Classification
- Maritime Security classifies issues in the maritime domain comprising national security, marine environment, economic development, and human security.
Threats of Maritime Security
- Maritime Chokepoints: The maritime choke points Strait of Hormuz, Strait of Malacca are recently being subjected to maritime conflict and increasing Chinese presence. This may gradually affect India’s interest in the region like import of crude oil and boosting trade.
- Regional Conflicts: The region close to the coast of Somalia, Yemen, Iran are continuously witnessing conflict which hinders India’s interest like trade and investment. It also places India’s vessels in trouble.
- Rise of Piracy: The Indian Ocean Region especially the Horn of Africa has been witnessing incidents of attacks by Somali pirates on trading vessels which has also been troubling Indian vessels and taking Indian sailors as hostages.
- Drug Trafficking: Some of the notable drug production centres located in the Indian Ocean Region like Golden Crescent (Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan) and Golden Triangle (Myanmar, Laos, Thailand) are subject to smuggling narcotics to India via coastal route. For instance, drugs worth Rs 12,000 Crore were seized from ships along the Kerala Coast.
- Maritime Terrorism: In the past, India has witnessed a surge in terror movements in Indian coasts via sea route. For example – 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai.
- China’s Rise: The Indian Ocean has been seeing the rise of Chinese activity in various forms like building military bases in Djibouti, strategy of string of pearls and recent incident of Chinese spy ship Yuan Wang-6 entering the Indian Ocean in the name of survey.
- Illegal Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing: IUU presents a threat to maritime security because it gives piracy a base to operate from.
Initiatives to Ensure Maritime Security
- Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR) : To improve relations with its maritime neighbours on the economic and security fronts.
- Project Mausam: To re-establish connections and communication channels between nations surrounding the Indian Ocean
- Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS): To foster closer maritime ties between the navies of the Indian Ocean region’s coastal states.
- Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) – India can address maritime concerns thanks to close collaboration with IORA nations.
- Sagarmala Initiative – With the Sagarmala project, India’s coastline will be surrounded by several ports.
- Colombo Security Conclave – To further promote maritime security in the Indian Ocean Region.