The Indian Prime Minister Modi visited Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya – all situated on the east coast of Africa- in July this year. These maritime neighbours are connected by the Indian Ocean which has facilitated movement of people, trade, culture and ideas for centuries between India’s west coast and Africa’s east coast. India, […]
193 countries of the world unanimously adopted the 2030 agenda for sustainable development in the form of 17 indivisible Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in September 2015. These goals which succeeded the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) from 01 January 2016 will drive the world development agenda for the next 15 years. The first review of the […]
The 2016 Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations report on State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture: Contributing to Food Security and Nutrition for All notes that the world per capita fish supply reached a new high of 20 kilograms. Further, the global fish production for human consumption has grown from 93.4 million […]
Blue Economy Assets in India India’s Blue Economy consists of a number of water bodies such as lakes, rivers, canals, dams, brackish water bodies and an extensive ocean as a resource base. The Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the nine coastal states is extensive, giving India exclusive legal right to utilise all living and non-living […]
Declaration of an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) by China over the East China Sea (ECS) in November 2013 had raised wide spread speculations that Beijing might follow it up with a similar ADIZ in South China Sea (SCS) too. In less than three years thence, speculations are rife again that China may be preparing […]
Strategic Balance of Power is rapidly changing in Asia – often faster than most realise. The increasing defence budget of the Peoples’ Liberation Army (PLA) in keeping with the rapid growth of the Chinese economy and the country’s technical and industrial base has enabled China to rapidly introduce incremental qualitative improvements to its force structure. […]
In February 2016, India’s Eastern Naval Command hosted the International Fleet Review (IFR), underlining Indian Navy’s growing prowess and ambitions. Though it was largely a ceremonial inspection of naval warships by the Indian president, it provided an opportunity to the Indian Navy to showcase its might and rapidly expanding capabilities. It was in 2001 that […]
On 11 April 2016, the President of Maldives, Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom said in New Delhi, “The reason I visited India today is to express my appreciation for the very steadfast leadership India has shown in protecting Maldives in the CMAG (Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group) deliberations. We look at India for continued support in preventing […]
The concept of Blue Economy is gaining popularity among a number of stakeholders including government agencies, scientists, academia, industry, and entrepreneurs. However, there is a need to adopt a holistic approach to develop Blue Economy, and in this context, at least ten issues merit attention. First, there is lack of general information about the sea […]
On 12 July 2016, the Tribunal constituted at the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) at The Hague under Annex VII of the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea, 1982 (UNCLOS) issued its decision in the arbitration instituted by the Philippines against China. It relates to the various legal issues in the South China […]
The latest version of Indonesia’s Defence White Paper (DWP) was released in end April 2016. By that time, the Indonesian President Jokowi had completed over a year in office. The DWP says that given Indonesia’s geo-strategic location, it must have a proper defence strategy. The need for Indonesia to bolster its maritime security to support […]
A strong push has been given to the maritime agenda in India since the swearing in of Prime Minister Modi. This is evident from the range of initiatives taken by the Indian government such as Maritime India Summit-2016, announcement of ‘Sagarmala’ project, the push for the ‘Blue Economy’ agenda, outreach efforts such as Project ‘Mausam’ […]