Nine ministries works on elaborate programme for Indian Ocean
Source: Shipping Corp of India … work underway on blue economy.
India’s blue economy strategy is undergoing greater institutionalisation as an economic goal and as an instrument of foreign policy, according to a study by the Institute of South Asian Studies, a think-tank at the National University of Singapore.
The study noted that 9 ministries were involved in the programme implying concerted coordination at the governmental level at the India Maritime Summit which was held April 14-16, 2016 in Mumbai.
Topics such as oceanography, climate change research, collaboration in capacity-building as well as port-development and investment in connectivity-related projects are becoming regular themes for collaboration and dialogue with multiple partners, observed Dr Jivanta Schottli, a Visiting Research Fellow at ISAS who authored the report following the summit.
The summit, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, witnessed signing of 141 Memoranda of Understanding/Business Agreements with estimated investments of about Rs. 83,000 crores.
A National Perspective Plan, for “port-led development”, was released during the summit. It was prepared under Sagarmala, a long-term programme approved by the Union Cabinet on 25 March, 2015.
At the same time, the ocean economy is providing a platform through which to develop and deepen strategically important relations with South Asian neighbours; island and littoral states in the Indian Ocean as well as extra-regional players like the United States.
In the case of the United States, India’s blue economy is becoming a way to meld strategic concerns with economic opportunity and a claim to uphold values of sustainable development and responsible leadership, according to Dr Schottli.
This was aptly captured in the 2015 declaration that India and the US share a commitment to “peaceful commercial use of the oceans, freedom of navigation and protection of the ocean ecosystem”, she pointed out.
With a coastline of 7,551km, India ranks amongst the world’s top 20 countries with the largest exclusive economic zone (at 2.3 million square kilometres). This vast shoreline has an important continental dimension given the country’s 14,500km of navigable inland waterways, of which 4,503km are national waterways, while the responsibility for the rest lies with State governments.
Linking and developing the waterways to a national grid has become a national priority as well as developing coastal shipping. Currently it is estimated that India transports only 7% of its domestic cargo by coastal shipping, or so-called short-sea shipping, while the European Union transports 42%, China 43% and the US 15%.
With regards non-living resources, the Indian Ocean is purported to be rich in polymetallic nodules (containing nickel, cobalt, iron, and manganese that have formed over millions of years on the sediment of the seafloor) and polymetallic massive sulphides with high mineral content including copper, iron, zinc, silver, and gold, formed deep in the earth’s crust, said Dr Schottli in the report “India’s Maritime Turn: A Blue Economy Strategy in the Making?”
India holds exclusive rights to explore polymetallic nodules in the Central Indian Ocean basin in 1987 and has established two mining sites. In 2014 India was granted a 15-year mining license by the International Seabed Authority (ISA), under the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea for an area of 10,000 square kilometres of seabed, stretching across the southern Indian Ocean and reaching close to the Mauritian coast.
On maritime transportation, India performs well for example, on the Liner Shipping Connectivity Index developed by the World Bank, capturing the degree to which countries are connected to global shipping networks. In terms of ship ownership India was 17th in the world according to the UNCTAD – Review of Maritime Transport 2015.
Furthermore, India ranks 9th amongst 80 developing countries/territories and economies in transition, in container port throughput, a trend that is growing amongst the developing and transition economies as a result of greater participation in global value chains.
However, none of the world’s top 20 container ports are located in India and India’s competitive advantage and leading position in shipbuilding has been declining in recent years, said Dr Schottli.
In maritime energy, India has experienced a drop in oil and gas production from offshore basins which the government is seeking to address along with announcing major investments in alternative energy sources including offshore wind farming.
Finally, management of the ocean’s health is an area that has been deeply neglected but is fast gaining attention and, as argued below, it is acquiring a strategic dimension.
India has also been actively pursuing oceanic outreach in the near neighbourhood as well as the wider Indian Ocean Region, couched in terms of the Blue Economy, said Dr Schottli.
On April 12th, 2016, the Mauritius Minister of Ocean Economy, Marine Resources, Fisheries, Shipping and Outer Islands met with India’s Minister of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences to explore areas of cooperation. It was follow up to the India-Mauritius Dialogue on the Blue Economy.
India has signed MoUs signed with Seychelles, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh on the Blue and Ocean Economy. An agreement was signed between India and Bangladesh on 6th June, 2015 to commence coastal shipping between Bangladesh and the eastern ports of India through River Sea Vessels.
With the United States, an Ocean Dialogue was initiated at the 2015 India US Strategic and Commercial Dialogue by Secretary of State, John Kerry and External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj with the aim of promoting “the sustainable development of the blue economy”.
This has been followed up with interactions in preparation for the 2016 “Our Ocean Conference” to be hosted by the State Department in Washington on September 15-16, 2016.
These developments have to be seen in light of statements made by the State Department that the US envisions an Indo-Pacific Economic Corridor as helping to bridge South and Southeast Asia.
This vision has a clear strategic dimension, coming in the wake of China’s One Belt One Road proposals and emerging out of both India’s Act East policy and the United States’ Pivot to Asia, according to Dr Schottli. fii-news.com
