Internal Security

IAS Parliament 6 years

KEY POINTS

Steps taken

India has rolled out a coastal security scheme, the second part of which will end in 2020. It has achieved the following goals –

1. Tagging fishing boats

2. Infusing training and equipment into India’s coast guard

3. Setting up an extensive network of radars, cameras and other sensors along the coast.

· Further steps includes, establishment of mechanisms for inter-agency coordination.

· Increased regulation of activities in the maritime zones.

· Integration of the fishing and coastal communities.

· Capacity augmentation of maritime security agencies for surveillance and patrol of the nation’s maritime zones.

· Enhanced technical surveillance of coastal and offshore areas.

· Besides, State-wise Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for coordination among various agencies on coastal security issues have been formulated.

· Coastal Security Exercises are being conducted regularly by Indian Navy and Coast Guard to assess the effectiveness of existing mechanisms and to address gaps.

Weak links

· Co-ordination – There continues to be far too many government agencies involved in coastal and maritime security. Coordination still remains a huge challenge.

· Role of States – The response of state governments has been varied.

· For example, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu have been exemplary; other states treat the matter lightly.

· Infrastructure – Many of these coastal stations are unmanned or poorly maintained.

· The coast guard still has less than half the aircraft it needs.

· Tracking beacons – The requirement that only vessels over 20mtrs long need to fix tracking beacons resulted in many no. of vessels being outside the security net.

Road to future

· Terrorist techniques do not remain static. The trick is to be a step ahead of them.

India must look to new technologies like data analytics and networked drones to prevent the attacks of the future.