Context: India has strategically advanced its maritime interests by submitting a revised claim to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS), seeking recognition for an additional 10,000 square kilometers of seabed in the Central Arabian Sea.
Relevance of the topic:
Prelims: Extended Continental Shelf; Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf; Location of Sir Creek.
Mains: India-Pakistan Bilateral Relations: Maritime disputes.
Continental Shelf and Extended Continental Shelf:
- Continental shelf is a natural seaward extension of a land boundary. Coastal countries have an EEZ (exclusive economic zone) which gives exclusive mining and fishing rights, up to 200 nautical miles from their coastlines.
- Extended Continental Shelf:
- States can make claims for more area in the ocean in the UN body Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS), if they can scientifically establish that this claimed area extends unbroken from their landmass all the way till the sea bed.
- If proved, all of this oceanic area is considered part of a country’s extended continental shelf. This gives them rights to commercially mine for valuable minerals, polymetallic nodules and oil reserves.
India’s extended Maritime Claims
- India has increased its claim in the Central Arabian Sea, as part of its ‘extended continental shelf’ by nearly 10,000 square km.
- India has also modified an earlier claim to avoid a long-standing dispute with Pakistan over the maritime boundary between the two countries.
- With the anticipated addition of approximately 1.2 million square km of extended continental shelf from the two submissions to the ~2 million sq. km of EEZ, India’s seabed and sub-seabed area would become almost equal to its land area of 3.274 million sq. km.
India’s Maritime Disputes
1. With Pakistan:
- Sir Creek dispute: Sir Creek area is a 96-kilometer tidal estuary in the Indus River Delta. It serves as a boundary between India's Gujarat state and Pakistan's Sindh province. It is located near the marshy regions adjoining the Rann of Kutch.
- 2021: Pakistan objected to portions of India’s claimed territory in the Western offshore regions on the grounds that nearly 100 nautical miles overlapped with a maritime border that was under the Sir Creek dispute.
- 2023: CLCS rejected the entirety of India’s claim in the Arabian Sea region. However, the Commission gives leeway to countries to submit ‘modified claims.’
- 2025: India has split its original claim (in the Western Arabian Sea) into two ‘partial ones.’ This was done to ensure that India’s claim in the Central Arabian Sea region is not affected.
2. With Oman:
- Some parts of India’s continental shelf claims in the Arabian Sea overlap with that of Oman.
- However, the two countries have an agreement in place since 2010 that while the continental shelf between them is yet to be delimited, it is ‘not under dispute.’
3. On the Eastern and Southern coast:
- India has claimed about 300,000 square km in the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean though these have faced contests by Myanmar and Sri Lanka.
- The CLCS is expected to begin a new session of consultations later this year.