Indian Coast Guard
Also called: ICG, Coast Guard Act, 1978 · Topic: Statutory, Regulatory and Quasi-judicial Bodies · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) is an armed force of the Union under the Ministry of Defence. It was created by the Coast Guard Act, 1978, so it is a statutory body, meaning a body set up by an Act of Parliament and not by the Constitution. The Act sets out what it must do. It guards India's coastal and territorial waters (the strip of sea next to the coast that belongs to India), enforces maritime laws, carries out search and rescue at sea and fights marine pollution such as oil spills. After the 26/11 Mumbai attacks it was also given charge of coastal security in territorial waters, which includes the waters patrolled by State marine police.
Example
The ICG runs its own coastal security drills, called Sagar Kavach and Sajag, in which coastal police take part. A CAG audit test-checked six Coast Guard stations and found that, as of December 2010, three of them did not have enough Interceptor Boats (small, fast boats used to stop suspicious vessels).
Don't confuse with
- Indian Navy: the Navy is the main war-fighting force at sea and works mostly on the high seas, for example in TROPEX. It leads the national coastal defence exercise Sea Vigil. The Coast Guard handles day-to-day security and law enforcement in territorial waters.
- State marine / coastal police: these are State forces, because police is a State subject. They patrol the waters closest to the shore from coastal police stations. The Coast Guard is a central force.