It is India’s first indigenously made vessel
The first indigenously made 40,000 tonne vessel would start sailing by next week, Admiral DK Joshi said on Monday. Admiral Joshi was delivering the General BC Joshi memorial lecture ‘Indian Navy and Maritime Power for National Prosperity’ at University of Pune (UoP). He said that the vessel would be inaugurated at Kochi port.
Speaking about the anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden he said, “Since October 2008, our ships and aircraft have seen sustained prolonged deployments, escorting Indian as well as foreign flagged ships. Since then, no pirate attack has been reportedly successful within 450 nautical miles of our coast.
Similarly, in the Gulf of Aden, no ship under our escort faced any pirate attack in the past four years. Indian Naval Ships escorted over 2,400 ships, foiled 40 piracy attempts and arrested more than 120 pirates.
“Maritime terrorism is another grave challenge. The events of 26/11 brought to the fore the porosity of our long coastline and its resultant vulnerability to terror attacks perpetrated from the sea.”
“Sustained growth has accelerated our country on the path to economic progress. We are already the third largest economy in purchasing power parity terms. India cannot develop and grow peacefully with an unstable and turbulent neighbourhood. Prevalence of peace in the Indian Ocean Region is, therefore, a key national security imperative. We achieve this through a combination of diplomatic, economic and military means, all of which have a maritime connect,” he explained.
Vice-chancellor WN Gade welcomed the guests while registrar NM Kadu proposed the vote of thanks.
Via: http://www.dnaindia.com/
