“Deficit of thinking and greater deficit of implementation” has left the huge potential in Indian maritime sector untapped, Vice Admiral Anup Singh, Flag Officer Commanding in Chief, Eastern Naval Command, lamented here on Friday.
Speaking at the India Maritime Technology Conference 2011 on “Sharpening India's sea vision” at the National Institute of Ocean Technology, he pointed out that India had all the pre-requisites for becoming an excellent maritime power.” India is the richest in the world in terms of facilities available for becoming so. “But only now we are slowly awakening to the underutilised opportunities.”
“Sea power” did not mean merely combat readiness; there were several other contributory factors including ship building. It was the sea which helped not only power, fisheries, etc., but also sectors such as oil and cement. “Sea offers opportunities in abundance.”
The potential with regard to fishing was also seriously underutilised.
Admiral (Retd) Arun Prakash, chairman, National Maritime Foundation (NMF) and former Chief of the Naval Staff, said a nation's potential for becoming a sea power depended on various attributes. Of these, India met most of the conditions such as geographic position, extent of territory, number of population and national character. “It is in the last attribute, which relates to character of the government and its institutions that we stumble badly.”
