India’s coastline has been recalculated as 11,098.81 km from 7,561.60 km – up by 3,537.21 km or nearly 50 per cent. This is due to a change in the methodology of calculation, according to a circular issued by the Union Shipping Ministry.
The length of India’s coastline, according to the Ministry of Home Affairs, has been 7,561 km since the 1970s. Various government departments have used different figures for the coastline. The issue was examined in 2019, and it was learnt that the Coastal Protection and Development Advisory Committee has been deliberating on this issue since 2010.
The main reason for the deviation in the existing coastline length was the probable variation in scale and calculation method. The length of the coastline calculator in the 1970s might have been computed from then-available records at a scale of 1:4,500,000 or smaller, whereas the re-verified data has been computed at the scale of 1:250,000. It is understood that the length of the coastline is liable to vary when it is measured from maps of different scales, the circular said.
The recalculated length also includes offshore islands and islets, which were not fully accounted for in the earlier measurement. Coastal states and Union Territories have unanimously agreed to the revised figure, marking a significant adjustment in India’s geographical data.
