A joint seminar was organised by the Centre
For Advanced Strategic Studies (CASS) and “Department of Defence and Strategic
Studies Pune University”(DDSS) on 18 Jul 2018.The seminar was well attended.
Introductory Remarks
The
function commenced with Deputy Director CASS, Major
General Shishir Mahajan introducing the speaker
and importance of the subject.
This topic is relevant as India's has a long
coastline of 7600 kms which is prone to infiltration of arms ammunition,
smuggling ,illegal trade, poaching and many other security challenges. Inimical
countries use coastline for carrying out anti national activities, whenever they find that the land
borders are difficult to penetrate. It is therefore important that all of us
understand the importance of coastal security and recommend innovative ways to
improve coastal security further, because resources for coastal security are
always going to be inadequate.
Thereafter he introduced the speaker
Brigadier Hemant Mahajan,YSM.
Brig Hemant Mahajan is a prolific writer and
speaker on National Security related issues. He has served extensively in
Counter Insurgency Operations in Insurgency and Terrorist prone areas of Jammu
& Kashmir, Punjab and North East and has taken part in all important
operations undertaken by the Army since 1975 till 31 Jan 2009.
His
unit was awarded COAS Unit Citation, GOC-In-C Northern Command Unit
Appreciation, 18 gallantry awards, including YSM for the officer.
His
articles are regularly published in all leading Marathi newspapers .He
has published more than 2500 articles in last nine years since retirement. He takes
part in debates on TV Channels explaining correct positions of operations
undertaken by security forces. He has published a number of books on internal
and external security which are also available on all e platforms such as
Google play store, Newshunt ,Amazon kindle Book Ganga, Flipcart, ,Marathi
Srushti etc.
He then proceeded to introduce President of
the function Cmde Rajan Vir.
Commodore Vir served as Naval ADC to the
first President of India Royal
Naval Staff
College , Greenwich , England Indonesia
and Singapore
Commodore Vir is
the founder President of the Indian Maritime Foundation(IMF), a non-profit
organization established in Pune in 1993, and with branches in Mumbai, Delhi
and Chennai. Its aim is to raise awareness of the oceans in the public and to
rekindle maritime consciousness and pride in them. Commodore Vir is the Adviser
and Representative in India
of the World Ship Trust of UK and the World Ocean Observatory, New York
Prof.(Dr.) Vijay Khare
Prof.(Dr.)
Vijay Khare was the next speaker. As a head of DD SS he brought out, that the
department along with CASS holds seminars on various facets of India's national security. He said that
Brigadier Hemant Mahajan who is ‘Chair Professor Of Swatantra Veer Savarkar Chair
Of National Security’ is an eminent expert on national security.The audience
will definitely benefit from his practical experience of dealing with various
issues related to national security.
Aspects Covered By Brigadier Hemant
Mahajan,YSM
The main speaker Brigadier Hemant Mahajan was
the next to speak. He spoke for about one hour and covered various facets of Coastal
Security. Some of the important facets of his talk are covered in succeeding
paras.
This was a research project carried out for
the Indian Maritime Foundation( IMF).The study of the subject was based
primarily on information gathered during the field trips to coastal states over
the course of three years. The states visited were Maharashtra, Gujarat,
Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and the Andaman & Nicobar and
Lakshadweep Islands. Data for the study has been obtained through personal
observations as well as a combination of personal and group interviews. A
number of naval, coast guard, and police personnel as well as officials of
various ministries and departments engaged in the various dimensions of coastal
security at the national, state and local levels have been interviewed
including fishing community.
India’s western coast has been
subjected to smuggling of gold, electronic goods, narcotics, arms ammunition,
explosives and FICN, since long. Infiltration of Bangladeshis on east
coast, smuggling of arms ammunition for Maoists, poaching in island territories is a big threat.
Various bomb blasts and 26/11terror attack was an awakening call.
Comprehensive national maritime & coastal
security policy, better management of maritime boundaries, EEZ, traffic and effective
mechanism for coordination is required. Operational capabilities of Indian Navy
,Indian Coast Guard, Marine police, other agencies require to be improved
further. Coastal States have to be empowered. Port security, security of
offshore installations and Island territories is important. Actionable
intelligence, good surveillance in territorial waters will prevent security
breaches. International best practices should be followed to improve our
coastal security.
A large number of coastal
security exercises have been very useful. Many operations based
on intelligence inputs are being launched to prevent breaches in
security.Induction of Hovercrafts, UAVs, creation of a more
effective network of intelligence through fishermen and national coastal
security corps is necessary.
Jointmanship among all stakeholders,
improved intelligence collection, training, sharing of technology,MDA
Cooperation, cross attachment with each other, joint exercises during
high threat periods will benefit all.
As we hurtle though the opening decades of
the current century, inadequate coastal-security will continue to impose large
vulnerabilities upon India.
Many positives have evolved since last nine
years because of on-the-job training and learning. Establishment of JOC,
improved surveillance and infrastructure have improved coastal security. Intelligence generated is better. A large
number of coastal security exercises have been very useful. Many operations
based on intelligence inputs are being launched to prevent breaches in
security.
This seminar should generate informed
discussion among all stake holders for further improving the coastal security.
Emphasis upon practicable and viable action points, is important to reduce the
effects of our vulnerabilities. The talk will
add to the body of knowledge for all
concerned with planning, legislating, coordinating, executing India’s
coastal security.
Aspects Covered By Cmde Rajan Vir, President IMF
Chairman of the function Cmde Rajan Vir
president of IMF was the last speaker. In a brief speech he brought out various
activities that IMF is carrying out. He also brought out as to why this think
tank was established.He complimented the speaker for doing adequate justice to
this important topic.
IMF(http://indianmaritimefoundation.org/) a think tank dealing with maritime
security runs Maritime Research
Centre along with a fellowship programme
to support and encourage research on various facets of maritime domain. We tasked Brig Hemant Mahajan, a soldier at heart -with
a flair for strategic and tactical research, to pen down his research on “India’s Coastal
Security—Challenges, Concerns & Way Ahead” mainly to generate informed
discussion among all stake holders for improving the coastal security
qualitatively.
The IMF, was established in 1993, as a
non-profit NGO, by a group of like-minded retired officers from the Navy and
the Merchant Marine. We had set the goal of raising awareness of the oceans and
to rekindle maritime consciousness and pride in our people. To put it simply,
our goal was, and remains, to make our people sea-minded. The foundation is run
entirely by volunteers, who give their time, and often spend their own funds.
Our enthusiasm to continue to pursuing our goal remains undiminished.
We cover a wide spectrum of maritime
activities - in fact, all aspects about the oceans, e.g. our Navy, shipping and
maritime trade, coastal security, marine
environment, history and heritage, marine art, underwater technology, and so
on, in India as well as abroad.
Our membership is open to all, men and
women, in India as well as overseas. We network with several maritime
organizations actively, in India as well as overseas. Among the subjects of
ocean studies- which has been our major focus for the past many years-is the
protection of our marine environment.
We have also expanded our ambit of voluntary
coverage in our coastal States, as well as to the hinterland of India,
The IMF, is actively
engaged in coordinating in India, with the enthusiastic help of the ICG and the
IN, the Coastal Cleanup. This is being undertaken by us in partnership with the
world -renowned maritime NGO, the Ocean Conservancy, located at Washington DC.
At
IMF we started the Maritime Research Centre along with this fellowship
programme to support and encourage ideas like this and more in the maritime
domain. This being the second book certainly addresses a very relevant topic
related to the India’s Coastal Security—Challenges, Concerns & Way
Ahead.
This
book should be read by all the stakeholders and others, including the security
forces, policy makers, corporate, security experts, technology providers, and
many more.
The IMF is going to run numerous courses for
students of national security on Maritime security. He hoped that the students
of Pune University will benefit from this courses eminent personal eminent speakers
from the IN. The Merchant Navy and other professionals dealing with Maritime
security will cover various aspects of national security.
Interaction And Question Answer Session
After
the presidential speech the house was thrown open for interaction and question
answer session. There was a tremendous response from the audience with regard
to various facets of coastal security. Many issues requiring considerations
where raised by the audience. Some useful recommendations were also made to
improve the coastal security further. It was brought out that this topic is
important and could be discussed at regular intervals because the type of
challenges that arise from coastal security change very rapidly. The country
and the security forces, the professionals who are involved in coastal security
must remain updated so that we are always one step ahead of the enemy. The
response to the joint seminar of department of Defence studies, Centre
for advanced strategic studies was tremendous.
The seminar
was concluded by Major general Shishir Mahajan by thanking all concerned for making it
successful event.
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