Against the backdrop of therecent attacks on Tamil Nadu fishermen allegedly by Sri LankanNavy, GPS equipment is being fitted on boats to help them innavigation.
"Our fishermen, sometimes, go into their (Sri Lankan)areas. They do not know that they have crossed internationalboundaries. Therefore, GPS devices are being fitted to fishingboats as part of an ongoing pilot project," Minister of Statefor Defence Jitendra Singh said today.
He was replying to a query on attacks on Tamil Nadufishermen allegedly by Sri Lankan Navy.
Commissioning an in-shore patrol vessel ICGS Rajkamalfor the Coast Guard, he highlighted the need for educatingfishermen about the geographics of the area.
He described the international boundaries betweenIndia and Sri Lanka as "very very complex. "So what happens isour fishermen go into their areas. So such problems can onlybe dealt with bilaterally."
A joint group between Indian and Sri Lankangovernments with senior officers of the Coast Guard, policeand diplomatic channels has been formed and meet every sixmonths, the minister said.
"We need to strengthen dialogues, and strengthen suchmeetings and such communication between both countries tosolve the problems," he said.
Replying to a query on China, he said, "The rise ofany military is no threat to us. China is a partner, a globalforce. We respect that. We have very very good relations withthe Chinese and we want to keep it that way. We want to havegood relations with our neighbours."
Referring to the fact that over 85 per cent of the newly commissioned ICGS Rajkamal was indigenised, Singh saidthe Defence Ministry and government were working towardsindigenisation.
"We are not dependent on foreign players and we shouldbe capable of developing our own aircraft, ships, equipment,right from arms...," he said.
He said 10 ships would be delivered by Garden Reach,Kolkata and another similar high-speed 14 ships were in theprocess of procurement.
"Very soon, this sector, mainly Tamil Nadu and Chennaiarea, will be getting the surveillance radar system which is agiant leap forward to coastal security," the minister said.
On cyber attacks on Indian sites, he said thegovernment was well aware of the prevailing situation in thecyber world.
"Ministry of Home Affairs, Defence and various otherministries are working together at various platforms indealing with this threat," he said.
He also said the first phase of the CoastalSurveillance Network was "nearing completion."
Vice Admiral M P Muralidharan, Director General, CoastGuard, said for enhancing surveillance capabilities andeffective maritime domain awareness, a Coastal SurveillanceNetwork along the coastline is being established.
"The aim of setting up of this network is to create areal-time coastal surveillance system which can be monitoredfrom remote locations. Forty-six such stations are being setup under Phase I and 38 stations are planned under Phase II ofthe scheme."