Kashish Jain
India will have an Apex Body to handle all maritime affairs. This body will handle all affairs, from the coastline to the high seas, and ensure cohesive policy-making and effective coordination among the multiple authorities dealing with such issues in the country.
Chief of Defense Staff Bipin Rawat has said,
“The organizational structure of a National Maritime Commission (NMC) has been worked out after inter-ministerial consultations. It is in the final stages now, requiring only the nod of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS). By the middle of this year, the NMC will become a reality,”
The Specifics of the NMC (which aims to integrate all the users along the Coast as well as the High Seas) are not yet in the Public Domain. However, there is likelihood that NMC will be headed by a ‘National Maritime Security Coordinator’ in an attempt to usher the synergy among the different stakeholders involved.
These stakeholders range from Central Ministries and Departments (Home, Shipping, Fisheries, etc) and State Governments to the Navy, Coast Guard, customs, intelligence agencies, and port authorities.
Officials feel that the Country needs a “full-time framework” to handle the “vast and critical” maritime domain, which has too many players who often work at cross-purposes with diffuse responsibilities, said sources.
The necessity for such a framework was stressed upon in the past but could never solidify into concrete results, and this can be attributed to turf wars, among other things. After the deadly 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks in 2008, for instance, a maritime security advisory board (MSAB), with a maritime security advisor as its chief, figured on the CCS agenda.
The 2001 Group of Ministers’ report on reforming the national security system, after the 1999 Kargil conflict, had also underlined the need for “an apex body for the management of maritime affairs for institutionalized linkages among the Navy, Coast Guard and ministries of central and state governments”.
After the 26/11 strikes, the National Committee on Strengthening Maritime and Coastal Security against threats from the sea (NCSMCS), with the cabinet secretary as its chairman, was set up.
The primary problem was that this organization occasionally met to coordinate 13 coastal states/UTs and other maritime stakeholders as well as review the progress of various coastal and maritime security measures.
While several measures were taken to strengthen the Security, clearly a lot still needs to be done.