Raksha Rajya Mantri Shri Sanjay Seth to inaugurate SAREX-2026 off Paradip coast

1. At a Glance

• SAREX-2026 is the 12th National Maritime Search & Rescue Exercise. The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) is running it off the Paradip coast (Odisha), and it will be inaugurated by Raksha Rajya Mantri Shri Sanjay Seth [1].
• It runs alongside the 24th National Maritime Search & Rescue (NMSAR) Board Meeting at Bhubaneswar, which is chaired by the Director General, ICG [1].
• The ICG coordinates SAR across the ~4.6 million sq km Indian Search and Rescue Region (ISRR) [2][5]. This is how India meets its duties under the International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue, 1979 [7].
• Syllabus links: GS-III (security forces and their mandates, disaster management) and GS-II (maritime diplomacy, from SAGAR to MAHASAGAR) [1].

2. Why in the News

• 06 Oct 2026: PIB announced that MoS Defence will inaugurate SAREX-2026 on 07 Oct 2026 and watch the SAR demo off Paradip on 08 Oct 2026 [1].
• 32 observers from 30 countries are taking part. PIB calls it "one of the largest and most complex SAR exercises ever conducted in the region" [1].
• The scenario is a Mass Rescue Operation (MRO) with an aircraft emergency and a ship emergency at the same time: a passenger aircraft ditches at sea with 228 persons on board and hits the container vessel MV Zumba [1].

3. Background & Evolution

• Coast Guard Act, 1978: sets up the ICG as an Armed Force of the Union to secure India's maritime zones. In force from 19 Aug 1978 under the Ministry of Defence [4].
• SAR Convention: concluded at Hamburg on 27 Apr 1979, in force from 22 Jun 1985 [7]. It requires States Parties to run SAR services and to coordinate with neighbouring States [7].
• NMSAR Board: set up in 2002. It meets every year to make policy, set guidelines and review the National Maritime SAR Plan [2].
• Milestones:
• 20th NMSAR Board: Gujarat (2022) [3]
• 21st NMSAR Board: Kolkata (2023) [3]
• 22nd NMSAR Board: Kochi, 28 Nov 2024 [2]
• SAREX-24 (11th edition): off Kochi, 29 Nov 2024, theme "Enhancing Search and Rescue Capabilities Through Regional Collaboration" [2][3]
• 23rd NMSAR Board: Gandhinagar, 10 Nov 2025 [3]

• 24th NMSAR Board + SAREX-2026 (12th edition): Bhubaneswar / Paradip, Oct 2026 [1]

• Capacity-building: in 16–21 Jan 2023 the ICG ran an MRCC operations and SAR course in Mumbai for personnel from six friendly countries, under ITEC [6].

4. Core Static Facts

Item	Fact
Nodal agency for maritime SAR	Indian Coast Guard (Ministry of Defence) [4][5]
Statute	Coast Guard Act, 1978, in force 19-08-1978 [4]
NMSAR Board chair	DG, ICG (2026: Paramesh Sivamani) [1]
NMSAR Board set up	2002, meets annually [2]
NMSAR Board composition	31 members: central ministries/agencies, Armed Forces, all coastal States and UTs [2]
ISRR area	~4.6 million sq km [2][5]
MRCCs	Mumbai, Chennai, Port Blair (A&N) [5]
SAREX-2026 edition	12th [1]
SAREX-2026 assets	15 ICG ships, 2 Dornier, 3 ALH, 1 Chetak, IAF C-130J and Mi-17, 2 IN ships, plus civil/state assets and shore units [1]
Foreign participation	32 observers / 30 countries [1]
Scenario	MRO: aircraft ditching (228 persons) plus collision with MV Zumba [1]
International basis	SAR Convention 1979 (Hamburg), in force 1985, UNTS No. 23489, registered by IMO [7]

5. Multi-Dimensional Analysis

Strategic / Geopolitical

• Bringing in 30 foreign countries signals that India wants to be the first responder in the IOR. PIB explicitly links the exercise to SAGAR and MAHASAGAR [1].
• A 4.6 million sq km ISRR, well beyond India's EEZ, gives India a real regional responsibility for SAR [2].
• ITEC-funded MRCC training for neighbouring countries turns SAR know-how into capacity-building diplomacy [6].

Administrative / Inter-agency

• The exercise uses ICG, Navy and IAF assets plus civil and state assets together, which tests joint working across agencies [1].
• The NMSAR Board brings in all coastal States and UTs, so maritime SAR is a shared Centre–State effort [2].
• 2026 agenda: distress-alert management, faster mobilisation of rescue assets and technology integration [1].

Disaster Management

• A Mass Rescue Operation with an aircraft and a ship in distress together is a low-probability, high-impact event. It tests whether SAR can scale up beyond routine rescues [1].
• The scenario follows the aeronautical-maritime SAR model, in which civil aviation and maritime SAR systems have to work together [1].

Legal / International

• The SAR Convention requires coastal States to provide SAR services and to coordinate with neighbours [7]. NMSAR and the MRCCs are how India meets that duty in practice [2][5].
• The ICG's legal basis is the Coast Guard Act, 1978, not a Navy statute [4].

Technological

• The 2026 Board is focused on tech-enabled distress alerting and quicker tasking of assets [1].
• The mix of fixed-wing aircraft (Dornier, C-130J) and rotary-wing aircraft (ALH, Chetak, Mi-17) matches the usual SAR sequence: search over a wide area first, then winch recovery [1].

6. Recent Developments (last 12–18 months)

• 10 Nov 2025: 23rd NMSAR Board meeting, Gandhinagar [3].
• 06 Oct 2026: PIB announces SAREX-2026 and the 24th NMSAR Board [1].
• 07 Oct 2026: SAREX-2026 inauguration by MoS Defence Sanjay Seth [1].
• 08 Oct 2026: SAR demo off Paradip [1].
• Earlier context: SAREX-24 (11th edition) was held off Kochi on 29 Nov 2024 [2][3].

7. Prelims Hooks

• SAREX is run by the Indian Coast Guard, not the Indian Navy [1].
• SAREX-2026 is the 12th edition, held off Paradip, Odisha [1].
• The 24th NMSAR Board meets at Bhubaneswar [1].
• The NMSAR Board is chaired by the DG, Indian Coast Guard [1].
• The NMSAR Board was set up in 2002 [2].
• The NMSAR Board has 31 members, including all coastal States and UTs [2].
• The Indian SAR Region covers about 4.6 million sq km [2].
• The ICG's MRCCs are at Mumbai, Chennai and Port Blair [5].
• The Coast Guard Act 1978 came into force on 19 Aug 1978 [4].
• The ICG is an Armed Force of the Union under the MoD [4].
• The SAR Convention was adopted at Hamburg, 1979, and came into force in 1985 [7].
• SAREX-24 (11th edition) was held off Kochi with the theme "Enhancing SAR Capabilities Through Regional Collaboration" [3].
• SAREX-2026 has 32 observers from 30 countries [1].
• The ICG ran its MRCC/SAR training for foreign personnel under ITEC [6].

8. How Small Real Rescues Are Next to This Exercise

• Most real rescues involve a handful of people, not hundreds
• In August 2024, the ICG regional headquarters at Kolkata sent two ships and one Dornier aircraft to rescue 11 crew of the distressed ship MV ITT Puma. It was a night rescue in bad weather [10].
• In July 2024, an ICG helicopter lifted 14 crew off the bulk carrier JSW Raigad, which had run aground off Alibaug [10].

• In its whole history, the ICG has saved over 11,730 lives. That is only 169 lives in the year before its 49th Raising Day [8].

• SAREX-2026 tests a different scale altogether

• The scenario has 228 people in the water at one spot, all at the same time [1].
• To handle it, the exercise brings in 15 ICG ships, aircraft from three services, and civil and state assets [1].

• A real rescue of 11 crew needed three platforms. A 228-person rescue would need most of the fleet in one area within hours.

• Why this matters for your answer

• In an exercise, ships and aircraft are moved into position in advance. A real ditching gives no warning.
• So the real test is not whether the drill goes smoothly. It is how fast assets can be pulled from their normal patrols and sent to the scene. That is exactly why the 2026 Board agenda puts "faster mobilisation" first [1].

9. Rescue at Sea Works Even Across the India–Pakistan Border

• The MRCC channel kept working when political ties did not
• On 04 Dec 2024, the ICG rescued 12 crew of the sunken Indian vessel MSV Al Piranpir in the North Arabian Sea, working with its Pakistani counterpart [12].

• On 26 Dec 2024, the ICG rescued 9 crew of MSV Taj Dhare Haram, about 311 km west of Porbandar. MRCC (Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre, the control room that runs a rescue) Mumbai and MRCC Karachi worked together. The crew were saved just before the boat sank [11].

• Why this happens: the SAR Convention makes it a duty, not a favour

• The 1979 SAR Convention requires States to coordinate SAR with their neighbours [7].

• So an MRCC-to-MRCC link exists that does not depend on diplomatic relations.

• How to use this in Mains

• Question stem 1 in this note asks whether SAR is humanitarian or strategic. The Pakistan cases show the humanitarian side holds even when the strategic side is frozen.
• This is a strong, concrete example to balance the "SAR as influence" argument.

10. Can One Coast Guard Cover 4.6 Million sq km?

• Three control rooms for a very large area
• All of the ~4.6 million sq km ISRR is coordinated from just three MRCCs: Mumbai, Chennai and Port Blair [5][2].

• A distress call from far out at sea may reach a centre that has few ships close to the spot.

• The fleet is still being built up

• A Standing Committee on Defence report recorded the ICG's plan to grow from 158 to 190 ships, and from 72 to 80 aircraft, by 2025 [9].

• So the force that runs SAR has itself said that it needs more platforms.

• SAR shares the same ships with many other jobs

• Under the Coast Guard Act, 1978, the ICG also handles maritime security, help to fishermen, protection of the marine environment and anti-smuggling work [4].
• The same ship cannot patrol for smugglers and stand by for a rescue at the same time.

• When asset numbers are tight, every hour given to one task is taken away from another.

• What this means for the exercise

• Putting 15 ICG ships into one drill shows what is possible at full effort [1].
• It does not show what is free on an ordinary day, when ships are spread across patrol areas.

11. What Should Come After the Drill

• The NMSAR Board should publish what went wrong, not only what went right
• The Board's job is to review the National Maritime SAR Plan every year [2].
• PIB releases on past SAREX editions describe the demonstration, not the gaps it found [2][3].

• A public after-action summary (a report on what failed in the drill and how it will be fixed) would let States, ports and airlines fix their part before a real event.

• The ICG should turn the Mumbai–Karachi model into a routine practice with every neighbour

• The December 2024 rescues worked because the two MRCCs talked directly [11][12].

• Regular communication drills with every neighbouring MRCC would make this the normal way of working, not a one-off.

• MEA and the ICG should scale up ITEC SAR training alongside the 30-nation outreach

• Hosting 32 observers is a one-week event [1].
• The 2023 ITEC MRCC course trained staff from six countries to run their own rescue centres [6].

• Training of this kind lasts longer than watching a demo. It also matches the SAGAR aim of building partners' capacity, not just showing India's own strength.

• The aeronautical side must be tested as seriously as the maritime side

• The scenario is an aircraft ditching [1]. Civil aviation's rescue centres and airlines have to raise the alarm and share the passenger list fast.
• The Board's focus on distress-alert management [1] should include the time from cockpit alert to MRCC tasking, because that is where the first minutes are lost.

12. Anchors for Answers

• Data: ICG has saved over 11,730 lives since it was set up, including 169 in the past year (49th Raising Day) [8]
• Data: Real-world scale: 11 crew of MV ITT Puma rescued with 2 ships + 1 Dornier (Aug 2024) [10], against a 228-person exercise scenario [1]
• Report/Committee: Standing Committee on Defence: ICG plan to expand from 158 to 190 ships and 72 to 80 aircraft by 2025 [9]
• Law/Case: Coast Guard Act, 1978 (SAR among many statutory duties) [4]; International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue, 1979 (duty to coordinate with neighbours) [7]
• Comparison: MRCC Mumbai–MRCC Karachi joint rescue of MSV Taj Dhare Haram crew, Dec 2024: SAR cooperation working across hostile borders [11]
• Scheme: ITEC: MRCC operations and SAR course for six friendly countries, 2023 [6]

13. Mains Relevance

• GS-III: Security challenges and their management in border areas; various security forces and agencies and their mandate; Disaster and disaster management.
• GS-II: India and its neighbourhood; bilateral, regional and global groupings (maritime diplomacy).
• Possible question stems: 1. 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. (250 words) 2. Examine the institutional architecture for maritime SAR in India. What challenges does a Mass Rescue Operation scenario pose for inter-agency coordination? (150 words) 3. How does the Indian Coast Guard's role as nodal SAR agency fit into India's shift from SAGAR to MAHASAGAR? (150 words)

14. Related Topics to Study Next

• Coast Guard Act, 1978 and ICG functions: the statutory base for the ICG's SAR role.
• SAGAR → MAHASAGAR: the policy vision PIB links to the exercise. Learn both expansions and when each was announced. (not retrieved in this note; check against PIB/MEA)
• IFC-IOR (Information Fusion Centre – IOR): maritime domain awareness, which supports SAR tasking.
• UNCLOS maritime zones: how the ISRR differs from the Territorial Sea, EEZ and Continental Shelf.
• Cospas-Sarsat and GMDSS: the satellite and radio distress-alert systems behind "distress-alert management".
• NDMA and the Disaster Management Act, 2005: how coastal disaster response connects with maritime SAR.
• ITEC: the vehicle for SAR capacity-building abroad [6].
• Other ICG exercises (e.g., Sahyog Kaijin, Dosti): for comparison with bilateral and trilateral coast guard drills.

15. NCERT Concepts to Revise

• United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Geography): Sets the maritime zones and sea-law framework; the note asks how the SAR region differs from these zones.
• Exclusive economic zone (Geography): The note warns that the 4.6 million sq km SAR region is not the EEZ, so know the difference.
• National Disaster Management Authority (Geography): Apex disaster body; the note links coastal disaster response with maritime rescue in mass-casualty scenarios.
• Disaster Management Act 2005 (Geography): Legal base for India's disaster response, which connects to the mass rescue operation scenario in the exercise.
• Indian Ocean (Geography): The exercise is framed as India acting as first responder in the Indian Ocean region.
• Territorial sea (Geography): Helps separate sovereign waters from the wider rescue region India covers under the SAR Convention.

16. Common Errors / Trap Areas

• ICG vs Navy: the ICG is the nodal maritime SAR agency and runs SAREX. Navy and IAF assets only take part [1][5].
• Mixing up the numbering: the NMSAR Board count (24th) is different from the SAREX count (12th). The Board meets every year, but SAREX has not been held every year: the 11th was in 2024 and the 12th is in 2026 [1][2].
• Venue: the exercise is off Paradip, while the Board meeting is at Bhubaneswar. Both are in Odisha [1].
• ISRR vs EEZ: 4.6 million sq km is the SAR region, not India's EEZ [2].
• SAR Convention dates: adopted 1979 (Hamburg) and in force 1985. Don't confuse it with SOLAS (1974) [7].