Lakshwadeep Residents Have Basic Requests Before Tourism Promotion

The Lakshwadeep region is comprised of 36 islands, with 10 of them being inhabited by people. The total population is around 64,000, and their access to the mainland is restricted by their ability to catch the few ferries that operate between the islands and mainland India.

The people there have little control over the government that rules them, as the region is only allocated one legislator to parliament and has no choice over the administrator of the region. The administrator is appointed by the federal government.

Praful K Patel, the current administrator of the region, has been accused of ignoring the concerns of the people under his governance. According to Al Jazeera, his administration took the decision to destroy sheds owned by fishermen in an effort to clean up the look of the beaches. The union of fishermen took the matter to the nearest mainland state’s high court, but the issue has still not been resolved.

Since December 2020, Patel’s administration has fired more than 3,000 employees in the island, with many of them having no hope that they would be rehired by the current government of Lakshwadeep.

Local Youth Congress President, M Ali Akbar, said that the area is a union territory, and thus does not have its own democratically elected government, so the federal government can choose to do as it pleases in Lakshwadeep.

The islands do not have quality higher education institutions, so students will have to try to ferry back and forth between Lakshwadeep and neighboring Kerala. In addition to this, the fishermen have worries over whether the government’s increased interest in tourism will take into account their livelihoods. If the beaches are not shared with tourists and the fishermen, it would reduce their ability to carry out their tasks.