06-10-2009, 02:06 AM
ji is a mark of respect and not a marker of Indic identity. Its ok to be optional with it.
Meantime looks like the Mumbai Terrorist Attack had one good thing come about. the integration of IN and Coast Guard.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->From Pioneer 10 june 2009
OPED | Wednesday, June 10, 2009 | Email | Print |
Modernising the Navy
Hiranmay Karlekar
Itâs importance cannot be minimised
<b>The massive exercise being conducted at the time of writing by the Indian Navy and the Coast Guard along the entire length of the western coast from Jakhau in Gujarat to Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, is aimed at further strengthening the countryâs defences against unauthorised entry.</b> While such exercises are held every year, the one this year has become specially significant because of the sea-borne terrorist attack on Mumbai in November last year. It might have been prevented but for chinks in the coastal defence set-up and a glaring lack of communication among the Navy, the Coast Guard, the Research & Analysis Wing, Mumbai Police and domestic intelligence agencies.
Understandably, there was sharp criticism of the countryâs coastal security system and demand for prompt remedial action. Considerable progress has doubtless been made in this direction. <b>Particularly important has been Defence Minister AK Antonyâs announcement on February 28 of a new and comprehensive plan to ensure coastal security as a part of a restructuring exercise that put the Indian Navy in overall charge of the countryâs maritime security and placed the Coast Guard, with all its assets, under it. The Director-General of the Coast Guard, the Minister stated, will be designated Commander Coastal Command and will be responsible for overall coordination between Central and State agencies in all matters pertaining to coastal security.</b>
<b>The plan </b>envisioned the Coast Guard having its regional headquarters in Gujarat, headed by a Commander Coast Guard, to look after the surveillance of the Stateâs coast, a matter which has a special significance given the location of some of Indiaâs major energy assets off its coast and the fact that it is the only State with a common maritime boundary with Pakistan. <b>There will be nine additional Coast Guard stations at Karwar, Ratnagiri, Vadinar, Gopalpur, Minicoy, Androth, Karaikal, Hutbay and Nizampatnam.</b>
<b>The Navy, which will be assisted by State marine police establishments and Central and State intelligence agencies, will have a specialised force, Sagar Prahari Bal, with a personnel strength of 1,000 to protect its own installations along the eastern and western coasts and island territories like the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Eighty fast interception crafts will be procured to ensure seafront security.</b>
<b>Joint Operation Centres, manned by the Navy and the Coast Guard, will be set up in Mumbai, Kochi, Vishakhapatnam and Port Blair to ensure round-the-clock surveillance over Indiaâs 7,500-km coastline. Mr Antony further said that there would be a national command, control, communications and intelligence network, linking the operations rooms of the Navy and the Coast Guard, both at the field and apex levels for real-time maritime domain awareness. It is a comprehensive scheme which includes the installation of Vessel and Air Traffic Management Systems for all offshore development areas and considerable increase in the number of ships, boats, aircraft and helicopters for surveillance and interception.</b>
But while it is important to defend Indiaâs coast and offshore assets, one needs to remember that there can also be terrorist attacks on the countryâs merchant marine and also naval ships which, for example, could be targeted the way the US Navyâs vessel Cole was attacked. This, Chinaâs growing presence in the Indian Ocean, and the Navyâs involvement in anti-piracy operations off the Somalian coast, once again <b>underline the urgent need to make it a powerful blue water force capable of coping with its expanding task.</b>
This will require both funds, political will and public support. Unfortunately, public awareness of the Navyâs importance is relatively low. This is because it has virtually no presence on land and its role in the countryâs wars has been none or minimal except during the 1971 India-Bangladesh conflict. Nor does it play the kind of role the Army plays in counter-terror and counter-insurgency operations. <b>People need to know more. In this context, one needs more publications like Baldeo Sahaiâs Indian Navy: A Perspective brought out by the Publications Division. Published in 2006, it does not dwell on the more recent developments. But it gives a scholarly and comprehensive account of the history of Indiaâs naval and maritime activities that go back to 7,000 BC, the cultural and environmental factors that conduced to these, as well as its evolution in modern times and the challenges it faces.</b>
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Meantime looks like the Mumbai Terrorist Attack had one good thing come about. the integration of IN and Coast Guard.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->From Pioneer 10 june 2009
OPED | Wednesday, June 10, 2009 | Email | Print |
Modernising the Navy
Hiranmay Karlekar
Itâs importance cannot be minimised
<b>The massive exercise being conducted at the time of writing by the Indian Navy and the Coast Guard along the entire length of the western coast from Jakhau in Gujarat to Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, is aimed at further strengthening the countryâs defences against unauthorised entry.</b> While such exercises are held every year, the one this year has become specially significant because of the sea-borne terrorist attack on Mumbai in November last year. It might have been prevented but for chinks in the coastal defence set-up and a glaring lack of communication among the Navy, the Coast Guard, the Research & Analysis Wing, Mumbai Police and domestic intelligence agencies.
Understandably, there was sharp criticism of the countryâs coastal security system and demand for prompt remedial action. Considerable progress has doubtless been made in this direction. <b>Particularly important has been Defence Minister AK Antonyâs announcement on February 28 of a new and comprehensive plan to ensure coastal security as a part of a restructuring exercise that put the Indian Navy in overall charge of the countryâs maritime security and placed the Coast Guard, with all its assets, under it. The Director-General of the Coast Guard, the Minister stated, will be designated Commander Coastal Command and will be responsible for overall coordination between Central and State agencies in all matters pertaining to coastal security.</b>
<b>The plan </b>envisioned the Coast Guard having its regional headquarters in Gujarat, headed by a Commander Coast Guard, to look after the surveillance of the Stateâs coast, a matter which has a special significance given the location of some of Indiaâs major energy assets off its coast and the fact that it is the only State with a common maritime boundary with Pakistan. <b>There will be nine additional Coast Guard stations at Karwar, Ratnagiri, Vadinar, Gopalpur, Minicoy, Androth, Karaikal, Hutbay and Nizampatnam.</b>
<b>The Navy, which will be assisted by State marine police establishments and Central and State intelligence agencies, will have a specialised force, Sagar Prahari Bal, with a personnel strength of 1,000 to protect its own installations along the eastern and western coasts and island territories like the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Eighty fast interception crafts will be procured to ensure seafront security.</b>
<b>Joint Operation Centres, manned by the Navy and the Coast Guard, will be set up in Mumbai, Kochi, Vishakhapatnam and Port Blair to ensure round-the-clock surveillance over Indiaâs 7,500-km coastline. Mr Antony further said that there would be a national command, control, communications and intelligence network, linking the operations rooms of the Navy and the Coast Guard, both at the field and apex levels for real-time maritime domain awareness. It is a comprehensive scheme which includes the installation of Vessel and Air Traffic Management Systems for all offshore development areas and considerable increase in the number of ships, boats, aircraft and helicopters for surveillance and interception.</b>
But while it is important to defend Indiaâs coast and offshore assets, one needs to remember that there can also be terrorist attacks on the countryâs merchant marine and also naval ships which, for example, could be targeted the way the US Navyâs vessel Cole was attacked. This, Chinaâs growing presence in the Indian Ocean, and the Navyâs involvement in anti-piracy operations off the Somalian coast, once again <b>underline the urgent need to make it a powerful blue water force capable of coping with its expanding task.</b>
This will require both funds, political will and public support. Unfortunately, public awareness of the Navyâs importance is relatively low. This is because it has virtually no presence on land and its role in the countryâs wars has been none or minimal except during the 1971 India-Bangladesh conflict. Nor does it play the kind of role the Army plays in counter-terror and counter-insurgency operations. <b>People need to know more. In this context, one needs more publications like Baldeo Sahaiâs Indian Navy: A Perspective brought out by the Publications Division. Published in 2006, it does not dwell on the more recent developments. But it gives a scholarly and comprehensive account of the history of Indiaâs naval and maritime activities that go back to 7,000 BC, the cultural and environmental factors that conduced to these, as well as its evolution in modern times and the challenges it faces.</b>
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