A recent governmental assessment in India has significantly revised the length of the nation’s coastline from approximately 7,561.50 km to 11,098.81 km. This increased figure, resulting from updated methodologies and scales since the last calculation in 1970, underscores the urgent need to reassess India’s national security strategy, particularly concerning maritime boundaries.
Traditionally, Indian security considerations have been heavily influenced by threats from neighboring countries like Pakistan and China, which have shaped a terrestrial-centric view of national defense. However, this newly revised coastline dimension highlights the importance of sea routes and maritime security, emphasizing the necessity for India to adopt a more maritime-minded perspective.
Historically, maritime threats have been integral to India’s security challenges. The 2008 Mumbai attacks serve as a stark reminder of the vulnerabilities stemming from the sea, illustrating that maritime security must be viewed in tandem with homeland security. Besides state-driven risks, non-traditional maritime security issues have become increasingly pertinent. These include climate change impacts, natural disasters, illegal fishing, piracy, human trafficking, and arms smuggling. Collectively, these issues pose significant threats to India’s national well-being.
In response to such multifaceted challenges, India’s coastal security capabilities have evolved. Post-2008, the integration of the Indian Coast Guard into the Indian Navy marked a step towards enhanced maritime operational coherence. This restructuring aims to promote a unified approach to managing both maritime and territorial security frameworks, recognizing that they are fundamentally interconnected.
Moreover, India faces a complex and changing geopolitical landscape in the Indian Ocean, exacerbated by China’s growing influence in the region. With China increasing its naval presence and dispatching research vessels into Indian Ocean waters, it poses strategic challenges for India, calling for a renewed focus on maritime security.
The revised coastline figures highlight the diminished gap between India’s territorial and maritime boundaries, with the former at approximately 15,106.7 km. The substantial shoreline emphasizes that India’s security strategy must equate the importance of its maritime frontiers to that of its terrestrial borders, a shift long overdue in policy considerations.
As India confronts an increasingly intricate security environment, its national security paradigm must evolve to consider these maritime realities. It is crucial for Indian policymakers to avoid “sea-blindness” and incorporate maritime concerns into their strategic planning, accentuating that the security of its maritime borders is as vital as that of its land borders. The newfound prominence of India’s maritime geography should serve as a pivotal factor in shaping comprehensive national security strategies moving forward.
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