held during Swaraj’s recent visit to the Maldives, the Maldivian side reiterated its interest in engaging with private investors in India for iHavan and Hulhulmale Youth City projects. Sectors such as tourism, fisheries, education, IT, infrastructure development, energy cooperation including renewable energy, and traditional medicine were also identified for future cooperation.

The visit by India’s top diplomat came as the two neighbours prepared to mark 50 years of diplomatic relations.

On November 1, 1965, India established diplomatic relations with the Maldives, becoming the first country to do so following the latter’s independence from Britain in July.

As the two countries officially marked the golden jubilee of relations, a series of year-long activities was organised by the high commission since last November. The activities included a culinary festival, which saw cooking workshops held by visiting top Indian chefs and a master-chef style cooking competition, a Bollywood movie festival, health awareness programmes and a yoga festival.

A cultural evening was also held in September.

In August, the Maldives and India wrapped up the sixth round of a joint annual military training exercise. India also announced the completion of the first phase of a coastal radar system in the Maldives.

However, Modi’s scheduled visit to the Maldives in March was called off due to the increasing political strife in the Maldives at the time.

India, meanwhile, has publicly sided with the Maldives government over the continued imprisonment of the country’s former president Mohamed Nasheed, an issue central to the Maldives’ relationship with its international partners.

Nasheed’s lawyers are pushing for targeted sanctions on top Maldivian officials.
source- India to donate military aircraft, helicopter to Maldives

 

[karakoram]

India has become dhani seth

 

[Abba_Dabba_Jabba]

India has become dhani seth

Nahi yaar, sab purana kachhra nikal rahe hai ghar se.

 

[Razia Sultana]

I get a feeling that our diplomacy is failing in Maldives.

 

[Tshering22]

I get a feeling that our diplomacy is failing in Maldives.

It did fail until they chucked out GMR off their airport.

However, the water crisis turned it around. Also, Yameen who was flying high was simply reminded about his sinking country.

For all its beauty, the country is pretty cold at heart for Indians in general. Even under Nasheed.

If our government gets pissed off and develops Lakshadweep as an alternative, they'd vanish as a 'market' for tourism.


Lakshadweep has the same terrain and qualities that Maldives has and only needs interest from GOI to push it to its peak potential. In addition those tourists who want to see everything in one visa, can simply choose India. From white sandy shores of Lakshadweep, to coastal plains of Karnataka, to Deccan Plateau, to dense forests of our northeast and of course, the mighty Himalayas.

 

[Bagha]

It did fail until they chucked out GMR off their airport.

However, the water crisis turned it around. Also, Yameen who was flying high was simply reminded about his sinking country.

For all its beauty, the country is pretty cold at heart for Indians in general. Even under Nasheed.

If our government gets pissed off and develops Lakshadweep as an alternative, they'd vanish as a 'market' for tourism.


Lakshadweep has the same terrain and qualities that Maldives has and only needs interest from GOI to push it to its peak potential. In addition those tourists who want to see everything in one visa, can simply choose India. From white sandy shores of Lakshadweep, to coastal plains of Karnataka, to Deccan Plateau, to dense forests of our northeast and of course, the mighty Himalayas.

But it would spoil Lakshadweep , wouldn't it ?

 

[Tshering22]

But it would spoil Lakshadweep , wouldn't it ?

Has Maldives been spoilt? I highly recommend you to visit Agatti island and see it yourself. You can take a SpiceJet flight from Kochi in Kerala.

This spoil is a bullshit excuse of previous corrupt regimes to not let resort industry pick up there.

Resorts for such terrain is usually not multi-story fancy skyscrapers with concrete; they are organic hut-like structures with wooden piers, canework furniture and made from natural material which will not affect environment.

Also, handing over the entire cluster to the Navy was a stupid decision.

IN and ICG already patrol our waters from Kochi which is one of the largest naval bases in India.

The tribes there are not some pandas that will go extinct by someone visiting there after a thorough medical screening, mandatory for visiting the islands there. And if they are so endangered, then how the hell did muslims go there and convert them left, right and centre? Was that not risking diseases for unabated activities that are as per constitution, illegal?

Why am I raising this?

Because the same SHIT excuse was made for keeping us isolated from rest of India, whether it is my state, Arunachal, Nagaland, Manipur, Meghalaya or Tripura.

And the result was nefarious activities that have made our region a news item ONLY for terrorism, earthquake, drugs, and natural calamities. People of my country don't know people of our states because of this lie called "endangered tribes".
You see, developing Lakshadweep requires vision, mission and dedication which no regime in last 67 years had and those handful who had, barely survived as regimes until now.

 

[Razia Sultana]

It did fail until they chucked out GMR off their airport.

However, the water crisis turned it around. Also, Yameen who was flying high was simply reminded about his sinking country.

For all its beauty, the country is pretty cold at heart for Indians in general. Even under Nasheed.

If our government gets pissed off and develops Lakshadweep as an alternative, they'd vanish as a 'market' for tourism.


Lakshadweep has the same terrain and qualities that Maldives has and only needs interest from GOI to push it to its peak potential. In addition those tourists who want to see everything in one visa, can simply choose India. From white sandy shores of Lakshadweep, to coastal plains of Karnataka, to Deccan Plateau, to dense forests of our northeast and of course, the mighty Himalayas.

Why until GMR? They have let our PM skip a tour to their nation and now leaving us with no choice but to give them freebies lest they buy from china or pakistan. Why cant we have a comprehensive defence treaty with them, like NATO, and take care of their defence needs. We should make something like Indian Ocean Region Defence and Economic Cooperation and try to include like minded nations from the region.

 

[Capt.Popeye]

It did fail until they chucked out GMR off their airport.

However, the water crisis turned it around. Also, Yameen who was flying high was simply reminded about his sinking country.

For all its beauty, the country is pretty cold at heart for Indians in general. Even under Nasheed.

If our government gets pissed off and develops Lakshadweep as an alternative, they'd vanish as a 'market' for tourism.


Lakshadweep has the same terrain and qualities that Maldives has and only needs interest from GOI to push it to its peak potential. In addition those tourists who want to see everything in one visa, can simply choose India. From white sandy shores of Lakshadweep, to coastal plains of Karnataka, to Deccan Plateau, to dense forests of our northeast and of course, the mighty Himalayas.

It is not necessary to do any of that. There is a far simpler way; without over-exploiting (and thus screwing-up) Lakshadweep.
Maldives has a serious problem with rampant spread of Islamism. When the World is woken up to that fact, the tourist will stop lining up to come. This is the Age of Information; use it effectively.

 

[kaykay]

We were to install 6 radar stations in Maldives. Any progress on that?

 

[Kickstarter101]

So when is the last time any Chinese spoke of the string of pearls that were supposed to be tightened around Indias neck?

 

[vayuputhra]

Why until GMR? They have let our PM skip a tour to their nation and now leaving us with no choice but to give them freebies lest they buy from china or pakistan. Why cant we have a comprehensive defence treaty with them, like NATO, and take care of their defence needs. We should make something like Indian Ocean Region Defence and Economic Cooperation and try to include like minded nations from the region.

Madam ji Maldives is militarily cannot face Kerala police, the whole country would have chocked of thirst if India had not sent drinking water to maldieves, there are many keralites living in maldieves they have spread wahabbi idea of Islam there, now the problem is like
"a small businessman has setup a pan beeda shop in front of a big hotel until now the hotel owner has ignored him and allowed him to earn his livelihood but the pan beeda shop owner has begun to believe that the hotel is running because of his pan beeda shop and called one chan Lee to decorate his beeda shop with China lamps, and started to threaten the hotel employees, the hotel management till now ignored the beeda shop owner like a elephant ignores a barking puppy, to teach him a lesson if the hotel management decides to open its own pan beeda shop , he will loose this business and come on the streets"
If India declares few islands as tax free and allow tourists to land there from kerala , it will be run for their money and ruin their entire economy, as lakshadweep is continuation of Maldives is also half as big as Maldives.
I think they have forgotten when Indian navy saved them from LTTE takeover of their country.
Even now non state boat men or pirates can takeover maldieves they only fear Indian nnav, so no need for them to act too smart,
We don't want the pan beeda shop owner to loose his livelihood

Why until GMR? They have let our PM skip a tour to their nation and now leaving us with no choice but to give them freebies lest they buy from china or pakistan. Why cant we have a comprehensive defence treaty with them, like NATO, and take care of their defence needs. We should make something like Indian Ocean Region Defence and Economic Cooperation and try to include like minded nations from the region.

Madam ji Maldives militarily cannot face Kerala police, the whole country would have chocked of thirst if India had not sent drinking water to maldieves, there are many keralites living in maldieves they have spread wahabbi idea of Islam there, now the problem is like
"a small businessman has setup a pan beeda shop in front of a big hotel until now the hotel owner has ignored him and allowed him to earn his livelihood but the pan beeda shop owner has begun to believe that the hotel is running because of his pan beeda shop and called one chan Lee to decorate his beeda shop with China lamps, and started to threaten the hotel employees, the hotel management till now ignored the beeda shop owner like a elephant ignores a barking puppy, to teach him a lesson if the hotel management decides to open its own pan beeda shop , he will loose this business and come on the streets"
If India declares few islands as tax free and allow tourists to land there from kerala , it will be run for their money and ruin their entire economy, as lakshadweep is continuation of Maldives is also half as big as Maldives.
I think they have forgotten when Indian navy saved them from LTTE takeover of their country.
Even now non state boat men or pirates can takeover maldieves they only fear Indian nnav, so no need for them to act too smart,
We don't want the pan beeda shop owner to loose his livelihood

 

[SrNair]

I get a feeling that our diplomacy is failing in Maldives.

Nope . They will play only within the line that we draw for them .We have a lots of measures to squeeze them if we want ,some are already mentioned in here .
Chinese not going to anywhere . But w can do the same in SCS with US and Japanese support .
If they try to open their port in IOR we will anchor in Cam Ranh Bay in near future with Vietnamese military .

 

[Razia Sultana]

Madam ji Maldives is militarily cannot face Kerala police, the whole country would have chocked of thirst if India had not sent drinking water to maldieves, there are many keralites living in maldieves they have spread wahabbi idea of Islam there, now the problem is like
"a small businessman has setup a pan beeda shop in front of a big hotel until now the hotel owner has ignored him and allowed him to earn his livelihood but the pan beeda shop owner has begun to believe that the hotel is running because of his pan beeda shop and called one chan Lee to decorate his beeda shop with China lamps, and started to threaten the hotel employees, the hotel management till now ignored the beeda shop owner like a elephant ignores a barking puppy, to teach him a lesson if the hotel management decides to open its own pan beeda shop , he will loose this business and come on the streets"
If India declares few islands as tax free and allow tourists to land there from kerala , it will be run for their money and ruin their entire economy, as lakshadweep is continuation of Maldives is also half as big as Maldives.
I think they have forgotten when Indian navy saved them from LTTE takeover of their country.
Even now non state boat men or pirates can takeover maldieves they only fear Indian nnav, so no need for them to act too smart,
We don't want the pan beeda shop owner to loose his livelihood


Madam ji Maldives militarily cannot face Kerala police, the whole country would have chocked of thirst if India had not sent drinking water to maldieves, there are many keralites living in maldieves they have spread wahabbi idea of Islam there, now the problem is like
"a small businessman has setup a pan beeda shop in front of a big hotel until now the hotel owner has ignored him and allowed him to earn his livelihood but the pan beeda shop owner has begun to believe that the hotel is running because of his pan beeda shop and called one chan Lee to decorate his beeda shop with China lamps, and started to threaten the hotel employees, the hotel management till now ignored the beeda shop owner like a elephant ignores a barking puppy, to teach him a lesson if the hotel management decides to open its own pan beeda shop , he will loose this business and come on the streets"
If India declares few islands as tax free and allow tourists to land there from kerala , it will be run for their money and ruin their entire economy, as lakshadweep is continuation of Maldives is also half as big as Maldives.
I think they have forgotten when Indian navy saved them from LTTE takeover of their country.
Even now non state boat men or pirates can takeover maldieves they only fear Indian nnav, so no need for them to act too smart,
We don't want the pan beeda shop owner to loose his livelihood

Despite all that I see us struggling with them. They threw out GMR in favour of some chinese firm. Yameen attended Modi's swearing in when we sent a special aircraft. They showed no urgency to welcome him on their soil. They are a sovereign nation but when they are audacious enough to have defence ties with our "enemy" nations. India doesn't seem to have a long term strategy but deal with the issues as and when they come. So Maldives will show interest in buying JF-17 and in the bargain India will give them free MiGs and helis. They give port to chinese subs and we rush to them with some other freebies. And this will go on because we have failed to have a long term strategic relations with them. If their economy and survival is so much dependent on us, it does not reflect in their behaviour. We may compare their defence with Kerala Police and feel happy. Power means nothing if you cant use it to your benefit. We have allowed our neighbours to blackmail us by going to China and I see no strategy .

When IPKF entered Sri lanka and mirages foiled the coup in Maldives, they should have acted as a reason to have a comprehensive defence ties. Similarly, we let go of the opportunity with Nepal after the 50 yrs treaty expired. I am not saying that we are threatened by these nations but I am emphasizing on our policy and startegy. Giving freebies is merely a tactics to deter a problem in the short term.

 

[Razia Sultana]

Nope . They will play only within the line that we draw for them .We have a lots of measures to squeeze them if we want ,some are already mentioned in here .
Chinese not going to anywhere . But w can do the same in SCS with US and Japanese support .
If they try to open their port in IOR we will anchor in Cam Ranh Bay in near future with Vietnamese military .

Was overthrowing President Nasheed from power at the behest of India? Yes we are big so we can queeze them anytime but we are not threatened by them but their nuissance value which we are failing to deter. Our retaliatory strategy in SCS itself is an indication of our inability to manage our backyard.
Do you realize that there wont be any war and all these are a balancing act. But letting our neighbourhood infested with anti Indian forces costs us really dear during peace time.