Maritime Search and Rescue is both a humanitarian obligation and an instrument of strategic influence in the Indian Ocean Region. Discuss in light of India's SAR framework.

India coordinates maritime Search and Rescue (SAR) across a ~4.6 million sq km Indian Search and Rescue Region (ISRR), which reaches well beyond its EEZ [3]. The framework began as a treaty duty to save lives. It now also serves as a tool of regional influence, and the two roles largely support each other.

SAR as a humanitarian obligation

• Treaty duty: the SAR Convention, 1979 (Hamburg) requires States Parties to provide SAR services and to coordinate with their neighbours [1].
• Statutory mandate: the Coast Guard Act, 1978 makes the ICG an Armed Force of the Union and tasks it with helping fishermen in distress at sea [2].
• Institutional machinery: the NMSAR Board (set up in 2002; 31 members, including all coastal States/UTs) meets every year to review the National SAR Plan [3].
• Outcome: the ICG has saved over 11,730 lives since its inception [4].

SAR as an instrument of strategic influence

• Showcasing capability: SAREX-2026, held off Paradip, has 32 observers from 30 countries, and PIB links it to SAGAR and MAHASAGAR [5].
• Capacity-building diplomacy: in 2023, under ITEC, the ICG trained MRCC personnel from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Mauritius, Seychelles and Myanmar [6].
• First-responder credibility: the exercise rehearses a Mass Rescue Operation with ICG, Navy, IAF and civil assets [5]. In the scenario, an aircraft carrying 228 people ditches at sea and hits a ship. This signals that India can lead a response anywhere in the IOR.

Convergence and limits

• Humanitarian work holds even across hostile borders: in December 2024, MRCC Mumbai and MRCC Karachi jointly rescued nine crew of MSV Taj Dhare Haram [7]. In a separate case, the ICG rescued 12 seafarers while working with its Pakistani counterpart [8]. Credibility earned through such neutral rescues is itself a source of influence.
• Stretched assets: SAR uses the same ships and aircraft as the ICG's security, anti-smuggling and pollution-control duties [2]. A drill that brings together 15 ICG ships [5] shows the maximum effort possible, not what is free on an ordinary day.

India's SAR framework thus turns a legal obligation into regional trust. Three steps would strengthen both roles: the NMSAR Board could publish reviews of what went wrong in each drill, the ICG could hold routine drills with the rescue centres of every neighbour, and ITEC training could be widened. Keeping lifesaving at the centre honours the cooperative spirit of the SAR Convention and India's SAGAR vision.