The 26/11Mumbai terrorist attack was a fallout of the lax maritime surveillance along India’s vast and porous coastal stretch. As a consequence, this element, is today receiving top priority by the Indian defence establishment. The Government of India has launched a massive programme to strengthen coastal security following the revelation that terror visited India’s commercial capital from across the Arabian Sea route. The Indian Navy has been made the sole, centralized authority responsible for the overall maritime security of the country. This implies that the navy will be required to coordinate with 27 different state and central agencies to keep a hawk eye on the vessels and alien objects intruding into Indian territorial waters. Simultaneously, it is planned to set up a national command, control, communications and intelligence network for the maritime domain linking the Navy with Coast Guard operations. Further, a new naval force named “Sagar Prahari Dal” will be put in place to protect naval assets and bases along the coast and island territories. On another front, the Government of India has also approved a plan for the setting up of a chain of static coastal radars to keep a vigil on the ships and low-flying aircraft in the vicinity of the country’s coast.

Indian Defence   Minister AK Antony  has all along been driving home the point that  country’s sprawling  coastal stretch should be considered as a “border”, which needs to be protected  as much as its “land locked frontiers.” While speaking after laying the keel of India’s first fully homegrown aircraft carrier at Cochin Shipyard at Kochi on 28 February, Antony observed, “The protection of our vast EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone) is vital to the rapid economic growth of the country. For we are living in a world of uncertainty with threats from maritime terrorism, piracy, narcotics smuggling and low intensity conflict. The security of our sea lanes, communications lines and offshore infrastructure will have to be ensured for sustainable development.”

For his part, Indian Navy chief, Admiral Sureesh Mehta has expressed concern over the possibility of cargo containers being employed to transport nuclear weapons to pre-determined targets. While delivering the inaugural speech at a seminar organized by the National Maritime Foundation in New Delhi on 18 February, Mehta said, “Today 70-75% of global cargo is containerized. It has been widely acknowledged that containers would be the most likely means for a terrorist organization to illegally transport a nuclear weapon and, hence, there is a serious concern about container security.” Against this backdrop Mehta highlighted the need to ensure complete security at ports by scanning containers under X-ray machines. Mehta’s observation assumes significance in the light of the poor security arrangements at Indian ports and harbours. India has 12 major ports and 200 minor ones which account for 90 per cent by volume and 77 per cent by value of country’s foreign trade. At the moment, the security along 7516-km long Indian coastline spread across nine states and four union territories leaves much to be desired.

While inaugurating the first coastal police station at Neendakara near Kollam in Kerala on 9 February, India’s Home Minister, P Chidambarm, observed that people who live in the coastal villages of the country could be made a part of the coastal security mechanism. “For all these years, we thought that our coastline was not vulnerable. But two and a half months ago, we learnt, by paying a very high price what will happen if we leave our coastline unguarded.” Incidentally, the porous and poorly guarded Arabian Sea front along Kerala has been widely used by LTTE militants, an assortment of jihadi groups, smugglers and drug runners.

Perhaps the biggest drawback in ensuring total coastal security is the failure of Indian authorities to get seagoing fishing vessels registered; a majority of fishing boats plying in the oceanic waters around India remains unregistered. In addition to getting all fishing boats registered, the Government of India is also planning to carry out the enumeration of people living in coastal villages of the country and provide them with multipurpose identity cards.

The Indian Ministry of Shipping has come out with a slew of initiatives for strengthening coastal security. This includes deployment of speed boats, bringing in more vessels under the automated surveillance system and checking the antecedents of contract labourers working in ports. On another front, it has also been decided to deploy specially trained naval commando units and raise bomb squads in each of the ports under the control of the Ministry. It is also planned to make use of the data made available by Indian earth observation and ocean watch satellites to fill the void in India’s coastal security.