There are good numbers of Indians in Maldives( Indians)

New Delhi: It is about December 2014. A massive fire broke out in the Water and Sewerage Company of Male. Due to this, there was a disturbance in the water distillation plant here. The supply of clean drinking water stopped. Maldives, surrounded by sea on all sides, has no natural source of drinking water. It is completely dependent on the water it gets from the distillation plant. As soon as the plant closed, there was an outcry for drinking water in Maldives. The Government of Maldives requested the Government of India  ( Indians) on 4 December 2014. India started Operation Neer. That is, a campaign to provide drinking water to Maldives.
Indian Navy came forward to help
Indian Navy launched INS Sukanya off the coast of Kochi. Every day, 35 tonnes of fresh water was sent to Male on INS Sukanya, a ship with the capacity to treat 20 tonnes of water. Apart from this, on 7 December 2014, INS Deepak reached Male with 1000 tonnes of water. Meanwhile, hundreds of tons of water were filled in airplanes like C17 Globe Master-3 and IL-76 of the Indian Air Force and transported to Male. Help also reached from countries like America and China, but the speed with which India quenched the thirst of Maldives by running Operation Neer is a history in itself. This incident showed how important India is for Maldives as a close neighbour. .

Mikoni Island of India is just 100 kilometers away from the country made up of 1092 small islands. The nearest Indian city to Male is Kochi. This distance is 820 kilometers. Whereas the distance between Delhi and Male is more than 2700 kilometers. Despite geographical distance, India and Maldives have close relations.

There are good numbers of Indians in Maldives

The population of Maldives is a little more than 5 lakh 20 thousand. According to a figure, about 30 thousand Indians live in Maldives. Of these, 22 thousand live in Male only. These include professions ranging from nurses, teachers, doctors to accountants, engineers and managers. There is also a large number of workers who are both skilled and non-skilled. These include technicians, tailors, plumbers, and other laborers. Some are also in tourism business. Due to the sea being close in distance, Maldives has a large number of Indians from Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

India has also helped Maldives many times politically
People to people contact between India and Maldives has its own history. India has helped Maldives at many important junctures politically. In 1988, a coup attempt in Maldives was foiled by sending the army. After this, the Indian Army was immediately called back so that India was not seen showing its dominance here. Even during the 2004 tsunami, India was the first country to help Maldives. In January 2020, when there was a danger of measles spreading in Maldives, India immediately sent 30 thousand doses of its vaccine to Maldives.
India helped even during Covid
India was the first country to help Maldives during Covid. Current President Moizzu may be showing closeness to China but he cannot take Maldives geographically closer to China. Especially in times of disaster, India comes first to help the people of Maldives.