One bold step was taken on the first available opportunity by the new Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, who introduced the new naval intelligence network to track ships in real time, while simultaneously cautioning on the role of Indian navy by putting utmost stress on the working of Navy that "should strive to have zero tolerance for errors".
He pointed out the gaps in coastal security at Karwar and Manglore on the western coast and stressed on the need to bring them under coastal radars coverage.
India, the major naval power in the middle of the Arabian, Hind Mahasagar and Pacific ocean, has an added responsibility to act as a watchdog in this space to secure the safe journey of merchant ships crossing through the area. As such India is looking forward to tie up with nearly 24 countries for exchange of merchant shipping data, while our naval intelligence network to track ships in real-time has now finally become a reality though a long six year's wait after the 2611 terror strikes.
The outreach among the different nations will be a spread from Africa's east coast to beyond the Malacca Straits. It was announced by the new NSA chief Ajit Doval. He admitted that though this will take time to fructify, the Narendra Modi government is now all set to give the final nod to the national maritime domain awareness (NMDA) project to bolster multi-agency coordination and augment efforts to strengthen maritime and coastal security
The overall endeavour is to enable the country to keep track of both conventional and unconventional threats in its primary area of geopolitical interest across the Indian Ocean Region and “neutralise“ them if required. It was officially announced with the inauguration of the central hub of National Command Control Communication Intelligence (NC3I) network, which can track 30,000-40,000 ships on a daily basis, by defence minister Ma nohar Parrikar at Gurgaon now.
Taking feeds and inputs from multiple sources ranging from coastal radars to satellites, the Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC) at Gurgaon will fuse, correlate and analyse them to assess threats at sea.
INDIA HONEST sees a new horizon of hope and assurance to our security concerns under the leadership of Narendra Modi, who has chosen many eminent expert like Ajit Doval and energetic Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar,to take all the critical urgent steps that will fortify our maritime security at the earliest.
Moreover a new boldness and confidence has emerged after this NDA government took charge that encouraged our President Pranab Mukherjee to assure the nation while challenging the enemies when he said," it was imperative for India to have an effective deterrence and strong defence to promote development and it must be prepared to use its “might“ if the need arises".
He added further and said at the Tezpur Air Force base that, “Today, our nation is on the path of growth in all fields. while the nation grows and develops in all realms, the subcontinent also faces varied threats, especially from non-state actors. To preserve peace and harmony and promote all-round development, it is imperative to have an effective deterrence and a strong defence,“.
IH hopes India is now under the safe hands of vigilant and nationalistic leadership, which is taking important steps, which were neglected for decades.