How Goa Lost the Islands in the Arabian Sea to Karnataka: A Post-Liberation Cartographic Tragedy

This presentation documents a post-liberation cartographic and administrative failure whereby 18 islands and rocks in the Arabian Sea — covering approximately 235 hectares of sovereign Goan territory — are coded as Goa State (INGA) in the Government of India's DWIEP island database (dwiep.ncscm.res.in) yet are physically located off Karwar, Uttara Kannada district, Karnataka, and administered, taxed, and commercially exploited by Karnataka. Key islands include Anjediva (150 ha), Kurumgad/INGA036 (32 ha, hosting the Cintacor Island Resort promoted by Karnataka's KSTDC), and Devgad/Oyster Rock/INGA038 (11 ha, hosting the historic 1864 British lighthouse). The presentation traces the historical chain of sovereignty from the Sodhe dynasty cession to Portugal in 1763, through 198 years of Portuguese administration, to Operation Vijay (December 1961), establishing that these islands transferred to India as Goa — not as Karnataka. It documents Goa's 2021 letter to the Union Home Ministry asserting claim over 12 islands, Karnataka's audacious counter-claim of 57 islands, and the Home Ministry's four-year silence. It calls for an immediate Article 131 Supreme Court petition, Survey of India physical survey of all 18 features, formal legal notice to Karnataka's KSTDC, GST audit and retroactive credit to Goa, and parliamentary intervention. Published simultaneously with front-page coverage in daily Gomantak, Panaji, Goa (30 April – 1 May 2026).