Lakshadweep

Lakshadweep is a union territory of India made up of an archipelago. Wikipedia lists 36 islands and islets, of which 10 are inhabited, with a land area of 32.62 sq km. Kavaratti is the capital and the seat of the Administrator. The official Lakshadweep website says the name means “a hundred thousand islands” in Malayalam and Sanskrit.

The territory was formed on 1 November 1956 and renamed Lakshadweep on 1 November 1973, according to Wikipedia. It recorded a population of 64,473 in the 2011 census. English is the official language, with Malayalam as an additional official language, and the Kerala High Court has jurisdiction. Fishing, agriculture and tourism drive the economy. Coconut is the only major crop, and Wikipedia estimates fish output at 21,016 tonnes a year, about 60 per cent of it tuna and related fish. The page gives the exclusive economic zone as 400,000 sq km.

On 10 November 2026 the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying said Lakshadweep and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are central to expanding tuna, seaweed and ornamental fisheries, according to IANS. It said ₹175 crore has been earmarked for Lakshadweep and ₹218 crore for the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, against ₹39,272 crore committed to fisheries nationally since 2015. The two island groups together account for nearly 40 per cent of India’s exclusive economic zone, the statement said. It gives no timetable or output targets.

Sources: Wikipedia, Lakshadweep Administration, IANS via Punjab Kesari