CURRENT AFFAIRS

Detailed explanation-1: -Chennai-Vladivostok sea route: India’s effort to counter China’s OBOR could soon get a big Russian helping hand.

Detailed explanation-2: -The European-Asian sea route, commonly known as the sea route to India or the Cape Route, is a shipping route from the European coast of the Atlantic Ocean to Asia’s coast of the Indian Ocean passing by the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Agulhas at the southern edge of Africa.

Detailed explanation-3: -Chennai–Vladivostok Maritime Corridor is a proposed sea route covering approximately 5, 600 nautical miles, or about 10, 300 km, aimed at increasing bilateral trade between India and Russia. In September 2019 in Vladivostok, Prime Minister Narendra Modi signed a Memorandum of Intent for the route.

Detailed explanation-4: -Vasco da Gama, a Portuguese traveller, was the first to discover the sea route to India.

Detailed explanation-5: -But due to the political crisis created by the Turkish empire, the land route connecting India to the European countries was closed. At the same time, Indian resources were in great demand in European countries. These factors pushed the Europeans to discover a new sea route to India.