HPAS/Allied Mains 2022 Answer Writing Challenge Day 134 : Model Answer

QUESTION: Critically examine the maritime threats faced by India in the 21st Century. (20 marks, 400 words)

Answer.

Maritime security involves protecting the nation’s sovereignty from threats arising from the oceans and seas. It includes protecting coastal areas, safeguarding the available ocean resources such as fish, offshore oil and gas wells, port facilities, etc. It also means maintaining freedom at sea for movement of our ships and facilitating and protecting trade.

India’s Maritime Interests:

Maritime Territory:

India has a huge coastline of about 7517 km and more than 1200 islands. This expanse is also home to 51 percent of India’s proven oil reserves and 66 percent of natural gas reserves. Protection and preservation of this natural resource not only implies ensuring its territorial integrity but also keeping it safe from predatory inimical entities.

Sea Lines of Communication (SLOCs):

The importance of the Sea Lines can be gauged from the fact that the oceans supported about four fifths of the total world merchandise trade. this amounts to a total of 95 percent of India’s trade volume wherein lies the importance of the SLOCs and the International Shipping Lanes of the Indian Ocean up to large extent under the ambit of India’s maritime security.

Maritime Economy:

The Indian economy is hugely dependent on energy imports to the extent of 80 percent of the total domestic oil consumption. Nearly 95 percent of India’s international trade by volume and over 70 percent by value is carried over the seas.  India is also the world’s fourth largest producer of fish, most of which comes from the sea. This maritime economy is supported by an extensive network of 13 major and about 200 minor ports all along the coast. Sagarmala project has provided a renewed thrust to port-led development and infrastructure for quick and efficient transportation of goods to and from ports. Nurturing this nascent maritime economy will require concerted national efforts whilst ensuring that impediments and potential threats are kept at bay.

Maritime Investments:

India has invested in a variety of sectors like infrastructure, industry, energy, and services in a number of counties in the immediate maritime neighbourhood and beyond. ONGC Videsh Ltd has invested in oil exploration in Vietnam’s EEZ in two blocks allotted by the Vietnamese Government.

India’s Maritime Security Concerns:

Control of Choke Points:

The Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s demonstrated the risks to Indian energy imports through the Straits of Hormuz. The Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb and the Gulf of Aden are similarly critical for security of energy flows. It is, therefore, very important that these areas remain free from the control of inimical interests and the free flow of seaborne traffic remains the norm.

Threats to SLOCs:

The SLOCs in the IOR have been susceptible to disruption by a variety of traditional and non-traditional threats over the years. India has been a pioneer in such efforts with the Indian Navy leading the way from 2002 when Indian ships escorted US flagged carriers through the Malacca Strait following the attack on USS Cole in Aden.

Regional Instability:

The Indian Ocean littoral, regrettably, has been witness to large areas of political instability in the recent past. The rebels of the Free Aceh Movement in Indonesia have often targeted vessels carrying natural resource commodities such as oil, tin and aluminium, off the coast of Sumatra. Instability in Somalia for the past two decades gave birth to the world’s biggest piracy threat. The Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s was another occasion when vital oil trade was severely affected and required a concerted effort from a number of countries to limit the damage. The political disturbance in littoral states like Sri Lanka and Myanmar had spilled over to India through the sea route. Indian maritime security forces then had to conduct dedicated operations to combat this menace, like the Indian intervention in the Maldives in 1988.

Piracy:

Somalia based piracy has caused universal worry to the international fraternity since the late 1990s.

India’s commitment to anti-piracy efforts in the IOR has been underlined by efforts like the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium, which was started by the Indian Navy in 2008, and has found traction with all the Indian Ocean states in generating mechanisms and procedures for combating these threats

Trafficking:

The Indian Ocean Region is regrettably home to the world’s most notorious areas of drug production, the Golden Crescent and the Golden Triangle. These networks tend to use the sea route because of its vastness with its inherent opacity to surveillance.

Maritime Terrorism:

India has put in place a comprehensive monitoring and reaction mechanism to deal with such threats, which has prevented any more events like the one at Mumbai in 2008.

Extra Regional Military Presence:

The expanding Chinese Navy and its acquisition of a base at Djibouti, access facilities in Malaysia,and base at Gwadar is a matter of concern for India. The Maritime Silk Road of China is also viewed by many as a disguise for China’s military ambitions.

Illegal Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing:

IUU fishing is a major problem for marine communities around the world and governments of coastal states are severely challenged in enforcing international and national maritime laws to control this activity.

Maritime Environment:

Waste Pollution from Ships, oil spills, Pacific garbage etc are the major environmental concerns.

Way forward:

Mitigating India’s Maritime Security Concerns:

Regional Maritime Security Framework:

Existing organisations like the IORA and IONS have elements of maritime security included in their charter. Initiatives like the Trilateral Maritime Security Cooperation have to be given a sustained impetus and also widened to include other stakeholders for dealing effectively with challenges emerging from the maritime sphere.

Fostering Close Ties with Nations at Choke Points:

Maritime choke points are naturally narrow channels of shipping having high traffic because of their strategic locations and these can be blocked by the navy. Strait of Horminz , Malacca and Singapore Straits , Sunda Strait , Lombok Strait ,Cape of Good Hope are some choke points. India is maintaining close ties with countries like Indonesia, Sri Lanka etc.

Information Exchange:

Mechanisms and protocols for exchange of tactically important information and intelligence need to be put in place for interdiction and prosecution of vessels and persons engaged in illegal activities. Exchange of such intelligence will permit coordinated tracking of such activity across maritime zones and territorial waters, thereby ensuring effective prosecution. India already has agreements with a number of countries for exchange of white shipping information. Such exchanges have to be not only maintained but also increased with countries across the region

Coordinated Patrols:

The Indian Navy carries out coordinated patrols with Thailand and Indonesia on a bilateral basis. The ICG also has MoUs with a number of countries for cooperation on maritime issues, which include joint exercises.

Anti-Piracy:

India needs to take the lead in the establishment of a sub-regional mechanism for the north-eastern IOR with the participation of Bangladesh and Myanmar to curb piracy.

Conclusion: Free maritime trade has been associated with the culture of India since time immemorial and Oceans are our shared heritage and our maritime routes are the lifelines of international trade. These oceans are very important for the future of our planet.”