Opportunities and Challenges

Pravin Sawhney and Ghazala Wahab

A heady mix of geography, diminishing options on the land, an illusion of converging geopolitical interests with the United States and a well-crafted practice of self-projection has propelled the Indian Navy into the enviable cusp of diplomacy and military. No mean feat for the smallest military service in India, long regarded as the silent force that operated well away from the public eye.\

Not any longer. Today, the Indian Navy is seldom out of mind, even if it still remains out of sight most of the time. If on the one hand, an increasing number of foreign navies and coastal forces seek the Indian Navy for joint exercises, the service has also ensured that the citizenry remains aware of what it does and how through a series of public events, quality films outsourced to professional filmmakers and musicians, as well as celebrity brand endorsements. In a country, where a film actor is almost there amongst the pantheon of Gods, getting a couple of them to put their weight behind the navy really drives home the message that this is the service with the right dose of patriotism, adventure and fun.

It was nearly a decade ago, despite the subsequent setback of the 26 November 2008, when 10 terrorists held not just the city of Mumbai but the entire nation to ransom for almost three days, that the Indian Navy’s and the government of India’s visions more or less converged on the Indian Ocean. With the land borders boxing in the aspirations of a growing nation, the ocean promised the possibility of breaking out of the confines of the military lines. Bilateral and multilateral exercises with friendly navies intensified, benign support to smaller nations in the form of joint patrolling as well as exclusive economic zone (EEZ) patrolling gained fervency and the navy expressed its desire to take on greater responsibilities of military diplomacy. The ministry of external affairs (MEA), however, remained circumspect about letting the navy run away with the script. As long as it held the strings, navy could put itself out there.

The navy’s first bold initiative came in the form of Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS), which, broadly inspired by the US-led Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS)