{"id":3816,"date":"2017-06-30T00:35:22","date_gmt":"2017-06-30T00:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thejetboy.com\/?p=3816"},"modified":"2017-06-30T00:35:22","modified_gmt":"2017-06-30T00:35:22","slug":"ram-setu-the-answer-to-india-and-lankas-woe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thejetboy.com\/ram-setu-the-answer-to-india-and-lankas-woe\/","title":{"rendered":"Ram Setu: The Answer to India and Lankas woe…"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>4 Minute, 12 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>

Ram Setu or Rama’s Bridge also known as Adam’s Bridge, is what scientist call a naturally occurring\u00a050 Km long-chain of\u00a0limestone shoals, between Rameswaram Island, off the south-eastern coast of\u00a0Tamil Nadu,\u00a0India, and\u00a0Mannar Island, off the north-western coast of\u00a0Sri Lanka. However, Hindu mythology claims it to be an artificial structure made by Lord Sri Ram and his army of vanara<\/a>\u00a0to find Sita (Ram’s wife) who had been kidnapped by Ravan.<\/a>\u00a0Ram Setu though not navigable on foot today, was reportedly\u00a0passable on foot up to the 15th century. Temple records claim that Ram Setu was completely above sea level until it broke in a\u00a0cyclone\u00a0in 1480. While no consensus on how or what created the Ram Setu exists, carbon dating of the beaches around Ram Setu roughly match the dates of Ramayana<\/a>. But we are not here to ponder upon the bridges past instead, we are going to take a look at the strategic significance of a modern day Ram Setu and how it can help India and Sri Lanka tackle the growing Chinese influence.<\/p>\n

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Present Day Connection Between India and Sri Lanka around the Ram Setu Area.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Sri Lankan government spends about 95% of its revenue for debt repayment, most of it accumulated between 2009 and 2014 ( Sri Lanka\u2019s\u00a0total government debt tripled\u00a0and external debt doubled in this period). Thanks to ingenious China sponsored ideas, like building a new, multi-billion dollar port city in the middle of a jungle\u00a0(which includes the\u00a0world\u2019s emptiest international airport) to spending\u00a0$42 million\u00a0just to remove a rock from the harbour at Hambantota, Sri Lanka is staring right into a debt trap. In order to repay these loans, the government of Sri Lanka is offering debt to equity swaps to the Chinese government offering China varying degrees of control (often as high as 80%) over some of Sri Lanka’s biggest infrastructure projects like ports, highways and airports. And while this might seem as an end to Sri Lanka’s woes, it is precisely where the India woes begin. Such deals would ultimately\u00a0end up giving China way more control over the Sri Lankan economy and policies than the Sri Lankans initially bargained for and give China a Strong foothold in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). With Chinese submarines docking in Sri Lanka and the String of Pearls<\/a>\u00a0strangling Indian interest in the IOR, India too needs options to assert its dominance and help its neighbours.<\/p>\n