India to soon get National Maritime Security Coordinator to ensure maritime and coastal security

The NMSC will work under the Indian National Security Advisor and be the principal advisor to the government on maritime security domain.

The post is being created after two decades after the Kargil Group of Ministers' recommendation.

The Ministry of Defence and Military Affairs has sought Union Cabinet approval for the NMSC post, said a Hindustan Times report.

In all likelihood, a serving or recently retired Vice Admiral of Indian Navy will be appointed to the job, it added citing South Block sources.

The appointment of NMSC fills the need of the hour as the Navy, Coast Guard and state maritime boards all tend to operate in isolation from one another with overlapping jurisdictions and are constantly at odds with each other.

As India has long acted on land based security doctrines and suffered maritime blindness for centuries despite being a maritime country with 7000 km of coastline and over 2 million kilometres of Exclusive Economic Zone, India is a maritime nation, noted the Hindustan Times report.

Over 70 per cent of India's trade is done, including the critical crude oil exports through sea. Also, protection of sea shipping lanes is vital to India’s security,  the Hindustan Times report further said.

Additionally, nine coastal states and four union territories of India feel that maritime and coastal protection is the responsibility of the Centre.

The need of NMSC was most felt when 10 Pakistani Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) gunmen directed by ISI handlers in Karachi made their way into Mumbai through Indian coast and conducted one of the biggest terrorist attacks on Indian soil while the maritime security agencies like Navy, Coast Guard and Mumbai Port were all at sea.

China is moving towards a sea based security doctrine and penetrating into Indian Ocean through Pakistan and Myanmar. Beijing is looking to reach Africa's eastern seaboard through Indian maritime domain.

Amid this development, the post of NMSC will be vital for maritime and coastal security.

The creation of NMSC is part of Act East Policy, SAGAR (Security and Growth of All in the Region), Deep Ocean Mission and the Sagarmala project, the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to convert 12 major ports of India  into world class standard.