If India seeks to calibrate its Indian Ocean strategy away from outdated perspectives, it needs to support sub-regional efforts such as Indian Ocean Commission. Analyse (200 Words)
Refer - The Hindu
Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands
IAS Parliament 4 years
KEY POINTS
· India’s strategic vision for the Indian Ocean: Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR). SAGAR seeks to differentiate India’s leadership from the modus operandi of other regionally active major powers and to reassure littoral states as India’s maritime influence grows.
· India’s recent admission as observer to the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) will put this vision to the test.
IOC, a trusted regional actor
· The IOC has demonstrated leadership in the maritime security domain. Since maritime security is a prominent feature of India’s relations with Indian Ocean littoral states. However, India has preferred to engage bilaterally with smaller states in the region. The IOC has its own regional agenda, and has made impressive headway in the design and implementation of a regional maritime security architecture in the Western Indian Ocean.
· The Regional Maritime Information Fusion Center (RMIFC), based in Madagascar, is designed to deepen maritime domain awareness by monitoring maritime activities and promoting information sharing and exchange.
· The IOC’s achievements offer an opportunity for India to learn, and also to support. The IOC style of ‘bottom-up regionalism’ has produced a sub-regional view and definition of maritime security problems and local ownership of pathways towards workable solutions.
How can India contribute?
· Nearly all littoral states in the Western Indian Ocean need assistance in developing their maritime domain awareness and in building capacity to patrol their EEZs. All would benefit from national information fusion centres that can link to those of the wider region. With its observer status, India will be called upon to extend its expertise to the region, put its satellite imagery to the service of the RMIFC, and establish links with its own Information Fusion Centre.
