The Second Edition of the Biennial Pan-India, Largest Coastal Defence Exercise ‘Sea Vigil-21’ coordinated by Indian Navy took place from January 12-13, 2021. It was conducted along the entire 7516 Km coastline & Exclusive Economic Zone of India.
i.The Defence Exercise involved 13 Coastal States/Union Territories. It also included the fishing and coastal communities.
- Apart from the Navy, the Indian Air Force, Indian Coast Guard (ICG), National Security Guard (NSG), Border Security Force (BSF), oil handling agencies & airports participated in the exercise.
- The exercise was conducted to assess the Strengths and Weaknesses of India’s Coastal Defence & Maritime Security.
- The exercise was facilitated by the Ministry of Defence, Home Affairs, Shipping, Petroleum and Natural Gas, Fisheries, Customs, State Governments & other Central/State agencies.
- The First Edition of the exercise was conducted in January, 2019.
ii.The scale of the exercise was unprecedented in terms of Geographical extent, Stakeholders involved, number of participating units & in terms of objectives to be met.
- During the exercise, security audits of vulnerable locations like Fish Landing Centers, and major, minor & intermediate ports, lighthouses, coastal police stations, control rooms & operations centres were carried out.
- The exercise also tested the effectiveness of the fishing community in serving as eyes & ears for early warning of threats.
- ‘Sea Vigil 21’ is a build up towards the major Theatre level TROPEX (Theatre-level Readiness Operational Exercise) which Indian Navy conducts every 2 years.
- Both Sea Vigil & Tropex covered the full spectrum of maritime security challenges which includes transition from peace to conflict.
iii.The 13 states & Union Territories are Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal, Daman & Diu, Puducherry, Andaman & Nicobar Islands (Bay of Bengal) & Lakshadweep Islands (Arabian Sea).
iv.The entire coastal security set up has been reorganised after the 26/11 Terror attack at Mumbai.
Recent Related News:
i.November 7, 2020, Phase 1 of the 24th Edition of the Four-nation Naval Exercise Malabar 2020 took place in the Bay of Bengal from November 3-6, 2020.
About Indian Navy:
Chief of Naval Staff (CNS)– Admiral Karambir Singh
Integrated Headquarters of Ministry of Defence (Navy)– New Delhi
