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The tenth anniversary of the 26/11 attacks calls for an assessment of India's coastal security preparedness. The incident still scars the collective consciousness of Indian security agencies, where many officials believe the terrorists' breach of Mumbai's coastal cordon was a tragic slip-up. In its aftermath, the attack triggered a radical overhaul of India's coastal defence architecture, prompting a three tier security arrangement, with the navy, the coast guard, and the marine police jointly safeguarding India's near seas.
An existing Coastal Security Scheme (originally instituted in 2005) was expedited with greater fund allocations for coastal infrastructure, including police stations and radar stations along India's coastline. A decade later, the coastal security project remains a work in progress. Despite some success in key areas, the littoral apparatus remains riddled with loopholes. As a recent CAG audit report pointed out, a majority of the projects are lagging, with only a fraction of the allocated funds utilised properly. Meanwhile, persistent flaws in the existing architecture threaten to unravel gains made in recent years. From the under-utilisation of patrol boats to delays in the creation of shore-based infrastructure, through to manpower shortages and unspent funds, the report paints a dreary picture of coastal policing in India's near seas.
One reason for the uneven nature of the coastal security narrative has been the differing priority of maritime security agencies. With an expansive conception of maritime security, the Indian navy views big ticket initiatives as the way forward. From joint operational exercises, to the setting up of coastal radar chains, the National Command and Control Communications Intelligence Network (N3CIN) and a maritime domain awareness plan, the navy considers high profile undertakings as the real measure of success in securing the littorals.
In comparison, coast guard officers sound more circumspect, cautioning against an overestimation of progress. While acknowledging improvements in force strength and inter-agency cooperation, the latter emphasise the structural nature of challenges, which, they insist are hard to address through high technology initiatives alone. What doesn't still quite work, they point out, are near-coastal patrols, and a marine police unwilling to fully integrate into the coastal security chain. It doesn’t help that state governments remain largely disinterested in the endeavour.