With rising pollution in the country and degradation of the natural reserve, there is a need to look for the environment and work towards it. For such a purpose, the headquarters of the naval component that comes under the Andaman and Nicobar has initiated the ocean cleansing mission known as ‘Swachh Samudra Abhiyaan’. It is a joint initiative of the Indian Coast Guard and Swachchh Samundra. It is one of a kind initiative that was for the reduction of marine pollution. With this initiative, marine pollution can be cleared by salvaging non-biodegradable material from the sea bed.

The effort of Swachchh Samundra is to aim and start an initiative for cleaning the underwater environment, thus, supporting the ecological system of the coast.

Indian Coast Guard and Swachchh Samundra

In this initiative of Swachh Samundar, the mission played a very crucial role. It has active participation in this mission, and it is because of them that the mission could become so successful and is known as one for its kind initiative and uniqueness. It was the pollution control initiative at regional that became one of the most successful events. The mentioned exercise was one of the response mechanisms for pollution by oil in the ocean.

Definition of Swachchh Samundra

It was in the year 2019 that ICG or the Indian Coast Guard started a local level response to pollution. It was a two-day exercise known as Swachchh Samundra NW-2019. It was at the sea of Vadinar in the. It was a joint exercise between the Indian Coast Guard and Swachchh Samundra. The mentioned exercise was for validation and reinforcement about the mechanism of response for incidents of oil pollution. This will also enable the ICGs to tune in to the actions that are required in the given situations. This is the definition of Swachchh Samundra.

The mentioned exercise was in two different phases. First is the Kutch Gulf, which handles a total of 70% of the given oil volume that is imported from India, along with 11 SPMs or Single point Moorings, which were out of the total of twenty-seven Single point Moorings. It was on 18th August 1978 that the Indian Coast guard was founded. The headquarters is in New Delhi. The motto of the organization is to protect. Indian Coast Guard and Swachchh Samundra together start this initiative of Swachchh Samundra.

Roles and Duties of Coast Guard

There are various responsibilities of the coast guard that they have to follow; some of them are as follows-

• The main role of the coast guard is that they ensure the safety and protection of artificial islands along with installations and multiple devices and structures in maritime zones and offshore terminals.
• They also provide protection and assistance to all those fishermen who are in distress while they are at sea.
• Their role also includes the protection and preservation of the maritime environment, which also includes controlling maritime pollution and working to clean it.
• They also help in assisting customs along with multiple other authorities that help in operations that are anti-smuggling.
• They help in enforcing the Maritime Zones of India Act.
• They also take precautionary measures for the safety of the property of people and their lives in the ocean and help in collecting valuable scientific data.

Importance of Swachchh Samundra

We have previously discussed the contribution and joint endeavour of the Indian Coast Guard and Swachchh Samundra. The objective of the mission is quite clear, and that is to make the marine ecological system pollution-free. There are multiple benefits of such an initiative as well. Some of the Importance of Swachchh Samundra are as follows-

• It is a very good initiative for climate and for controlling the pollution that pollutes the ocean bed of the world.
• Such an initiative is one of a king by India, thus giving India an edge in the international market and increasing the credibility of the Nation on multiple International platforms.
• It is an initiative by the government; thus, we can see more and more participation from different states of India. With such participation, it will become a great initiative.

Conclusion

With the help of the above findings and information, we can conclude by saying that the Indian Coast Guard and Swachchh Samundra are doing a marvellous job in cleaning the maritime pollution. Later this will benefit India in the international realm. As the mission is one of its kind, and it is for the good cause of eradicating pollution from the ocean beds so that we can contribute to preserving nature and climate from degradation in the longer run.