Securing a brighter future

In a decade that has thus far been characterised by a slew of significant maritime challenges — from the COVID-19 pandemic to the maritime manifestations of the rash of armed conflicts that are breaking-out across a world increasingly embroiled in geopolitical contestations — the Indian Navy, in demonstrating its unwavering commitment to preserve India’s maritime security interests, has been both, quick and resolute in seizing the concomitant opportunities that arise from such challenges.

India’s reliance on — and its inextricable linkage with — the sea is well-known. More than 95 per cent of the country’s trade by volume is transported by sea route. This includes 83 per cent of our crude oil imports and 45 per cent of natural gas imports. Nearly 40 per cent of India’s GDP comes from export-import, an activity that relies almost entirely on the medium of the sea. India’s vast Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) contains enormous resources such as oil and gas, minerals and fish. More than half of the domestic production of crude oil is from offshore basins and 67 per cent of the country’s proven oil reserves lie offshore in the EEZ. India is the third largest producer of fish in the world, a sector that employs about 1.5 crore people in the country. Increasingly, the sea is gaining importance as a major source of metals such as cobalt, nickel, copper and manganese and it is estimated that there might be over 380 million tonnes of polymetallic nodules in India’s EEZ. Simply put, India’s economy and her future are anchored in the maritime domain.

A brilliantly crafted strategy document that was published in 2015, shows the prescience with which the Indian Navy, having recognised this enormous responsibility, set about to prepare itself to deliver what would be expected from it in the coming decades. The Navy’s strategy document specifies five interwoven strategies that it would pursue across its four distinct roles – the Military, the Diplomatic, the Constabulary, and the Benign. These strategies have been tested and proven on several occasions. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Navy launched OPERATION SAMUDRA SETU to supplement medical equipment and supplies, specifically the critically required oxygen, from friendly nations such as Brunei, Qatar and Singapore. Within the country, the Navy proactively set-up several ‘COVID care centres’ and developed innovative systems such as the ‘Oxygen On Wheels’ to ameliorate the impact of the pandemic upon the population. The Navy also facilitated reciprocal goodwill of the Government of India by supplying relief and medical assistance to distant nations in the Indian Ocean Region. Indian Naval ships were also mobilised to repatriate our citizens from Maldives, Sri Lanka, Mauritius and Iran.

This year, the Navy evacuated citizens from the conflict zone in Sudan under the aegis of OPERATION KAVERI. Other instances where the Navy has played a sterling role in providing relief and succour, both within the country and abroad, have been the leveraging of its inherent characteristic of flexibility and reach in responding to crises resulting from natural disasters, exemplified by the rehabilitation and search and rescue (SAR) missions that were conducted during the cyclone Tauktae off the West Coast of India in 2021 and cyclone Idai in the Southern Indian Ocean in 2019.

From the ‘Benign’ end of its full-spectrum capabilities to the ‘Military’ end, the Indian Navy has led the Government’s efforts in securing India’s maritime interests. The Navy’s ongoing OPERATION SANKALP in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, now underway for the fourth consecutive year, has ensured the safe passage of Indian Flag Vessels transiting through the Strait of Hormuz where maritime security threats have hampered the movement of trade. Even more noteworthy have been the continuous deployment of warships, since 2008, in the piracy-ridden Gulf of Aden and the Somali coast which have facilitated unhindered transit of India’s maritime trade. The Navy’s deployments in the aftermath of the Galwan incident are also symbolic of its credibility as a deterrent force.

The Indian Navy has continued to play a pivotal role in India’s surefooted economic ascendancy, and has also rendered yeoman service in nation-building. As the coordinator of Navigational Area VIII (NAVAREA VIII), the Indian Navy has stood as the guarantor of timely and accurate navigational information. Indian Naval officers have also been involved in scientific ventures of national importance such as our missions in Antarctica, as also the Deep Ocean Mission being piloted by the Ministry of Earth Sciences. The Navy’s support and sponsorship of ocean sailing has placed the country at the centre stage of adventure activities and has also attracted interest among India’s youth in marine sports. The Indian Navy has also been instrumental in reclaiming India’s maritime heritage. The Navy’s support and patronage of think-tanks such as the National Maritime Foundation are reflective of its investment in promoting maritime consciousness among our citizens. Another hugely popular initiative of the Indian Navy is THINQ, which began last year as a national-level Inter School Quiz competition.

One manifestation of an Indian Navy that is rapidly becoming truly Indian in every way lies in indigenous ship construction. The Honourable Prime Minister has very recently articulated the government’s pledge to rapidly transform India into one of the top five shipbuilding nations in the coming decade. India has internalised the plough-back effect inherent in indigenous warship construction, where a very large proportion of every rupee spent is ploughed back into the Indian economy. Since the Prime Minister’s call for an Aatmanirbhar Bharat, some 80 per cent of all naval shipbuilding projects whose necessity has been accepted by the government have been awarded to Indian vendors and today, very nearly all Indian Naval ships and submarines that are on order are being constructed indigenously. Of even greater import is the fact that 90 per cent of the value of ship-repair is undertaken by Indian vendors — the large bulk of them being MSMEs. Incontrovertible data exists to show that the multiplier effect of one worker employed in a shipyard is approximately 6.4 on ancillary industries. India’s Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC) project, which was commissioned as the Vikrant last September, is illustrative of the huge economic impact that indigenous warship construction offers, besides the very obvious military advantage that it provides the Indian Navy with. A major spin-off of the IAC has been the development and production of indigenous warship grade steel for the ship through a partnership between Navy, DRDO and Steel Authority of India (SAIL).

Supplementing Aatmanirbharta with Swavalamban, and with innovation at the crosshairs of its future force development, the Indian Navy had set up a Naval Innovation and Indigenisation Organisation (NIIO) in 2020. Last year, at the maiden edition of the NIIO seminar in July 2022, the Hon'ble Prime Minister had launched 75 challenges for the start-ups/ MSMEs as a part of the 'SPRINT' initiative. These were aimed at boosting the use of indigenous technology in the Indian Navy, which is committed to developing at least 75 technologies and products as part of the 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav'. On one hand, the Indian Navy has been proactive in supporting domestic Start-Ups. On the other, the Navy has proactively engaged with the DRDO to develop critical naval technologies such as sensors and weapon systems to achieve a high level of indigenisation.

The national leadership fully recognises that it will be possible for India to prosper if, and only if, the region prospers as a whole. This philosophy is encapsulated in the acronym ‘SAGAR’ (Security and Growth for All in the Region). On its part, the Indian Navy is mindful of the fact that regional security cannot come from the efforts of any one country alone; it would require collaboration and cooperation with all willing and like-minded partners. Therefore, the Navy has sought to expand the breadth and depth of its cooperation with other maritime agencies in the region through a series of bilateral, minilateral, and multilateral exercises, Navy-to-Navy talks, and regional dialogues such as the Goa Maritime Conclave (GMC) and the Indo-Pacific Regional Dialogue (IPRD). From hosting the biennial MILAN series of exercises which began in 1992 to conceptualising the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) in 2008, the Indian Navy has demonstrated unwavering commitment to cooperative regional maritime security and has emerged as the ‘Preferred Security Partner’ in the Indian Ocean Region.

As India strides forward to fulfil her goal of enhancing the size and worth of her economy from the current value of three-trillion US dollars to thirty-trillion US dollars by the year 2047, it is in the maritime domain that the most sustained and enduring effort will need to be exerted. This would only be possible if conditions conducive for exploration, exploitation and utilisation of the maritime domain are created, and sustained. Therefore, it is natural that as India’s economic strength and political influence grows, the Indian Navy too would need to hone its capabilities, and grow in tandem, to secure our national interests.

The writer was commissioned in the Indian Navy in 1996, and has served in the Indian Navy in several operational and staff assignments. Currently, he is a research fellow at the National Maritime Foundation, New Delhi. Views expressed are personal