SAGAR now demands reassessment

Nearly a decade ago, during a visit to Mauritius, Prime Minister Narendra Modi articulated a maritime vision that would come to frame India’s engagement with the Indian Ocean: the SAGAR Doctrine, Security and Growth for All in the Region.

- UPASHA KUMARI

At the time, it appeared as an aspirational formulation. Today, amid intensifying great-power rivalry, expanding Chinese naval presence, and fragile sea-lane security, SAGAR demands reassessment not as rhetoric, but as strategy.

The Indian Ocean is no longer a peripheral theatre in global politics. It carries the bulk of global energy flows, sustains critical trade arteries, and hosts an expanding military footprint. For India, nearly 90 per cent of trade by volume transits by sea. Maritime stability is therefore not optional; it is existential. The central question, ten years on, is whether SAGAR has evolved from diplomatic slogan to coherent maritime architecture.

At its core, SAGAR envisioned cooperative security, capacity building for littoral states, humanitarian assistance, and the promotion of the blue economy. It signaled India’s intent to act as a net security provider in its immediate maritime neighbourhood. Operationally, there have been tangible gains. The Indian Navy has expanded mission-based deployments, strengthened coastal surveillance networks across island states, and responded rapidly to humanitarian crises, from cyclones to evacuation missions. India’s vaccine outreach during the pandemic further demonstrated maritime logistics capability aligned with regional goodwill.