Lakshadweep Islands

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News: The Kerala High Court strengthened old Lakshadweep cowledars’ land rights: qualifying cowledars are landowners, and the government cannot take their pandaram land without lawful acquisition and compensation.

About Lakshadweep Islands

Lakshadweep Islands
Source: Class 11th NCERT
  • Lakshadweep is an archipelago comprising 36 islands situated off the southwestern coast of India in the Arabian Sea.
  • It is a uni-district Union Territory and comprises of 12 atolls, 3 reefs, 5 submerged banks and 10 inhabited islands.
    • Also, there are also ten inhabited islands, 17 uninhabited islets, five submerged reefs, and four newly formed islets.
  • Capital: The capital of the island is  Kavaratti, located in Kavaratti Island.
  • It is smallest Union territory of India in term of area.
  • Area: It covers total area of 32 sq. km.
  • Formation: The Union Territory was formed in 1956 and it was named Lakshadweep in 1973.
  • Division: It is broadly divided into three geographical groups. These include:
    • Amindivi Group (consisting of 5 inhabited islands) in the north
    • Laccadive Group (consisting of 4 inhabited and 12 uninhabited islands) in the center
    • Minicoy Group (consisting of 1 inhabited and one uninhabited island) in the south.
  • Inhabited islands: The inhabited islands include Agatti, Amini, Androth, Bitra, Chetlat, Kadmat, Kalpeni, Kavaratti, Kiltan, and Minicoy.
  • Straits and channels that separates different islands: 
    • Kavaratti Channel- It separates Kavaratti and Agatti.
    • 8 Degree channel- It separates Minicoy island and Maldives.
    • 9 Degree channel- It separates Minicoy Island from the main Lakshadweep group.

About Pandaram land and Cowledar

  • The 1965 regulation created a statutory framework for land revenue, tenancy and the rights and liabilities of landholders in Lakshadweep.
  • Pandaram lands: It refers to a form of land ownership. Over 60% of the land in Lakshadweep, falls under the Pandaram lands.
  • Cowledar: A cowledar as “a person who has been or is granted a lease of pandaram land for a specified period, subject to conditions including making improvements to it”.
    • The same regulation defines a landowner to include a “person shown in government records as holding pandaram land as a cowledar”.
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