UGC Centre for Maritime Studies, Pondicherry University, organized 6 lectures under distinguished series of lectures in Pondicherry University to acquaint young research scholars and the students of the University in the areas of Maritime Security.

The lectures were attended by the students and research scholars from the University from different schools. The lectures aimed at highlighting the contemporary challenges facing India’s Maritime security and the way out. Prof. A. Subramanyam Raju, Coordinator, UGC Centre for Maritime Studies, in his welcome remarks, pressed upon the growing need for academia’s focus on the maritime studies, as the oceans are considered as the future fortunes. Inaugurating the lecture series, Prof. Gurmeet Singh, Vice Chancellor, Pondicherry University, emphasized upon the importance of Naval forces for India i.e., in the point of view of security and trade, while sharing his experience in the field of corrosion engineering, an input for the ocean technologies.

Prof. B. B. Mohanty, Dean of Social Sciences and International Studies, in his felicitation address highlighted on the importance of Indian ocean region and the geopolitics involved as it carries more than 75% of the world’s maritime trade and 50% of global oil. The lecture was then proceeded by the Vice Admiral Pradeep Chauhan, AVSM & Bar, VSM, IN (Retd), Director General, National Maritime Foundation, New Delhi, who articulated about almost all of the spheres of Maritime Security of India which includes India’s Maritime Geopolitics, Maritime Trade and the Naval Security. Land, he mentioned, as the natural habitat of man, but water is seen as hostile environment, which are politically uncontrollable unlike the former. He rightly mentioned about how maritime issues are not country-specific, but are same to every country. He also dealt with the historical glimpse of great naval powers in the past, and how their navies turned those Empires into the world powers. The students gained knowledge about the importance of navy to a country and the modus operandi of naval operations. He articulated the Maritime Vision of India and its various policy frameworks and programmes formulated to achieve them. He gave his balanced view of the development of ocean resources, concentrating on the wealth and health of the ocean.

In the lectures, he also brought to the forefront the need of the hour i.e., the role of academia to enrich the field of Maritime strategic studies. He reiterated the importance of conceptual clarity in the field by giving insights upon how small fallacies lead to misdirection and thus wrong approaches, if not taken care of. The students were educated about the technical concepts involved in the Maritime geopolitics. Every lecture had Q & A session, where Adm. Pradeep Chauhan addressed every other question from the participants, by not just giving away the answers to the questions but also enabling themselves to ponder upon further. The lectures were then concluded with vote of thanks by Dr. S.I.Humayun, Associate Professor of Centre for South Asian Studies, who mentioned how interactive, sensible and scholarly lectures these were. He thanked Adm. Pradeep Chauhan for having spent his valuable time with the participants in the University.

 

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