Question 1: India has repeatedly emphasized freedom of navigation and the safety of seafarers. How does New Delhi translate this diplomatic principle into practical maritime-security measures?
Answer: New Delhi translates its diplomatic commitment to freedom of navigation and maritime safety into actionable, practical measures by acting as a proactive “First Responder” and “Net Security Provider” in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). Rather than relying solely on high-level statements, India employs operational deployments, legal frameworks, real-time intelligence sharing, and regional strategic partnerships.
Operation Anti-Piracy and Escort Missions
- Forward Naval Deployments: The Indian Navy continuously deploys guided-missile destroyers, frigates, and long-range maritime patrol aircraft (such as the P-8I Poseidon) across critical sea lanes of communication (SLOCs), particularly near the Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea, and Red Sea.
- Direct Intervention: During escalations in pirate hijackings and drone/missile strikes on commercial shipping in the Western Arabian Sea, the Indian Navy intercepted hijacked vessels (such as the MV Ruen 2023-24), rescued international crews (including foreign nationals), and escorted commercial shipping safely through high-risk corridors.
Legal Enablement via Domestic Legislation
- Maritime Anti-Piracy Act, 2022: India enacted dedicated domestic legislation empowering the Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard to arrest pirates, seize suspicious vessels, and try offenders in Indian courts, fulfilling its obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
- Universal Application: The law gives Indian forces legal authorization to act on the high seas against non-state actors regardless of flag registration or the nationality of victims.
Regional Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA)
- Information Fusion Centre – Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR): Established in Gurugram, India hosts International Liaison Officers (ILOs) from dozens of partner nations to aggregate and share real-time tracking data on “white shipping” (commercial traffic) and non-traditional maritime security threats.
- Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA): As part of the Quad framework, India contributes data and satellite-tracking integration to help smaller littoral states monitor illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing and unauthorized maritime incursions.
Institutional & Multilateral Frameworks
- SAGAR Vision: Under the Security and Growth for All in the Region policy, India assists neighbouring littoral nations through joint EEZ patrols, hydrographic surveys, and operational training.
- Colombo Security Conclave (CSC): India collaborates with regional nations (including Sri Lanka, Maldives, Mauritius, and Bangladesh) on targeted maritime safety pillars: anti-piracy, counter-terrorism, human trafficking prevention, and cyber security.
- Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR): India routinely dispatches naval assets for search-and-rescue (SAR) operations and disaster response across East Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.
Question 2: The West Asia and Black Sea conflicts have directly affected maritime trade and Indian seafarers. What lessons has India learned from these crises about protecting crews operating in conflict zones?
Answer: The conflicts in West Asia (Red Sea, Strait of Hormuz) and the Black Sea have acutely exposed the vulnerabilities of global supply chains and merchant crews. For India—which supplies over 12% of the global seafaring workforce (more than 310,000 active seafarers)—these crises have transformed maritime safety from an abstract freedom-of-navigation principle into an urgent human-security priority.
As Indian crews sail on ships flying foreign flags of convenience across active battlegrounds, New Delhi has drawn several key strategic, legal, and operational lessons:
Navigating the “Flag of Convenience” Jurisdiction Gap
- The Challenge: Most Indian seafarers killed, injured, or trapped in the Black Sea or Red Sea served aboard foreign-registered vessels (e.g., Liberia, Panama, Marshall Islands). Under international law (UNCLOS), the flag state exercises primary jurisdiction, severely restricting direct Indian naval or legal intervention on such ships.
- The Lesson: India learned that consular and naval protection must be supplemented by institutionalized multilateral channels. To bridge this jurisdictional void, India co-founded the Group of Friends on Safety and Security of Shipping and Seafarers (GoF on S4) alongside Liberia at the United Nations on September 25th 2026. This coalition links major seafarer-supplying states with global flag-registry nations to enforce shared accountability and safety standards under the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) and SOLAS Convention reinforcing Art. 94 of UNCLOS.
Upgrading Real-Time Tracking and Threat Intelligence
- The Challenge: As modern warfare evolved toward low-cost loitering munitions, anti-ship ballistic missiles, and uncrewed surface vessels (USVs), existing maritime monitoring systems lacked the agility to track civilian crews on dynamic route deviations.
- The Lesson: Traditional static advisories issued by maritime regulators are insufficient. India recognized the need for a live digital tracking architecture linking the Directorate General of Shipping (DGS), the Information Fusion Centre – Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR), recruitment agencies, and unions. Real-time intelligence sharing now focuses on identifying whether Indian-crewed vessels are approaching dynamic High-Risk Areas (HRAs) to trigger early warnings before vessels enter battle lines.
Balancing Naval Interventions with Asymmetric Threat Realities
- The Challenge: While the Indian Navy demonstrated capability through forward deployments in the Western Arabian Sea and Red Sea (intercepting hijacked vessels like the MV Ruen), escorting every individual commercial vessel carrying Indian crew across expansive global chokepoints is logistically impossible.
- The Lesson: India has shifted from passive escort models to agile, area-denial patrol grids and rapid-response search-and-rescue (SAR) hubs. Operational doctrine now focuses on maintaining strategic presence near chokepoints (like the Bab-el-Mandeb and Strait of Hormuz) to provide medical evacuations, disaster assistance, and boarding interventions when ships are targeted.
Enforcing “Right-to-Refuse” and Transparent Consent
- The Challenge: Economic pressures and opaque placement agency practices frequently led seafarers onto vessels transiting active conflict zones without adequate prior risk disclosure or enhanced war-risk compensation.
- The Lesson: India’s maritime labor regulatory framework has tightened enforcement around informed consent and high-risk zone clauses. Under updated guidelines, seafarers must be explicitly notified if a vessel’s charter passes through designated war zones, giving them the legal right to decline deployment or demand mandatory double-pay allowances and comprehensive war-risk insurance coverage without facing career blacklisting.
Multilateralizing Civilian Mariner Protection
- The Challenge: Non-state actors and state military forces in conflict zones often fail to treat civilian merchant mariners as non-combatants under international humanitarian law.
- The Lesson: Diplomacy must proactively separate commercial transit from war objectives. India has used its diplomatic weight at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and UN Security Council to push for binding global protocols that establish humanitarian maritime corridors and penalize targeted strikes on non-combatant merchant crews.
Question 3: Prime Minister Modi directed the establishment of a mechanism for timely information, emergency assistance and counselling for seafarers and their families. How will this mechanism work on the ground?
Answer: The directive from Prime Minister Narendra Modi—issued during high-level Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) reviews and further reinforced through a dedicated proposal for a Seafarers’ Emergency Support Network—translates directly into a multi-agency, operational framework on the ground. Driven by the Directorate General of Shipping (DGS) under its “Seafarer-First” framework, this system bridges communication gaps between seafarers at sea, their families at home, and Indian diplomatic missions abroad.
The Operational Hub: 24×7 DGComm Control Centre & Quick Response Team
- Central Command: DGS activated a round-the-clock DGComm Crisis Response Centre linked to dedicated emergency helplines, WhatsApp channels, and direct email dispatch desks.
- Dedicated Quick Response Team (QRT): A specialized unit coordinates directly with Recruitment and Placement Services Licensees (RPSL agencies), ship managers, and the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to handle distress alerts.
- Evacuation & Medical Support: If a ship is targeted or stranded in a conflict zone (e.g., Red Sea, Strait of Hormuz, Persian Gulf), the QRT links directly with the Indian Navy’s Information Fusion Centre – Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) and local Maritime Rescue Coordination Centres (MRCCs) for emergency airlifts or medical evacuations.
Live Tracking via the eNAVIK Portal
- Automated Vessel & Crew Surveillance: Through the enhanced eNAVIK Crisis Management Module, DGS mandates daily position reporting for vessels carrying Indian crews transiting high-risk areas (HRAs).
- Immediate Identity Verification: In an emergency, the portal gives authorities immediate access to the exact manifest, flight/passport details, next-of-kin information, and flag-state registration of Indian seafarers. This eliminates delays in verifying who is aboard non-Indian flagged ships.
Family Engagement & Transparent Situation Reports
- Next-of-Kin (NOK) Information Desk: Families of stranded or affected crew members receive structured daily Situation Reports (SitReps). This prevents panic caused by misinformation or lack of news from shipowners.
- Direct Liaison with Indian Embassies: For seafarers stuck in foreign ports or conflict-hit littoral states, the mechanism establishes a single diplomatic point-of-contact at the local Indian Mission to handle onshore safety, food supply, and visa/repatriation logistics.
Psychological & Tele-Counselling Services
- Mental Health Support Desk: Recognizing the extreme stress on crews transiting active combat zones (e.g., facing drone/missile threats or electronic warfare) and their families waiting at home, the mechanism integrates tele-counselling services.
- Empaneled Medical Practitioners: Updated modules under DGS connect distressed seafarers or anxious kin to certified medical and psychological counselors via remote consultations.
Legal Enforcement on Placement Agencies (RPSL)
- Mandatory Risk Disclosure: DGS circulars mandate that placement agencies explicitly inform seafarers before assignment if a transit route touches designated conflict waters.
- Emergency Assistance Clause: Agencies are legally required to maintain a functional 24/7 emergency response point for family members. Failing to support a stranded crew member’s family can lead to the suspension or cancellation of the agency’s license.
Question 4: What role should Indian diplomatic missions play when Indian seafarers are stranded, injured, detained or unable to leave a conflict-affected maritime region?
Answer: When Indian seafarers find themselves stranded, injured, detained, or trapped in active maritime conflict zones—such as the Red Sea, the Strait of Hormuz, or the Black Sea—Indian diplomatic missions (embassies and consulates) serve as the primary on-the-ground execution arm for New Delhi’s crisis management response.
Operating in close coordination with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the Directorate General of Shipping (DGS), and the Indian Navy, diplomatic missions fulfill five critical functions:
Diplomatic Intervention and Consular Access
- Formal Demarches and Access Requests: When a vessel is seized, detained, or attacked by foreign militaries or non-state actors, missions immediately issue formal diplomatic notes (demarches) to host government authorities or relevant regional actors to secure prompt consular access to Indian crew members.
- Protecting Non-Combatant Status: Missions advocate at the diplomatic level to ensure that merchant mariners—who are civilian workers—are not treated as prisoners of war, political bargaining chips, or combatants under International Humanitarian Law.
- Release Advocacy: Embassy officials liaise with local maritime courts, port state authorities, and coast guards to expedite the release of detained crews, ensuring fair legal treatment and protection against arbitrary detention.
Emergency Repatriation & Fast-Track Documentation
- Issuance of Emergency Certificates (ECs): If seafarers lose their passports, Continuous Discharge Certificates (CDCs), or personal effects during an attack, abandonment, or emergency evacuation, missions issue high-priority Emergency Certificates to allow immediate travel back to India.
- Exit Visas and Transit Logistics: Embassies work with local immigration and border authorities to waive penalties for expired visas caused by conflict delays, obtaining emergency exit permits and arranging secure transport routes to safe land borders or airports.
Medical Interventions & Onshore Humanitarian Aid
- Hospitalization and Medical Evacuations: In cases where seafarers are injured due to missile attacks, drone strikes, or landmine explosions, embassy officials coordinate with local hospitals to guarantee immediate emergency treatment.
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- Essential Supplies: For crews stranded on anchored vessels unable to dock or receive shore, assistance, diplomatic missions coordinate with local ship agents, port authorities, and humanitarian organizations to supply food, fresh water, fuel, and vital medical supplies.
- Repatriation of Mortal Remains: In the unfortunate event of casualties, missions expedite local forensic clearances, death registration, and the dignified transport of mortal remains back home.
Holding Shipowners, RPSL Agencies, and Flag States Accountable
- Bridging the “Flag State” Void: Because many Indian mariners sail on foreign-flagged ships (“flags of convenience”), missions engage directly with the flag state’s local diplomatic counterparts and local ship agencies to enforce shipowner responsibilities.
- Welfare Enforcements: Embassies demand that shipping managers and Recruitment and Placement Services Licensees (RPSL) fulfill their duties under the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC)—ensuring unpaid wages are settled, war-risk compensation is paid, and hotel or living expenses are fully covered during extended ground delays.
On-the-Ground Coordination with Naval & Evacuation Task Forces
- Coordination with Indian Navy Assets: When evacuation operations require naval intervention (such as during Operation Kaveri in Sudan 2023 or emergency sea lifts), diplomatic missions act as the communication bridge between local port commanders, foreign coast guards, and Indian naval ships patrolling nearby international waters.
- Ground Registration & Real-Time Tracking: Embassies maintain active emergency helplines and online registration portals for seafarers in conflict-hit zones, matching ground reports with the DGS Crisis Response Centre and the Information Fusion Centre – Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR).
Question 5: External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has repeatedly highlighted the importance of protecting India’s interests amid geopolitical disruptions. How important is maritime security to India’s broader foreign-policy strategy?
Answer: Maritime security is not merely a component of India’s foreign policy; it is one of its primary organizing axes.As External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has frequently stressed, in an era defined by volatile supply chains, multipolarity, and localized conflict zones (from West Asia to the Black Sea), maritime security is the physical anchor of India’s national interest and strategic autonomy. New Delhi treats maritime security as central to its broader grand strategy across five key foreign-policy priorities:
The Operational Spine of “Strategic Autonomy”
India relies on the ocean for over 90% of its trade by volume and over 80% of its crude oil imports. Geopolitical disruptions in key chokepoints—such as the Bab-el-Mandeb, the Strait of Hormuz, or the Malacca Strait—directly impact domestic fuel prices, food security, and trade competitiveness.
- Foreign Policy Priority: Protecting Sea Lines of Communication (SLOCs) allows India to maintain independent economic decision-making without becoming reliant on foreign security guarantees.
- Jaishankar’s Framing: Secure seas ensure that global supply chain shocks do not force India into reactive geopolitics.
Concrete Realization of “Net Security Provider” Status
Rather than relying on naval coalitions led by major global powers, India uses maritime deployments to demonstrate its status as a responsible, self-sufficient global power.
- Foreign Policy Priority: Through its policy of SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region), India acts as a “First Responder” to humanitarian crises, piracy, and maritime threats. SAGAR has now expanded to MAHASAGAR with a greater global outreach.
- Diplomatic Value: Intercepting hijacked ships, securing international crews, and providing medical aid positions India as an indispensable stabilizing force in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR)—earning deep diplomatic capital among smaller littoral nations.
Diplomatic Counterbalance to Hegemonic Ambitions
The Indian Ocean is increasingly a theatre for great-power competition, particularly Chinese naval expansion and the construction of dual-use port infrastructure under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
- Foreign Policy Priority: India uses maritime domain awareness to monitor unauthorized research vessels, submarine movements, and potential military outposts near its maritime borders.
- The “Rules-Based Order”: India leverages UNCLOS (UN Convention on the Law of the Sea) and international maritime law to advocate for unhindered freedom of navigation, contrasting its law-abiding posture with unilateral territorial claims in regional waters.
Convergence in Multilateral & Plurilateral Alliances
Maritime security serves as the common denominator bridging India’s relationships with diverse global partners.
- The Quad: Within the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (India, US, Japan, Australia), maritime domain awareness—such as the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA)—is the primary driver of practical cooperation.
- Sub-regional Conclaves: Through institutions like the Colombo Security Conclave (CSC), BIMSTEC, and the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), maritime safety offers a non-controversial platform for deep security integration with immediate neighbours.
Protection of Global Human Capital
India supplies over 12% of the global seafaring workforce. The vulnerability of merchant crews in active conflict zones has transformed maritime security into a domestic human-security mandate.
- Foreign Policy Priority: Protecting civilian seafarers directly impacts domestic public sentiment and India’s reputation as a reliable provider of global manpower.
- Global Norm-Setting: Jaishankar and Indian diplomats actively push at the UN and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to treat civilian mariners as non-combatants, codifying protection mechanisms for their safety and security.
Conclusion: Maritime security is central to India’s broader foreign-policy strategy because it safeguards economic interests, strengthens strategic autonomy, reinforces India’s role as a “Net Security Provider,” deepens regional and global partnerships, and protects Indian seafarers. By combining naval deployments, international cooperation, maritime domain awareness, and diplomatic engagement, New Delhi seeks to ensure that the oceans remain secure, open, and governed by international law.
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In an exclusive interview with Global Tribune Media Network (GTMN), our Editor-in-Chief Shree Dibakar Kundu, Dr. Madhumita Kothari, a Senior International Development Professional, Policy Advisor, and Supreme Court Advocate, shares her insights on maritime security, ocean governance, international law, and India’s strategic priorities.
With 30 years of multidisciplinary expertise, Dr. Madhumita Kothari specialises in the Blue Economy, ocean governance, and South–South and Triangular Cooperation. She holds a Ph.D. in Blue Economy and Ocean Governance, an LL.M. in Shipping Laws with distinction from the UK, an LL.B., an MBA in International Business, an M.A. in Geography, and a gold-medal postgraduate diploma in International Human Rights Laws.
As Former Senior Advisor to the United Nations International Seabed Authority, she advanced international institutional cooperation, marine scientific research, capacity building, and sustainable deep-seabed resource governance. An accomplished author and international keynote speaker, Dr. Kothari has received several honours, including the Bharat Gaurav Ratna Award for Excellence in Maritime Studies and the National Legal Luminary Award.
