The Bay of Bengal as India’s SHANTI anchor
The article discusses India's evolving maritime security strategy, introducing 'SHANTI' (Securing Holistic Advancement through Norms, Trust and Integrity) as a normative framework for shared maritime spaces, building upon previous initiatives like SAGAR and MAHASAGAR. It highlights the Bay of Bengal's strategic centrality, its vulnerability to non-traditional threats (climate disasters, illegal fishing, cyber vulnerabilities), and the need for coordinated regional cooperation. SHANTI aims to shift the focus from competition to demand-driven cooperation, institution-building, and long-term resilience, positioning India as a 'preferred security partner' and 'first responder'. The Bay of Bengal is presented as an ideal 'natural laboratory' to operationalize SHANTI, leveraging existing mechanisms like BIMSTEC for trust-based, rules-based cooperation.
The article discusses India's evolving maritime security strategy, introducing 'SHANTI' (Securing Holistic Advancement through Norms, Trust and Integrity) as a normative framework for shared maritime spaces, building upon previous initiatives like SAGAR and MAHASAGAR. It highlights the Bay of Bengal's strategic centrality, its vulnerability to non-traditional threats (climate disasters, illegal fishing, cyber vulnerabilities), and the need for coordinated regional cooperation. SHANTI aims to shift the focus from competition to demand-driven cooperation, institution-building, and long-term resilience, positioning India as a 'preferred security partner' and 'first responder'. The Bay of Bengal is presented as an ideal 'natural laboratory' to operationalize SHANTI, leveraging existing mechanisms like BIMSTEC for trust-based, rules-based cooperation.
Exam linkage
GS Paper 2: International Relations - India and its neighborhood- relations; Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests; Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora; Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate.
Syllabus mapping
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