With India becoming the first country to answer the distress call from the Maldives, following the total destruction of water supply system of the island nation, leaving its population without any water supply resource, the ‘Neighborhood First Diplomacy’ of India is enhancing its leadership stature in the subcontinent.
After one of its worst water crises encountered by Maldives, following a massive fire in the Male Water and Sewerage Company complex on December 4, 2014, India immediately carried out ‘Operation Neer’ and flew multiple sorties of large aircraft ferrying hundreds of tonnes of drinking water to the island nation. Close to 150,000 Male residents were left without water in their homes after the generator unit of the Maldives Water and Sewerage Company caught fire and was destroyed.
The spontaneous effort by India was undertaken after External Affairs Minister Ms. Sushma Swaraj was called up by her Maldivian counterpart Dunya Maumoon and requested for help. Within no time, Ms. Swaraj got in touch with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and got clearances from other authorities.
Being the first responder at this critical time for Male, the first Indian aircraft with portable water had arrived within 12 hours of the distress call request of the Maldivian government.
Following up on the air sorties, two Indian Ships INS Deepak and INS Shukanya also arrived in Male and delivered around 2,000 tonnes of water, brining much needed relief to parched Maldivians. Two naval warships, the INS Sukanya and the INS Vivek will purify water through Reverse Osmosis (RO) systems, and will remain berthed off Male harbor until the desalination treatment plant in Male has been repaired.
While the Maldivian government put out similar calls to the U.S., China and Sri Lanka as well, India was the first, and best placed to respond.
Maldives is strategically placed in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), hardly 70 nautical miles from the island of Minicoy in Lakshadweep and 300 nautical miles from the mainland's western coast, at the hub of commercial sea lanes running through IOR. And it would in the interest of both countries to have diplomatic, economic and security relations between them further strengthened.
It is this ‘Neighborhood First Diplomacy’ that puts India ahead of all other countries in the region and gives it a decisive leadership role in Asia, particularly in the subcontinent.
