Loading…
India will host the fifth Coast Guard Global Summit (CGGS) in New Delhi in February 2027, coinciding with the Swarnim Jayanti — the golden jubilee — of the Bharatiya Tatrakshak (Indian Coast Guard).
As a preparatory engagement, the Indian Coast Guard hosted the Working Level Meeting of the 5th CGGS in hybrid mode on 19 August 2026, which took up the CGGS Meeting Guidelines, the Information Sharing Mechanism, the development of the CGGS website and the proposed Activity Calendar for future collaborative engagements.
The Summit is positioned as a manifestation of India's MAHASAGAR vision, with the deliberations also covering collective capability building through exchange of professional expertise, operational experience and best practices among participating maritime agencies.
An armed force of the Union, distinct from the Navy, charged with protecting India's maritime zones and interests — safety of life at sea, protection of offshore installations and fishermen, marine environment protection, anti-smuggling assistance to customs, and enforcement of maritime law. An interim Coast Guard came into being on 1 February 1977 with two corvettes and five patrol boats transferred from the Navy; it was formally inaugurated by Prime Minister Morarji Desai on 19 August 1978. Vice Admiral V.A. Kamath of the Indian Navy was its founding Director General.
Jointly proposed the Coast Guard Global Summit in 2017 and hosted its first three editions in Tokyo. The Nippon Foundation is a Japanese private grant-making foundation with a long-standing maritime affairs programme.
Hosted the 4th Coast Guard Global Summit in Rome from 10 to 12 September 2025 — the first edition held outside Japan — attended by 115 heads of coast guards and related organisations from 99 countries and regions.
The constituting statute. Passed by Parliament on 18 August 1978 and brought into effect immediately, it defines the Indian Coast Guard's duties and functions and establishes it as an armed force of the Union under the Ministry of Defence. This is the answer to the standard question of whether the ICG is statutory — it is.
Delimits the maritime space the Coast Guard polices — territorial waters up to 12 nautical miles from the baseline, the contiguous zone up to 24 nautical miles, the continental shelf, the Exclusive Economic Zone and historic waters. India's sovereignty is full in the territorial sea; in the EEZ the coastal state has sovereign rights over resources rather than sovereignty, which is why enforcement there is a coast guard rather than a navy function.
The international framework these national limits mirror, and the reference point for the maritime jurisdiction questions the Summit's agencies deal with across borders.
Announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Mauritius in March 2025 as India's maritime vision for the Global South, resting on three dimensions — trade for development, capacity building for sustainable growth, and mutual security for a shared future.
Key: It widens the earlier regional frame to an inter-regional one, and the 5th CGGS is presented in the release as a manifestation of this vision.
Launched by Prime Minister Modi in 2015, also from Mauritius, as India's strategic outlook for the Indian Ocean Region, combining maritime security cooperation with capacity building for littoral neighbours.
Key: MAHASAGAR is its successor and expansion: SAGAR was Indian Ocean-focused, MAHASAGAR is 'across regions'. Exams like this pairing precisely because the two acronyms are close.
A biannual multi-agency coastal security exercise hosted by the Indian Coast Guard along the coastal states and island territories, to validate coastal security standard operating procedures and test preparedness against seaborne intrusion, infiltration, smuggling and sabotage.
Key: It brings in the Indian Navy, state marine police, fisheries departments, Customs and other agencies, and uses simulated 'Red Force' intruders — the practical form of the post-2008 coastal security architecture.
Both are armed forces of the Union under the Ministry of Defence, but their statutes and roles differ. The Navy is an instrument of war and sea control; the Coast Guard, constituted under the Coast Guard Act 1978, is a law-enforcement and safety force in India's maritime zones. In coastal security the Navy has overall responsibility, with the Coast Guard responsible for territorial waters including areas patrolled by the state marine police.
Piracy, illegal unreported and unregulated fishing, drug trafficking and oil spills all cross jurisdictions faster than navies can be authorised to act. Coast guards are the agencies with police powers at sea, so a standing forum among them — with an information sharing mechanism and a common activity calendar, exactly what the Working Level Meeting discussed — is the practical layer under the treaty layer.
The Indian Coast Guard's interim service began on 1 February 1977, so February 2027 is its fiftieth year — 'Swarnim Jayanti'. Note the two dates that get confused: 1 February 1977 for the raising of the interim force, and 18 August 1978 for the Coast Guard Act, with formal inauguration on 19 August 1978.
GS Paper 3 > Security > Various security forces and agencies and their mandate; GS Paper 2 > International groupings
General Knowledge > Armed forces of the Union, their statutes and leadership
General Awareness > Current Affairs — summits and conferences hosted by India
With reference to Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC)', consider the following statements: 1. It was established very recently in response to incidents of piracy and accidents of oil spills. 2. It is an alliance meant for maritime security only. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer: Neither 1 nor 2
Statutory basis and mandate of the Indian Coast Guard, and the maritime zone distances, are recurring UPSC Prelims and defence-exam items; 'summits India will host' is a standard SSC current-affairs slot.
A forum of the heads of the world's coast guard agencies, launched in 2017 on the proposal of the Japan Coast Guard and the Nippon Foundation.
The Indian Coast Guard — an armed force of the Union under the Ministry of Defence, constituted by the Coast Guard Act, 1978.
Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions — India's maritime vision for the Global South, announced from Mauritius in March 2025.
The maritime belt in which a coastal state has sovereign rights over natural resources — sovereign rights over resources, not full sovereignty — defined for India by the Maritime Zones Act, 1976.
A biannual multi-agency coastal security exercise hosted by the Indian Coast Guard to test preparedness against seaborne threats.