Soham Agarwal

Soham Agarwal

Associate Fellow & Enrolled with the Bar Council of Delhi

Areas of Research

  • Public International Law
  • Seabed and its legal aspects.
  • Legal protection of critical Information Infrastructure
  • Legal Aspects of Surface, Sub-Surface, and Space-based Maritime Domain Awareness

Experience

  • Research Intern (PIML Cluster), National Maritime Foundation, New Delhi (December 2020, March 2021)
  • Junior Counsel, Chambers of Farhan Dubash, Mumbai (August 2020- November 2020)
  • Paralegal, Vaish Associates and Advocates, Mumbai (September 2019 – February 2020)

Education

LLB (Hons.) University of Nottingham, United Kingdom
BA LLB Bridge Course National Law University, Delhi

Presentations

  1. “Protection of Submarine Communication Cables: The Legal Way” at the Colombo Security Conclave Maritime Law Workshop in Gandhinagar, Gujarat (2023).
  2. “Submarine Communication Cables: Cooperation in the Indian Ocean Region” to International Liaison Officers of the Information Fusion Centre: Indian Ocean Region” (2023), New Delhi
  3. “An Overview of Deep Seabed Mining” at the National Maritime Foundation (2023), New Delhi
  4. “Analysing the Layers of Submarine Communication Cables: Legal and Policy measures relevant to India” to the officers of the National Security Council Secretariat. Government of India, New Delhi
  5. “Protecting Submarine Communication Cables in the Indian Ocean: The Indian Perspective” at the EU-NMF Track 1.5 Dialogue (2023), New Delhi
  6. “Enhancing Cable Resilience in the Indo-Pacific: A Regional Approach” at the Daniel K Inouye Asia Pacific Centre for Security Studies (2023), Hawaii, USA
  7. Module on Law of the Sea to Indian Foreign Service Probationers with Captain Parmar at Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service, New Delhi, February 2021.

Publications

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RESOURCE MINING AND OFFSHORE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENTS IN INDIA

Author: On 28th November 2024, India’s Central Government —  more specifically the Ministry of Mines — launched the first tranche of thirteen offshore blocks for auction.[1]  Three of these blocks are for ‘construction sand’ off the coast of Kerala, three for lime mud off the coast of Gujarat, and seven for polymetallic nodules and crusts off […]
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DEVELOPING A ‘DISASTER-RESILIENCE FRAMEWORK’ FOR CRITICAL UNDERSEA COMMUNICATION CABLE INFRASTRUCTURE

Author: The vagaries of climatic conditions and increased occurrence of natural hazards have brought into focus the importance of ensuring resilient societies.  Since infrastructure has become a key component to the proper functioning of modern societies, inherent within the concept of resilient societies is resilient infrastructure.  This becomes more significant in the context of ‘critical’ infrastructure.  […]
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UNDERWATER DOMAIN AWARENESS FOR AND BY SUBMARINE COMMUNICATION CABLES

Author: The announcement of the Autonomous Systems Industry Alliance (ASIA) under the US-India COMPACT (Catalysing Opportunities for Military Partnership, Accelerated Commerce & Technology) for the 21st Century signals the development of closer Indo-US defence industrial ties especially in the maritime domain.[1]  Key identified technologies include the co-development of active towed array systems, unmanned surface vehicle systems, […]
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“SEABED WARFARE” STRATEGY OF FRANCE: LESSONS FOR INDIA

Author: Introduction Seeking to achieve initial operational capacity for seabed warfare by 2026, France is a nation putting in concerted effort to achieving competence in this domain.  Beginning with a formalised public strategy, which lays out the ability that the French seek to achieve and the manner in which they seek to achieve it, to conducting […]
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Enhancing Capacity-of and Capabilities-in Repair of Submarine Communication Cables through International Cooperation 

Author:   The resilience of submarine communication cables — which are integral to international connectivity — is receiving increasing attention at the international level.[1]   Increasing the resilience of submarine communication cable systems would involve, inter alia, introduction of redundancies, i.e., introducing greater number of cables with greater carrying capacity, as well as increasing the capacity-of and […]