S.S. Parmar replies: Formulation of any policy is part of the overall national strategy. National strategy depends on a variety of tangible and intangible fields. These fields would collectively and at times individually have a bearing on the national interests. Therefore, the responsibility of formulating any national policy lies with the government. As far as maritime policy is concerned, a plethora of ministries and agencies would contribute to the maritime policy. Broadly, a policy could be broken into three parts – economics, security and diplomacy.

The broad ambit of the maritime domain entails the involvement of a number of agencies, such as the Indian Navy, Coast Guard, mercantile marine, ship building industry, Department of Ocean Development, fisheries department, Oil and National Gas Commission (ONGC), hydrographic department, diplomatic corps, department of surface transport, Antarctic exploration wing - in essence any department which either deals with or has interest in coastal, oceanic or overseas activities. In order to implement steps that would ensure a cogent working of the policy, these departments which are part of the government are responsible for forwarding their cases, depending on the financial implications, to the concerned ministries that take up the cases for approval with the concerned financial body. In India’s case, it would be parliamentary committees.

S.S. Parmar replies: The Indian Navy has a prominent role to play in addressing non-traditional threats. This task is done in tandem with other agencies like the Indian Coast Guard, maritime wing of police, governments of states with coastlines and intelligence agencies to name a few. Non-traditional threats can be broadly divided into two areas – those like maritime terrorism and piracy that require to be addressed by kinetic means, and those like humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR), search and rescue (SAR), pollution control, etc., that require to be addressed by benign means. Although pollution control is under the ambit of the Coast Guard, the Indian Navy provides the required assistance that is sought.

The Indian Navy has mechanisms in place to assess, indentify and address these issues. These include identifying strong points and strengthening weak points so as to better manage situations both developing and developed. This involves deploying assets that would aid in combating the threats that arise from such non-traditional threats.

Issues like terrorism and piracy that require application of force are addressed by patrolling areas identified as the most vulnerable with suitable assets in tandem with other agencies. For example, along the coast the Indian Navy has identified suitable places and established detachments that work with other agencies to assess the situation and patrol designated areas. Ships and aircraft also patrol the maritime zones of friendly nations on their request to combat terrorism and piracy. In addition, ships with embarked armed helicopters have been deployed in the Gulf of Aden since 2008 to combat piracy as part of the ongoing international effort.

The benign role is assumed and assets deployed so that assistance is rendered both internally and externally in a fast and humane manner. The deployment of assets during the 2004 tsunami is a classic case in which relief was provided within 24 hours to the states on the east coast of India and Sri Lanka and within 72 hours to affected nations like Indonesia and Maldives. Unlike the threats emanating from terrorism and piracy that could be assessed based on intelligence inputs, disasters do not come with any warning and therefore the Indian Navy is always ready at short notice to deploy its assets as and when ordered.