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HomeOpinionIndia’s long-term growth is in securing its seas. When will the Navy...

India’s long-term growth is in securing its seas. When will the Navy budget reflect this?

As Sardar KM Panikkar explained, India’s land-based invaders ultimately became natives. Its colonisers came by the sea—and they were successful because Indian rulers ignored the waters.

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India never lost her independence till she lost the command of the sea in the first decade of the sixteenth century,” wrote Sardar Kavalam Madhava Panikkar, a multifaceted personality if ever there was one.

Much like US Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan’s The Influence of Sea Power upon History (1890) is a global benchmark for naval perspectives, Panikkar’s essay, India and the Indian Ocean (1945) remains the holy grail for the domestic naval fraternity.

It is perspectives that now influence budgetary allocations. So, it is pertinent to point out the vast discrepancies in the perceptions that shape national security projections, and as a result, preparations. It boils down to how the map of India is understoodhow it is looked at in terms of its size, shape, and situation on the world oceanic map. It is, really, a toss-up between India as a subcontinent and a peninsular nation.

Importance of sea

Sardar Panikkar explained that India’s land-based invaders ultimately became natives. Its colonisers were the ones who came by sea, a process that began with the arrival of the Portuguese.

The importance of the sea came to be recognised by the Indian Rulers only when it was too late,” Panikkar wrote. “The commercial interests of India, though they have changed character have also increased…Her vast markets and her great natural resources can be reached through the Indian Ocean and her recent industrial growth, with consequent expansion of trade, emphasises the necessity of safe sea communications.”

An inverted map of the world showing India's horizons and the importance of sea.
Source: Author

As the budgetary preparations reach the last-minute lobbying stage, it is worth pondering over what India needs, in the long run, to sustain its economic growth while maintaining its national security space. The land boundaries on the eastern and western fronts remain tense but stable, contested by both neighbours. But for China’s 2020 perfidy, the borders have largely been managed with care and statesmanship. That is unlikely to change in the near future, so it is time for India to broaden its horizon.

The horizon should be obvious from the attached map, which, albeit with gross errors on the northern part, reflects where India can stretch its legs. The ocean’s importance was also underlined recently by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a 2015 Mauritius ship launch ceremony.

“Today, 90% of our trade by volume and 90% of our oil imports take place through sea. We have coastline of 7500 km, 1200 islands and 2.4 million square kilometres of Exclusive Economic Zone. India is becoming more integrated globally. We will be more dependent than before on the ocean and the surrounding regions,” he said.


Also read: Can we be a real alternative to China? Modi’s 2014 promise of Indian greatness is in tatters


Budgetary allocations

Midnight oil is now being burned across the three service headquarters as budgetary allocations reach the final stage. It is well nigh certain that as the largest service, a major share of monies will end up in the Army’s kitty, followed by the Air Force and then the Navy. This has been the practice all along. The final figures have only ever fluctuated by degrees and percentages, while the ratio has remained roughly the same over decades. Until India resolves its boundary alignments on both its eastern and western flanks, this is likely to remain so.

This is a pity since India’s long-term security interests and growth clearly lie in securing the seas around it. All wars currently being fought, whether conventional as in Ukraine or against non-state combatants as in Gaza, have nullified almost any précis on battle craft and tactics. Modern technologies, despite looking spectacular on sanitised television sets or smartphones, have proved severely wanting in terms of actually delivering results. Gaza is a better example of this than the much-publicised Russian failures in Ukraine. What both fronts can’t deny is the centrality of the sea for trade.

Further, trade is the most basic ingredient for economic growth, making it the first brick in the wall of national security and defence. While the budget planners ply their trade at midnight hours, the immediate and long-term interests of India’s security structure must be considered.

As PM Modi’s statement made clear, there is no substitute for trade on the oceanic highway and the need to secure sea lines of communication (SLOCS). The budget must recognise that reality.

Manvendra Singh is a BJP leader, Editor-in-Chief of Defence & Security Alert and Chairman, Soldier Welfare Advisory Committee, Rajasthan. He tweets @ManvendraJasol. Views are personal.

(Edited by Prasanna Bachchhav)

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1 COMMENT

  1. Navy’s budget will not increase because ours is a poor socialist country that needs money for corruption, freebies, subsidies, and loan waivers.

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