Annual Report 2007 - Observer Research Foundation

Defence Minister A K Antony cautioned that
India’s vast coastline was still “vulnerable” as
interests “inimical” to it were eyeing penetration
through these areas to destabilise the country
(left to right)
● A reception aboard
INS Vikrant during the
maritime conference.
● Gen. V.P. Malik with H.E.
S.M. Krishna, Governor
of Maharashtra.
● A question and answer
session during the
maritime conference.
will have to be resolved and the legal framework strengthened,” Admiral Chaudhari said.
Senior Supreme Court lawyer C. Jayaraj made a strong case for the need to create a comprehensive
domestic legislation to deal with the various issues and looking at the future requirements.
He also stressed the need to establish a Regional Maritime Crime Court of Asia with the help of
other nations.This conference was followed it up with a half day seminar in Delhi on 19th
January. The Defence Minister, Mr. A.K Antony, inaugurated it. The chiefs of the Navy and the Coast
Guard were also present.
Defence Minister cautioned that India’s vast coastline was still “vulnerable”
as interests “inimical” to it were eyeing penetration through these areas to
destabilise the country. He said steps would soon be unveiled to put up a much
tougher security apparatus all along the coastal regions and the Navy, Coastguard
as well as other security agencies would be called upon to play a more
vigilant role in this.
“Recently, there were reports of attempts to sneak in contrabrand through
coastal lanes,” the Minister said pointing out that coastal regions were still vulnerable
especially as quantum of trade and commerce through sea lanes was registering a phenomenal
growth. While the country’s mountainous and land borders had been equipped with sophisticated
surveillance system, a special surveillance system had to be mooted and mounted in the shortest possible
time for the coastal areas.
While asserting that the Government was giving top prioirty to build up an effective Navy and
Coast Guard, the Defence Minister laid emphasis on modernisation and increasing the capacity of
the country’s ship yards. “Our shipyards are presently taking too much time and resources to build
warships. Steps have to be taken to modernise these shipyards to make them more state-of-the-art,” he
said. He said steps would also soon be taken to increase the assembly lines and capacity of these ship
yards as these were crucial for India to move towards self reliance in warship and submarine building.
“Our indigenisation efforts are showing results.Our marine sector has clearly understood the nuances
of technological means required to build high quality merchant and service ships,” he said.
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Annual Report 2007 ◆ Observer Research Foundation
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