Coastal Security

The main motive of establishing Coastal Security is to keep away illegal arms, infiltration of unauthorised persons, contraband articles through sea routes, unauthorised fishing or entry of any anti-national elements, attacks on ships, smuggling and trafficking through the sea routes and to guard the seacoast from any vital installations.  

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) established Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) for all coastal states in 1972. Following that, the Union of India implemented the Maritime Zones of India Act 1976 in order to uphold sovereign power over the huge ocean area of the Exclusive Economic Zone. At a time, India acquired 2.01 million square kilometres of the ocean for extensive exploitation of all living and nonliving resources.

• India has a coastline of approximately 7516.6 km, which borders the mainland and islands in the Bay of Bengal in the east, the Indian Ocean in the south, and the Arabian Sea in the west

• On the coast, there are nine states: Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Odisha, and West Bengal, as well as four union territories (UTs): Daman and Diu, Puducherry, Lakshadweep, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Maritime and Coastal Security Set-up

• The Indian Navy is the authority in charge of overall maritime security, including offshore and coastal security

• Coastal Police, the Indian Coast Guard (ICG), and other Central and State agencies assist the Indian Navy

• The Indian Coast Guard is also authorised and charged with coastal security in Territorial Waters, including areas patrolled by Coastal Police
• The bi-annual Sagar Kavach exercises are involved with the Indian Navy, Indian Coast Guard (ICG), and coastal police. This demonstrates a spirit of cooperation in the littoral domain, indicating a willingness to confront maritime threats together

Indian Coast Guard (ICG)

• The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) was formally established on August 18, 1978, by the Coast Guard Act, 1978 of the Parliament of India

• It is an armed force that safeguards India’s maritime terrorism and interests that keeps up with maritime law

• Due to the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the need for coastal security improvements increased, there was a major shift in the maritime security establishment that increased intense focus on surveillance, intelligence gathering, and information sharing among the various stakeholders to ensure an effective reaction to any emerging situation

• The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) was also designated as the authority responsible for coastal security in territorial waters, including areas to be patrolled by the Coastal Police. In February 2009, the Indian Coast Guard also became an incharge of overall coordination between federal and state agencies in matters of coastal security

Coastal Security Scheme (CSS) 

• The Ministry of Home Affairs’ Department of Border Management is implementing CSS in stages with the goal of strengthening the infrastructure of the Police Forces of Coastal States/UTs, for patrolling and surveillance of coastal areas. They particularly concentrated on the shallow waters that are close to the coast

• The CSS (Phase-I) was implemented in 2005-06, with a budget of 646 crore spent over a six-year period

• The CSS (Phase-II) was developed in response to the heavily changing coastal security scenario that happened after the Mumbai terrorist attack incident on November 26, 2008. It was followed by a vulnerability-gap analysis conducted by coastal States and UTs, that displayed a few more important security measures to be taken to strengthen the coastal security infrastructure

Conclusion

After the Mumbai attacks in 2008, there has been a paradigm shift in the maritime security apparatus that increased emphasis on surveillance, intelligence gathering and information sharing amongst the various stakeholders to ensure an effective response to any emerging situation. In Feb 2009, the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) was additionally designated as the authority responsible for coastal security in territorial waters, including areas to be patrolled by the Coastal Police. The Coast Guard is also responsible for overall coordination between Central and State agencies in matters relating to Coastal Security.

 As part of Coastal Security mechanism, a surveillance system, called Coastal Surveillance Network (CSN), comprising of Chain of Static Sensors having Radars, Automatic Identification System (AIS), Day/Night Cameras and Met Sensors at 46 locations along the coastline and Islands has been established by the Indian Coast Guard. In order to achieve near gap-free surveillance of the entire coastline, 38 additional Radar Stations and 08 Mobile Surveillance Systems apart from VTMS connectivity at Gulf of Kutch and Gulf of Khambhat, are being installed under CSN phase-II.

The ICG has promulgated Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for ensuring coordination and cohesion amongst various agencies involved in Coastal Security. Regular exercises are conducted to validate these SOPs. To revalidate the coastal security mechanism and bring awareness among the fishermen at sea, regular boarding operations are also being conducted to validate and check the credentials of the occupants of the vessels including their Identity Cards and Registration Documents. Based on intelligence inputs, Coastal Security operations are conducted by the ICG in coordination with other stake holders.

 Community Interaction Programmes (CIPs) with the fishers and coastal populace are conducted periodically by the ICG to sensitize them on security and safety issues, that in turn enables them to act as ‘Eyes and Ears’ in the overall coastal security construct. In order to develop their capacity, the ICG has been imparting regular training to Marine Police personnel since 2006. The training which is conducted at Coast Guard District Headquarters corresponding to the Coastal States/ UTs comprises three weeks of orientation module and one week of OJT. The ICG and Marine Police are working in the ‘Hub-and-Spoke’ concept, the ‘Hub’ being the ICG Stations and the ‘Spoke’ being the Coastal Police Stations.

 The ICG contributes towards development and implementation of an effective security mechanism to combat seaborne threats. The security matrix of the ICG encompasses a host of operations, and involves measures undertaken to address coastal security, offshore security, anti-terrorism, anti-piracy and port security. The ICG also provides support to the Indian Navy to ensure the maritime security of the country.