Maritime Security Of India

Maritime Security for India

India, part of a land-locked sub-continent, has no option but to emphasize its maritime perspective if it is to attain its destined role in the emerging regional and global order. Despite its inherited continental mindset, India has, over the decades, taken slow but steady steps in the field of maritime development. India has also learned the hard lesson that a nation which neglects its maritime defense can even lose its sovereignty. The post-Cold War environment has offered India multiple options to strengthen its maritime security through regional and international cooperation. This has assumed strategic significance in view of the new threat posed by maritime terrorism. This book evaluates India's maritime defense capability in the years to come. It analyzes the challenges that are likely to be posed, as well as the options that are available to neutralize them.

India's National Security

Maritime security is one of the latest additions to the field of international as well as national security. The concept has received growing attention especially due to the intensification of concerns over maritime terrorism since 2000. The rise of modern piracy, maritime crimes such as human trafficking, and the increasing importance of the 'blue economy' and issues relating to freedom of navigation, maritime environmental protection and resource management have resulted in increased significance of maritime security studies. A significant number of states and other international actors such as, Multinational Corporations (MNCs) and Transnational Corporations (TNCs), have placed maritime security high in their security agenda. This priority is reflected in several governmental and intergovernmental strategies for maritime security. In addition to that the regional grouping in the Indian Ocean and Indo – Pacific, such as ASEAN, BIMSTEC, IORA, and IONS have placed maritime security issues high in their agenda.

The Indian Ocean & India's Maritime Security