In a goodwill gesture, Sri Lankan Naval personnel, often accused of using strong-arm tactics, on Thursday offered refreshments to a group of Indian fishermen from in Rameswaram when they were fishing near Katchatheevu.
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao on Sunday arrived in Colombo on a key visit to boost bilateral ties and discuss the row over the alleged killing of two Indian fishermen in sea waters between the two countries. The foreign secretary was expected to discuss the killings of two Indian fishermen mid-sea earlier in January. The incident had sparked a row between the two neighbours.She is expected to meet President Mahinda Rajapksha on Monday to convey New Delhi's concern.
PM Modi is due in Colombo on Friday.
The winners of Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year 2024 have been revealed.
The 100 Indian fishermen who were languishing for up to five years in Pakistani prisons on Saturday crossed the Wagah land border into India, after they were released by the government on humanitarian gesture, officials said.
The two countries also signed memoranda of understanding in education and health sectors after visiting External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Lankan counterpart Mangala Samaraweera co-chaired the 9th Indo-Lanka Joint Commission meeting in Colombo.
A unit of Eastern Naval Command on Thursday rescued eleven fishermen trapped in the Bay of Bengal due to the rough sea off Narasapur in East Godavari district and Yanam in Pondicherry.
Rediff.com readers Subrahmanya Manippadi, Sarathi Dey and Rajagopal N Janakiraman share their beach pictures.
The fire broke out in an area near the Visakhapatnam Container Terminal and an Indian Oil Corporation facility where fishing boats were anchored.
Ruckus over Telangana statehood issue and plight of Tamil fishermen disrupted proceedings in the Rajya Sabha for the third consecutive day on Friday, leading to two adjournments before lunch.
Sri Lanka on Tuesday said its navy would not fire at Indian fishermen even if they had crossed the maritime boundary and suspected the role of some "third party" behind the recurring incidents.
Twenty three fishermen from Tamil Nadu, arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy on July 22 when they were fishing near Katchatheevu in the Palk Straits, have been released, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna said on Friday.
Pakistani Maine personnel opened indiscriminate fire on Indian fishermen leaving one of them injured near the international border in Arabian sea off Jakhau coast on Thursday night, officials said on Friday.
In yet another incident over a week, a fisherman was injured on Tuesday when Sri Lankan naval personnel allegedly attacked three fishing boats from Rameshwaram in the Palk straits, officials said.
Sri Lankan fishermen hurled allegedly petrol bombs at some fishing boats in the presence of Lankan naval personnel, sinking one of them while another narrowly escaped at Katchatheevu in the Palk straits, a fisherman's body said in Rameswaram on Thursday.
The Coast Guard has secured the release of 72 Indian fishermen from the custody of Pakistan Maritime Security Agency, which had held them in the Arabian sea off Jakhau coast since Friday.
The Indian Fishermen Association has alleged that Indian fishermen, languishing in Pakistani jails, are being treated badly.
The very severe cyclonic storm was located over the east-central Arabian Sea located 840-kilometer west-southwest of Goa and 870 km west-southwest of Mumbai at 11.30 pm on June 8, the IMD said.
A day after its envoy to Rome was summoned in connection with the arrest of two Italian marines for allegedly killing two Indian fishermen, India on Wednesday asserted the country's laws were applicable in the incident and it will abide by the outcome of legal process in Kerala.
Eight fishermen were injured in separate incidents of attack allegedly by the Sri Lankan Navy while fishing off Kodiakarai coast, fisheries department officials said on Thursday.
The five Indian fishermen, who were sentenced to death on charges of drug trafficking, have been released by the Sri Lankan authorities.
Voicing her serious concern over increasing attacks on Tamil Nadu fishermen allegedly by the Sri Lankan navy, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Saturday said such assaults on Indian citizens should be viewed as "an act of provocation and aggression against India." Jayalalithaa conveyed her sentiments to Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai, who called on her in Chennai ahead of his three-day Colombo visit beginning on Saturday.
What comes as a relief to five families, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has agreed to pardon and release the five Tamil fishermen serving a death sentence for drug smuggling in the island nation.
They allegedly entered Pakistani territorial waters illegally.
Sri Lanka has refuted allegations of killing two Indian fishermen fishing at Point Calimere but said its naval patrol had fired at a suspicious boat elsewhere and it was willing to share the video evidence with Indian authorities.The ministry said its attention had been drawn to reports in the Indian media saying that two fishermen from Nagapattinam on the south Indian coast were killed while fishing off Point Calimere on July 11, due to firing by the Sri Lankan Navy.
Fourteen Pakistani fishermen, lodged in the central prison in Thiruvananthapuram after being taken into custody by the Indian Navy six months back for crossing into the Indian waters near Lakshadweep Islands, have been sent back to their country.
A random security check on fishing vessels by Coast Guards has found that several fishing vessels were operating under a single name and licence, a fishermen's organisation has said raising concerns over Mumbai's coastal security.
The recent rise in number of deaths of Indian fishermen by Sri Lankan naval forces has raised an alarm in New Delhi. Politicians from Tamil Nadu met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday to brief him on the recent killings on the Sri Lankan waters, and also gave him a memorandum on the same.
The Indian Coast Guard rescued 27 Bangladeshi fishermen in three separate operations after they went missing in the Bay of Bengal on Sunday, August 21, 2022.
After spending 22 days in prison and working in harsh conditions in Iran, the released fishermen returned to India on Tuesday. Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar spoke to them about their extremely trying experiences
Protesting the repeated "onslaughts" by the Sri Lankan Navy against Tamil Nadu fishermen, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Sunday sought the immediate intervention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to ensure the release of the arrested fishermen.
On the third anniversary of the 26/11 attacks, family members of the four missing fishermen abroad Kuber, the boat hijacked by terrorists, have requested the Maharashtra chief minister to provide financial assistance to them. The Gujarat Fishermen Association has demanded aid to the kin of the fishermen, saying it had raised the demand soon after the attack and had even requested the then chief minister Ashok Chavan to consider their pleas on sympathetic grounds.
The fisherfolk had resumed full-fledged fishing activities on Monday. It's been almost four months since they had ventured into the sea.
The fishermen were locked in their boat's ice chamber by pirates who escaped after looting the boat.
"Presently, there are no Indian fishermen in Sri Lankan custody on fisheries related charges. However, some Indian nationals have been arrested in Sri Lankan waters on charges of smuggling narcotics and contrabands," External Affairs Minister S M Krishna said in Rajya Sabha.
The situation is alarming. All the dead had completed their sentences, Bagchi said.
The Indian Coast Guard has filed an affidavit in response to a plea moved by a woman officer seeking permanent commission.
A court in Mumbai on Saturday granted bail to three men arrested by the city police earlier this month for allegedly entering India unlawfully on a boat from Kuwait.
The government has approved a Rs 450.15 crore package for marine fishermen, including a Rs 1.50 per litre rebate on diesel and subsidy on fishing vessels.
