Indian Leadership Must for Indian Ocean Region

With the Chinese eying the Indian Ocean Region for strategic imperatives and investing significantly to ensure their presence, India should take the initiative to guard itself against these Chinese advancements, writes DR. (CDR) ARNAB DAS.

- Arnab Das

Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power, with a huge majority in the general election of 2014, based on the agenda of development and equality. The above statement by him in March 2015, does indicate the priority of his government and also a recognition of the changing geopolitics in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). The shifting global focus towards the IOR in the 21st century does have multiple strategic imperatives. The first and foremost is the energy security for the growing economies and the major shipping traffic passing through the region that drives the economic growth globally. The political instability and also the growing international terrorism being perceived to have its origin in the region do complicate matters. The geopolitics in the region is highly fragmented and nations are engaged in internal disputes and also present itself as key venue for international piracy. Some recent studies do indicate that the IOR is the locus of some 70 per cent of the world’s natural disasters. These factors together are making the IOR a deeply contested region and also encouraging extra-regional powers to use nations within, as proxies that is further destabilizing the region.