Few academic institutions and consultancy firms have any expertise in the Indian Ocean region. This needs to change
Delhi University had set up a Department for Africa studies several decades ago. Periodically, whenever coastal tornadoes strike, we are reminded of the significance of ocean studies. Goa has a well-established institute dealing with oceanography. Visakhapatnam has an institute for ocean studies as well. The examples can be multiplied in those cases wherein the Union or State Government has provided funds for such study.
However, it takes the visit of a Prime Minister to Seychelles, Mauritius and Sri lanka to put the Indian Ocean on the map of thought leaders in this country. As chairman of the consulting team that was preparing a detailed project report for the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode, this writer had visualised the institution as a center for Indian Ocean studies. Unfortunately, the first chairman of the IIM(K) assured me that the institute would not “waste” time on such studies. IIM(K) had to be another outlet of the IIM franchise, and that’s about all that mattered.
The message is simple: Various efforts have been made with reference to oceans over a century. The list can be extended. The efforts of Indian Council of Agricultural Research, through its fishery studies programme, are a case in point. The notable institutions spawned by ICAR are the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute in Kochi and Central Institute of Fisheries Education. Over a decade ago, I remember helping pilot the MSc programme in fisheries management, there. But that’s another story.
The picture is chequered, results hardly observable. Maritime institutes go by default. In effect, if the water ways of the nation are properly harnessed and the coastal zone effectively developed, that alone has the possibility of raising the country’s gross domestic product by over two per cent.
Add to this, the wealth to be brought in and the value to be added by boosting the shipping industry. The help it would give to the employment prospect is beyond computation. As we see today, there is no major consultant or consulting firm with serious credentials in these type of issues. The big four are competing with each other for more space in the same kind of domains.
A very small number of academic institutions seem to have the bandwidth to deal with such issues. As a sometime trustee of the Mumbai Port Trust, this writer remembers pushing for linkages with an ocean institute in Finland. In summation, however, the management impact of all this was not going to be significant.
At the end of the day, it is important to remind ourselves that three-forth of the ocean traffic from different parts of the world, passes through the Indian Ocean region. It bears two-thirds of the world’s oil shipments and one-third of its bulk cargo. Also, half of the world’s container traffic passes through the Indian Ocean. There are few research institutions in the country looking at all this, in a scholastic mode.
There is not one consulting firm which can be accessed for insights on this. If this was not enough, this region hosts 40 per cent of the world’s population and has over 40 sovereign states. It touches the shores of nations and regions as far apart as Australia, West Asia and the eastern coast of Africa.
The Indian Ocean is India’s backyard. Consider how China is going for the ‘China seas’. India has about 200 significant ports. Twelve of the major ones are operated by the Union Government and there is talk of a coastal economic zone. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has rightly envisaged the Sagar Mala concept which deserves strategic support and resources.
Clearly the ports around Mumbai, Cochin, Chennai, Visakhapatnam, Paradip and Kolkata need a boost. The shipping industry, including ship building, has to be put in fast-forward mode. The hinterland needs to be developed and natural resources integrated. The freight corridors, the industrial corridors, the major inland waterways have to be woven together. It is going to take years, if not decades, to complete the project. The challenge lies in sustaining the concept with persistence and professional diligence. The challenge is there for the Government, the research institutions, the consultants and, indeed, the public at large.