Ram Setu Photos From Satellite and Aeroplane

History and Facts About Ram Setu

The ancient holy epic Valmiki Ramayan, there is elaborate description about construction of Setu. Its a great world heritage site India has. The Ram Setu connects the India’s Rameshwaram to Sri Lanka’s Talaimannar. Hindu believe that this ancient bridge was built by Lord Rama, as described in Ramayana.

Apart from Ramayana, the Mahabharata also refers to the continued protection of Nala Setu following Sri Rama’s command. Kalidasa’s Raghuvamsham also refers to the Setu. So does the Skanda Purana(III.1.2.1-114), the Vishnu Purana (IV 4.40-49), the Agni Purana(V-XI), the Brahma Purana (138.1-40).

The core agency, The Geological Survey of India has in its logo, Asetu Himachal, means ….The India from Setu to Himalaya.

The Encyclopedia Britanica defines the bridge thus, “Adam’s Bridge also called Rama’s Bridge, chain of shoals, between the islands of Mannar, near northwestern Sri Lanka and Rameswaram, off the southeastern coast of India”.

Recently NASA satellite images indicates clear picture of a broken bridge under the ocean. The heritage of this Ram Setu and the Story of Lord Rama, both are extremely sacred to Hindus.

The geographically Sethusamudram, is a project to create alternative shorter way for ships to cross the Gulf of Mannar. The project was initiated some 150 years back by a British Commander A D Taylor. In 1955, Govt. of India set up the Sethusamudram Project Committee to assess possibility of the project and about five alternative routes were discussed till 2001. The NDA sanctioned a fund to study the project so as to take final decision on the route but the government lost power.

The official web site of project states that Ships coming from West of India and going to Chennai, Ennore, Vishakapatnama, Haldia and Kolkta have to travel around the Sri Lankan coast resulting in increase of travel distance and time. Therefore, to reduce distances between the east and west coast of India and to improve the navitation within territorial waters of India, a alternate route or channel connecting the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay has been envisaged so that the ships moving between the east and west coasts of India need not go around Sri Lanka. The estimated cost of the project is Rs. 2,427 crores.

On the decision to destroy Ramsetu and create an alternative route by Government of India, the Hindus have raised their voice. The Governemnt has changed the metro rail route to protect the Qutub Minar, stops a corridor to protect the Taj Mahal’s surroundings. Even a child knows that a bridge was built by Lord Rama, using floating stones to reach to Lanka to rescue Sita anddestroy the evil regime of Ravana.

The movement started to save Ramsetu at the shores of Rameshwaram on April,2007. Two former judges of Supreme Court, Justice K T Thomas and Justice V R Krishna Iyer, none of them close to the saffron side, have warned the government against destroying the Ram Setu.

Local fishermen, Hindus, Muslims and Christians alike oppose the present route and are demanding alternative channels, which are available. They say the present channel would destroy marine life and corals. This will kill the trade in shankas(Shells) that has a turnover in excess of Rs 150 crore(Rs. 1.5 billion) per annum. Invaluable thorium deposits would be affected, which are too important for our nuclear fuel requirement.

Thus, the issues concern us all, and should be taken up as Indian without getting falling in party lines and political agendas. The Ram Setu or Adam Bridge belongs to all humanity, being an important heritage site; hence the government should not all it to become another issue affecting Hindu sensitivities. Nobody is opposing the Sethu Samudram Project, only a realignment of the route is being asked, as the present one destroys the Rame Setu.

Facts about Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project

The Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project (SSCP), which envisages dredging a deep water canal across Adam’s Bridge at India’s southern tip, has been in news for all the wrong reasons.

Yet, without negating the divine implications and without questioning people’s beliefs, there is a need to objectively analyse the project and assess whether it in our national interest.
The project, which would cost the exchequer around Rs 3,500 crores, entails building a 300 metre wide and 12 metre deep channel from Gulf of Mannar across the Adam’s bridge all the way to Bay of Bengal beyond Palk Strait off Point Calimere, a distance of about 44 nautical miles, so that the ships from the West Coast of India can transit to the East Coast through the Palk Bay, rather than going round Sri Lanka.
Full coverage: Ram Sethu controversy | War of words over Ram
The protagonists of the project feel that the canal will save precious fuel and save transit time for the ships, and also develop the Tamil Nadu coast. Many feel that the entire traffic from the Persian Gulf and Red Sea to Malacca Strait will eventually take this route.
But the facts are somewhat different. The channel is being dredged so that the ships with up to 10 metres draught can transit through it. But almost all the tankers and bulk carriers from Persian Gulf or the Red Sea and bound for East or South East Asia are much bigger in size, and will not be able to use the channel due to constraints of draught.
Even for those ships that can transit through the canal, except for traffic from Tuticorin to Chennai, the time gained by most of the merchant ships on account of shorter distance will be more than neutralised due to delays that are inherent in transiting through a narrow channel, where pilotage in all probability will be compulsory. The ships will have to anchor and wait for a pilot (a local expert who navigates the ship through confined waters). Time will be wasted in waiting for pilot, embarking him, disembarking him and also due to speed restrictions mandated in a narrow and shallow channel.
If the traffic increases, then the ships will have to queue up as big ships will find it difficult to cross each other in a narrow channel like this. Any fuel saved will be neutralised by Pilotage charges and other charges likely to be levied on ships transiting through this artificially made canal. It is therefore unlikely that any significant shipping is likely to be diverted through this canal, even after it is ready. This poses serious doubts about the financial viability of the project.
From the security point of view, it must be noted that all big ships during their transit from Adam’s Bridge to Point Calimere will be extremely vulnerable to attacks by LTTE, as the ships on account of surrounding shallow waters will be constrained to move at a slow speed and follow a fixed path, which will pass very close to the waters dominated by the LTTE. This will provide LTTE a strong leverage against India and the flow of traffic through the canal will depend on India’s relations with this terrorist outfit. Strategically, India must aim to bring the countries of South Asia closer and strive for a South Asian Economic Union. But the Sethusamudram Project creates an unnecessary Gulf between India and Sri Lanka, which is uncomfortable with the project as it perceives it to be against Sri Lankan interests. Although it has been circumspect as it does not want to ruffle feathers in India, but Colombo’s displeasure is well known.
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It would make much more sense to go in for a land bridge between Dhanushkoti and Talai Mannar (over the Adam’s Bridge or the proverbial Ram Sethu) so as to achieve better integration of Sri Lankan Economy with Indian economy. This coupled with a reasonable devolution package by the Sri Lankan government could resolve the long festering ethnic turmoil in the island nation. Several studies indicate that a land bridge between India and Sri Lanka would make enormous economic sense and the cost could be recovered in less than a decade.
As an emerging maritime power, India would like to monitor shipping in the Indian Ocean at least in its vicinity, and one of the most significant Sea Line of Communication close to our waters is the one that connects Dondra Head (South of Sri Lanka) to Malacca Strait. Though Indian naval ships would still have the legal right to be in Sri Lankan waters after the construction of Sethusamudram Canal, they would definitely lose the moral right to do so. The environmental impact of the project has not been studied adequately. It is believed that Adam’s bridge prevented Tsunami from affecting Kerala, but what is more significant is that the region has been prone to massive tidal waves and one such wave in the sixties had washed away an entire train from Dhanushkoti Railway Station.
The Gulf of Mannar has been chosen as a biosphere reserve as its waters and its coast are rich in marine life, which contains over 3600 species of plants and animals including 117 species of corals and 17 species of mangroves. The project will definitely have an adverse impact on the marine life even if the shipping lanes do not exactly pass through these waters; mere proximity will pollute the marine environment and destroy the coral reefs.
The local fishermen feel that this will not only ruin the fish breeding grounds but could also bring in deep sea trawlers, thereby threatening their livelihood.
It is therefore essential to dispassionately review the project and not see it through political or religious prisms. As the channel will not allow transit by bigger ships and small craft have always been transiting through Pamban Pass, it may be much more cost effective to dredge the Pamban Pass to allow ships of up to five to six metres to pass through. This may not even cost one per cent of the cost of SSCP, and besides saving exchequer’s money will definitely avoid the adverse environmental, security and strategic implications of this project.

Rama Setu and setusamudram channel conspiracy
Canal versus channel
Channel in mid-ocean is an unprecedented, risky enterprise. Suez and Panama canals are land-based canals. To try to create a mid-ocean channel passage in turbulent waters of Palk Straits is an invitation to disaster, putting nation’s security and coastline integrity at risk.
When 5 alternative alignments are available to create a land-based canal, why has a mid-ocean channel channel passage been chosen as the Setusamudram Channel Project? There is an international conspiracy behind this choice.
This choice will internationalise the waters of Gulf of Mannar and create an international boundary between India and Srilanka, where such a boundary never existed. According to the June 1974 Indira Gandhi – Sirimavo Bandaranaike declaration, these waters were declared as ‘Historic Waters’, meaning, waters territorially shared between the two countries and hence, internal to these two countries. US Navy operational directive of June 23, 2005 sought to change this declaration. The directive refused to declare these as ‘historic waters’ and to operationalise their assertion, sent their naval warships into these waters. This is a serious violation of national sovereignty which has gone unnoticed so far.
Why is America interested in these waters and why the desire to create an international waters channel? Clearly, the choice is to suit the convenience of the US Navy which wants to outsource to India, the coast-guarding of the sealane oil tanker traffic from Straits of Hormuz through Srilanka, through Straits of Malacca to the Westcoast of USA. The geopolitical perspective becomes apparent from the location of the US base in Diego Garcia south of Srilanka, of a very low frequency radio station (which uses ocean waves for transmission) at Trincomalee to listen to the submarine chatter and the US naval units in Singapore.
Justice VR Krishna Iyer’s letter to PM: I beseech you to reconsider the stand taken if any already. This is a matter of political party business or popularity or pro-American yen…the grave issue with which the nation shall defend its survival.
Justice KT Thomas: It is our duty to make in-depth study of all possible repercussions before destroy the natural geological formations. That apart, the religious sentiments of the majority community in India that Lord Rama created such sea wall must he honored and respected.
There is another geopolitical perspective. That relates to the existence of 32% of the world’s reserves of thorium in just three villages south of Rama Setu (details provided below). If these thorium reserves get desiccated and go into the ocean through a future tsunami funneled through the channel passage, India will have to continue to depend upon purchased uranium from NSG countries. The accumulation of thorium placer deposits is emphatically due to the existence of Rama Setu acting as a cyclotron against the clock-wise and counter-clock-wise ocean currents depositing Th-232 on the coastline lands. Thorium is also found in ilmenite sands. Th-232 + a neutron yields U-233 and India is ready with a reactor to produce electricity directly using a thorium-based breeder reactor. Maybe, this causes jealousy among some of the countries of the nuclear club.Thorium deposits in Kerala (Aluva, Chavara), Tamilnadu (Manavalakurichi)

Rama Setu is a tsunami protection wall which saved the coastline of Tamilnadu, Kerala and westcoast during the last devastating tsunami of Dec. 26, 2004.
It is impermissible to damage such a protective structure impairing the integrity and security of the nation.
A serious breach of strategic national security created by the alleged exports of nuclear resources from southern coast of India near Rama Setu by some private parties, in violation of provisions in the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act 1957 and Atomic Energy Act 1962. The judicial complaint lodged by Deputy Director, Geology and Mining, Nagercoil, Kanniyakumari District, Tamilnadu. Thorium and titanium (strategic atomic and space age metals) are found in these placer sands called ilmenite, rutile, garnet, zircon, monazite. Thorium containing coastal sands south of Rama Setu represent 32% of the known reserves of the world. These placer sands also contain the heaviest concentration of upto 4% of thorium unprecendented in any heavy minerals areas anywhere in the world.
There are also reports of loss of stockpiles from the Indian Rare Earths Limited offices.
Another report has appeared on 6 September 2007 and headlined in major newspapers all over the world that there is an imminent of threat of a tsunami more devastating than the tsunami of 26 Dec. 2004. This report appeared in the prestigious scientific journal, Nature. The report states that about 60 to 70 million people of the east coast of India in the Bay of Bengal will be at risk. In view of the seriousness of this scientific report, I request you to immediately suspend all project works along the coastline which should be resumed only after a detailed, multi-disciplinary investigation of this threat to national security and integrity of the nation.
According to the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) website and records, the estimated reserves of thorium in India are 3,60,000 tonnes and represent the energy equivalent of generation of electricity at the rate of 400,000 MW for 387 years and use in thorium-based breeder reactors. Recent report from BARC also indicates that the nation’s nuclear scientists are ready with a thorium-based reactor to generate electricity which can be made operational in the next 7 years, according to the statement of Dr. Baldev Raj of Atomic Energy Commission.
Thorium 232 bombarded by a neutron yields U-233 and can be used in the three-stage nuclear programme chalked out by our atomic scientific community.
Some quizzed questions??
Q. Why NASA published photographs of This Setu or so called adams bridge.
Ans. Actually ,America’s interest is nuclear fuel & it was mapping thorium reserves in world which lead to this place full of thorium ie. 32% of world reserves. Accidentally this photograph was leaked & controversy aroused.

Q. Why is America so much interested in nuclear agreement with India.
Ans. India is in research stage for thorium based reactors & USA wants to stop it because once thorium is used as fuel why will India use uranium which it will have to procure from other countries like Australia, Canada in which USA has its interests. That’s why USA wants to divert attention of India from thorium to uranium but showing, as if though they are doing India a favour by giving special status rather than it is their interests that will be served in long way

Why the Ram Setu must not be destroyed? - Tarun Vijay

Sethusamudram, a project to create alternative shorter route for ships to cross the Gulf of Mannar, is a wonderful idea -- one which is more than 150 years old. The channel, originally an idea of a British commander named A D Taylor was put forth in 1860. In 1955, the Government of India set up the Sethusamudram project committee to look into the feasibility of the project and five routes were discussed till 2001 but nothing happened. The National Democratic Alliance government sanctioned a few crore rupees to study the project but before a final decision on the route could be taken, the government lost power.

The official web site of the project says, 'Ships originating from the west of India and destined for Chennai, Ennore, Vishakapatnam, Paradeep, Haldia and Kolkata have to travel around the Sri Lankan coast resulting in increase of travel distance and time. Apart from this ships belonging to Indian Navy and Coast Guard need also to traverse around Sri Lanka. In order to reduce the steaming distances between the east and west coast of India and to improve the navigation within territorial waters of India, a navigation channel connecting the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay through Adam's Bridge has been envisaged so that the ships moving between the east and west coasts of India need not go around Sri Lanka.' The total cost of the project is Rs 2,427 crores (Rs 24.27 billion).

But due to political expediency and a pathetic problem of a 'secular amnesia' about heritage matters, it has got a controversial hue, which could have been avoided if some transparency was maintained and points of collective sensitivities and faith were not ignored. The project is fine, but the present route is not, as it involves destruction of a bridge believed to have been built by Lord Rama and Muslims and Christians believe it to be Adam's creation.

Foreigners and Indians alike have described it as Rama's bridge since ancient times in their maps and travelogues. The first time someone called it Adam's Bridge was in 1804 by James Rennell, the first surveyor general of the East India Company. Even if the Government of India prefers to use the name Adam's Bridge, it simply proves that not only Hindus but Muslims and Christians too have a reverence for the bridge it is going to destroy.

Now when the media and political leaders are busy with the Uttar Pradesh election and exit polls, the Sethusamudram dredgers are busy destroying a great world heritage site India has.

The Ram Setu or Adam's Bridge connects India's Rameshwaram to Sri Lanka's Talaimannar. A movement has begun to safeguard it at the shores of Rameshwaram on April 18. Two former judges of the Supreme Court, Justice K T Thomas and Justice V R Krishna Iyer, none of them close to the saffron side, have warned the government against destroying the Ram Setu.

It is ironical that a government which changes the metro rail route to protect the Qutub Minar, built with the material of destroyed temples, stops a corridor to protect the Taj Mahal's surroundings and spends crores of rupees to showcase ancient potteries and jewellery in heavily guarded museums, is destroying a unique symbol of national identity and an icon well preserved in our minds since ages. Even a child knows that a bridge was built by the friends of Lord Rama using floating stones and Rama's army marched over it to Lanka to rescue Sita and destroy the evil regime of Ravana.

Hence during Dussehra every year and in dance dramas depicting Rama's life enacted across the globe, specially in East Asia, they never ever fail to mention the Setu Bandhan or the construction of Rama's bridge. Apart from the Ramayana, the Mahabharata also refers to the continued protection of Nala Setu following Sri Rama's command. Kalidasa's Raghuvamsham also refers to the Setu. So does the Skanda Purana (III 1.2.1-114), the Vishnu Purana (IV 4.40-49), the Agni Purana (V-XI), the Brahma Purana (138.1-40).

That is the memory so beautifully adopted by the Geological Survey of India in its logo, which describes India in this line etched at the bottom of its insignia -- Aasetu Himachal, meaning India is spread between the Bridge and the Himalayas. That is the Ram Setu Bridge on the southern tip of our motherland, an identity of the nation, under destruction now.

The credit of digging up material regarding the Ram Setu and providing impeccable factual content goes to Kalyan Raman, a former senior executive of the Asian Development Bank. He astounded even the government with his material on the entire project. His findings have stirred up protests from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha. Ashok Singhal of the VHP is spearheading a movement to protect the Ram Setu. He addressed a big public meeting in Rameshwaram with religious heads and Dr Subramanian Swamy. BJP leader and former Union human resources development minister Dr Murli Manohar Joshi has written to the prime minister, urging him to stop the destruction of the great heritage site.

The government, very 'secular and fair' indeed, tries not to remember or give any credence to what Hindus, Muslims and Christians believe, But this is what NASA says about the bridge, 'Exploring space with a camera by NASA's [193] Gemini XI, this photograph from an altitude of 410 miles encompasses all of India, an area of 1,250 000 square miles,' George M Low, then the deputy director, Manned Spacecraft Center, NASA, notes. 'Bombay is on the west coast, directly left of the spacecraft's can-shaped antenna, New Delhi is just below the horizon near the upper left. Adam's Bridge between India and Ceylon, at the right, is clearly visible...' We can see the picture dramatically resembles the description given in Kalidasa's Raghuvamsham. Kalidasa wrote, (sarga 13): 'Rama, while returning from Sri Lanka in Pushpaka Vimaana told Sita: "Behold, Sita, My Setu of mountains dividing this frothy ocean is like the milky way dividing the sky into two parts".'

The Encyclopedia Britannica describes the bridge thus, 'Adam's Bridge also called Rama's Bridge, chain of shoals, between the islands of Mannar, near northwestern Sri Lanka, and Rameswaram, off the southeastern coast of India.'

Apart from such issues of heritage and belief, there are genuine concerns regarding security and the tsunamis' impact increasing in case the Ram Setu is destroyed. If the new channel is created through the present Rama's bridge, international ships would pass through it making a de facto international boundary between India and Sri Lanka, facilitating an increased alien presence, burdening our navy to a great extent.

So far the sea between India and Sri Lanka has been recognised as historic waters, though the United States has been pressurising to have it declared as international waters and said in a naval notification in 2005 that it does not accept the sea between India and Sri Lanka as 'historic'. The US declaration and the role of the Tuticorin Port Trust, the nodal agency to implement the Sethu Samudram Canal Project coupled with the haste with which the project was inaugurated, has given rise to many unanswered questions.

The US Navy operational directive refusing to accept the sea between India and Sri Lanka as 'historic' was made on June 23, 2005. The Prime Minister's Office sent some queries in March 2005 to N K Raghupathy, chief of the Tuticorin Port Trust. He sent answers to the PMO's queries on June 30, 2005 and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi inaugurated the project on July 2, 2005. Why were the queries sent to the TPT and not to an agency which had scientific authority to look into the geological and maritime aspects of the project? Why did the prime minister and the UPA chairperson rush to inaugurate the project without, prima facie, having the time to look into the answers given by the TPT chief? Why was the present route okayed which essentially requires the destruction of the Ram Setu, while other options, closer to Dhanushkodi, which did not touch the Ram Setu were ignored?

Local fishermen, Hindus, Muslims and Christians alike oppose the present route and are demanding alternative channels, which are available. They say the present channel would destroy marine life and corals. This will kill the trade in shankas (shells) that has a turnover in excess of Rs 150 crore (Rs 1.5 billion) per annum. Invaluable thorium deposits would be affected, which are too important for our nuclear fuel requirements.

Professor Tad Murthy, the world renowned tsunami expert, who advised the Government of India on the tsunami warning system and edited the Tsunami Journal for over 20 years, has also warned that the present Setu Samudram route may result in tsunami waves hitting Kerala more fiercely. In a reply to a query regarding the Sethusanmudram's impact, he wrote, 'During the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 26, 2004, the southern part of Kerala was generally spared from a major tsunami, mainly because the tsunami waves from Sumatra region travelling south of the Sri Lankan island, partially diffracted northward and affected the central part of the Kerala coast. Since the tsunami is a long gravity wave (similar to tides and storm surges) during the diffraction process, the rather wide turn it has to take spared the south Kerala coast. On the other hand, deepening the Sethu Canal might provide a more direct route for the tsunami and this could impact south Kerala.'

The issue concerns us all, and should be taken up as Indians, without getting entangled in party lines and political games. The Ram Setu or Adam's Bridge belongs to all humanity, being an important heritage site; hence the government should not allow it to become another issue affecting Hindu sensitivities. Nobody is opposing the Sethu Samudram Project, only a realignment of the route is being asked, as the present one destroys the Ram Setu.