The appointment of India's first National Maritime Security Coordinator (NMSC) demonstrates the country's commitment to addressing India’s security challenges and India’s Maritime Challenges. It implements a long-standing recommendation made by the Group of Ministers (GoM) in 2000 to establish an apex body for maritime affairs management. 1 The NMSC, which reports to the National Security Advisor (NSA), will help to streamline maritime governance and enable the maritime sector's development. The Mumbai serial blasts (1993) and Mumbai terror attacks (2008), which claimed over 250 and 175 lives, respectively, occurred due to India's maritime security and India’s martime challenges. More recently, on January 12, 2018, approximately 243 people left India on a fishing boat from Munambam harbour in Kerala in an illegal migration case. By noon, the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) had launched an intensive search operation involving ships, hovercraft, and aircraft. Despite its Coastal Surveillance Network (CSN), which consists of a chain of static sensors equipped with radars, an Automatic Identification System (AIS), day/night cameras, and meteorological sensors stationed at 46 locations to achieve near gap-free surveillance of the entire coastline, the investigation came to a halt with no leads on the whereabouts of the missing people, boat, or the kingpins behind the voyage. 6 It prompted the Kerala High Court to label the situation as serious, with far-reaching consequences.
India’s martime challenges
India has long been regarded as a potential superpower in terms of its role in global maritime security architecture. It has not, however, been able to translate its capability into reality. This is due to a variety of India’s Security Challenges. First, whether it is about territorial disputes or sea disputes, India has always been entrapped by its neighbours. Second, in the post-Cold War era, India has been unable to align or realign its orientations with the United States, nor has it been able to manage its differences with China, another major hegemon in the Indian Ocean region. However, with the presence of countries such as Japan, Australia, India, and the United States, alternative alliance paradigms have emerged. We argue that India must handle its geographical proximity and position diplomatically and realistically in order to gain time for internal capacity building and external manoeuvring in the IOR. Piracy, terrorism, human trafficking, illegal migration, disputes with neighbouring countries, and other major challenges face India in the IOR, despite the fact that there are far more opportunities and benefits than challenges. So, it is up to India to capitalise on its advantages in the IOR. Trying and making India’s Maritime Security number 1 in the world.