Abstract
India’s lack of a concrete policy towards exploration for mineral resources in high seas and offshore areas has played a role, though to a limited extent, in the exploration projects being awarded to countries like Korea and China in the Indian Ocean. In 2011, China was awarded a large area in the Indian Ocean for mineral exploration. India has thence awakened to the issue and has made amends to its bureaucratic inertia. However, the question is whether these mineral exploration projects and demarcated ocean areas have economic implications only, or have larger strategic significance. In the contemporary debates, the ocean economy is gaining traction with more and more littoral nations seeking to generate revenue as well as royalty from ocean resources. This paper therefore attempts to address the issues of ocean economy, mineral exploration, exclusive economic zones (EEZ), interests of small island nations, and how these issues have a larger strategic implication.
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