What are the maritime security challenges in India ? Discuss the organisational, technical and procedural initiatives taken to improve the maritime security.
Approach · directive: “what / discuss”
What it asks · Set out India's maritime security challenges and discuss the organisational, technical and procedural steps taken to improve coastal and maritime security.
It asks 4 things — answer each
- What: the maritime security challenges India faces
- Discuss the organisational initiatives taken to improve maritime security
- Discuss the technical initiatives
- Discuss the procedural initiatives
Open with · With a long coastline, island territories and busy sea lanes, India faces threats from the sea ranging from terrorism to piracy; the 26/11 attack came by sea and exposed how thin coastal security was.
Cover
- Challenges: sea-borne terrorism as on 26/11, piracy, smuggling of arms, drugs and people, illegal fishing and migration, maritime boundary disputes and a growing extra-regional naval presence.
- Vulnerabilities: ports and offshore assets, cyber attacks on port systems, oil spills and marine disasters.
- Organisational: a three-tier structure, the Navy for overall maritime security, the Coast Guard for coastal waters and Marine Police for the shallows, coordinated by the National Committee for Strengthening Maritime and Coastal Security and joint operations centres.
- Technical: coastal radar chain, AIS transponders and vessel tracking, the National Command Control Communication and Intelligence network, and the Information Fusion Centre for the Indian Ocean Region.
- Procedural: identity cards for fishermen and registration of boats, exercises such as Sea Vigil, first held in January 2019 as the largest coastal defence exercise, and Sagar Kavach, ISPS Code port security and information-sharing protocols.
- Regional and gaps: the SAGAR vision, joint patrols and anti-piracy cooperation; gaps remain in manpower, coordination among many agencies and asset maintenance.
Close with · Fixing the weakest links, intelligence sharing, State marine police and fishing communities as the eyes of the coast, is how SAGAR begins at India's own shore.
Add value (verified)
- The first coastal defence exercise Sea Vigil, conducted by the Navy and Coast Guard with State Governments and Union Territories, concluded on 23 January 2019 as the largest such exercise the country had witnessed.PIB (23 January 2019), Ministry of Defence: Two-Day Coastal Defence Exercise Sea Vigil Concludes ↗“The first coastal defence Exercise Sea Vigil, conducted by the Navy and Coast Guard, in close coordination with State Governments and Union Territories concluded today, 23 Jan 2019. It was the largest such exercise the country had ever witnessed in recent times”
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2022, GS Paper III — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 3 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer· 223words · Minimalist IAS
With a long coastline, island territories and busy sea lanes, India faces threats from the sea ranging from terrorism to piracy; the 26/11 attack came by sea and exposed how thin coastal security was.
Maritime security challenges
- Threats: sea-borne terrorism as on 26/11, piracy, smuggling of arms, drugs and people, illegal fishing and migration.
- Strategic and systemic: boundary disputes, a growing extra-regional naval presence, vulnerable ports and offshore assets, cyber attacks on port systems.
Organisational initiatives
- Three-tier structure: coordinated by the National Committee for Strengthening Maritime and Coastal Security and joint operations centres.
| Tier | Agency | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Overall maritime security | Indian Navy | High seas and EEZ |
| Coastal security | Coast Guard | Coastal waters |
| Near-shore policing | State Marine Police | Shallows and creeks |
Technical initiatives
- Surveillance and fusion: a coastal radar chain, AIS transponders, the National Command Control Communication and Intelligence network and the Information Fusion Centre, Indian Ocean Region.
Procedural initiatives
- Know the coast: identity cards for fishermen, boat registration and ISPS Code security at ports.
- Drill and share: Sea Vigil, first held in January 2019 as the largest coastal defence exercise, Sagar Kavach, and information-sharing protocols.
- Regional: the SAGAR vision, joint patrols and anti-piracy cooperation with Indian Ocean partners.
Fixing the weakest links, intelligence sharing, State marine police and fishing communities as the eyes of the coast, is how SAGAR begins at India's own shore.
Prepared by Minimalist IAS to the answer standard of Shivam Singh (mentor, 7 years) · facts checked against official sources (how we verify) · updated 3 Oct 2026. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.
