India's Maritime Vision: FROM SAGAR TO INDO-PACIFIC TO MAHASAGAR

A decade ago, on March 12, 2015, while commissioning in Mauritius the gleaming Offshore Patrol Vessel Barracuda, built in Garden Reach, Kolkata, to Mauritian specifications, Prime Minister Modi outlined India’s policy towards the Indian Ocean Region (IOR): Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR).

- Suchitra Durai

The Indian Ocean, he pointed out, was critical to the future of the world, bearing two-thirds of the world’s oil shipments, one-third of its bulk cargo and half of its container traffic. The forty states that are on its littoral host nearly 40% of the world’s population.

SAGAR policy emphasised five aspects: safety and security of the Indian mainland and island territories and ensuring a safe, secure and stable IOR; deepen economic and security cooperation with friends in the IOR particularly maritime neighbours and island states through capacity building; collective action and cooperation; seek a more integrated and cooperative future towards sustainable development for all; and increased maritime engagement in the IOR as the primary responsibility for the stability and prosperity of IOR lay with those living in the region. If SAGAR was the external outreach of India, in the national context, it was complemented by the Sagarmala port-led development initiative.

For Long, India has been criticised for its continental bias, that it was focused on its northern and northwest frontiers to the neglect of its vast maritime interests. However, this has been changing. Since the launch of its Look East Policy in 1992, which evolved into the proactive Act East Policy in 2014, India has reclaimed its maritime legacy. PM Modi recently released a special coin commemorating 1000 years of Emperor Rajendra Chola’s naval achievements.