RRM Inaugurates SAREX-2026 as 24th NMSAR Board Meeting Reviews Maritime SAR Preparedness

1. At a Glance

• SAREX-2026 is a multinational, multi-agency maritime Search and Rescue (SAR) exercise run by the Indian Coast Guard (ICG). Raksha Rajya Mantri Shri Sanjay Seth inaugurated it on 7 Oct 2026, and it is to be held off Paradip (Odisha) on 8 Oct 2026 [1].
• The 24th National Maritime SAR (NMSAR) Board meeting met on the same day. It reviewed SAR preparedness across the 4.6 million sq km Indian Search & Rescue Region (ISRR) [1].
• The news hook for space technology is that India's MEOLUT (the ground terminal for MEOSAR, or Medium Earth Orbit SAR) reached full operational capability. India's satellite-aided SAR has moved from LEOSAR → GEOSAR → MEOSAR [1].
• It matters for UPSC because it links maritime security, HADR (humanitarian assistance and disaster relief), the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) neighbourhood, space applications (ISRO) and international law (the SAR Convention, 1979).

2. Why in the News

• 7 Oct 2026: RRM Sanjay Seth inaugurated SAREX-2026. 32 delegates from 30 foreign friendly nations are taking part or observing [1].
• 7 Oct 2026: The 24th NMSAR Board meeting was chaired by DG Paramesh Sivamani, DG ICG and Chairman of the NMSAR Board [1].
• The National Maritime Search & Rescue Awards 2026 were presented at the Board meeting [1].
• RRM congratulated ISRO on the full operational capability (FOC) of the Indian MEOLUT [1].

3. Background & Evolution

• 1979: The International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue (SAR Convention) was concluded at Hamburg on 27 April 1979. It entered into force in 1985 and was registered by the IMO on 27 Aug 1985 [9].

• After it came into force, the world's oceans were divided into 13 SAR regions [9][10].

• 1989–90: ISRO's ground segment for COSPAS-SARSAT (the international satellite-aided SAR system) became operational [8].

• 2002: The NMSAR Board was set up. It meets annually to discuss policy, frame guidelines and procedures, and review the National SAR Plan [2].
• NMSAR Board meetings so far:

Meeting	Venue	Date	Source
18th	n/a	n/a	[7]
20th	Gujarat	n/a	[6]
21st	Kolkata	n/a	[5]
22nd	Kochi	28 Nov 2024	[2]
23rd	Gandhinagar	10 Nov 2025	[3]
24th	(Paradip context)	7 Oct 2026	[1]

• 29 Nov 2024: The 11th National Maritime SAR Exercise (SAREX-2024) was held off Kochi. Its theme was "Enhancing Search and Rescue Capabilities Through Regional Collaboration" [4]. The Defence Secretary inaugurated the exercise and workshop [11].
• Satellite SAR path: LEOSAR → GEOSAR → MEOSAR [1].
• Earlier, ISRO's MEOLUT had only completed a Proof of Concept (POC) [8].
• It has now reached FOC [1].

4. Core Static Facts

Item	Fact
Who conducts SAREX / chairs the NMSAR Board	Indian Coast Guard. The DG ICG is Chairman of the NMSAR Board [1][2]
Parent ministry	Ministry of Defence (PIB release issued under MoD) [1]
NMSAR Board composition	Members drawn from national and coastal-State administrations and agencies [2]
NMSAR Board set up	2002; meets annually [2]
ISRR area	4.6 million sq km [1]
SAREX-2026 venue / date	Off Paradip, 8 Oct 2026 [1]
Foreign participation	32 delegates, 30 nations [1]
Participating agencies	Navy, Coast Guard, Air Force, Coastal Police, Ports, civil agencies, shipping community, international and regional partners [1]
SAREX objectives	Validate operational preparedness, improve international interoperability, test joint response, exchange best practices. Preservation of life at sea is the top priority [1]
ICG motto	"Vayam Rakshamah" (We Protect) [1]
INMCC (Indian Mission Control Centre)	At ISTRAC, Bengaluru. Provides distress-alert location data for India and 7 neighbouring countries [8]
ISRO's COSPAS-SARSAT assets	Space segment: INSAT-3DR, GSAT-17. Ground segment: 2 LEOLUTs (Bengaluru, Lucknow), 1 GEOLUT, and the INMCC at Bengaluru [8]
MEOLUT	Ground station for MEOSAR, built in-house by INMCC. Designed to give near-instant distress alerts [8]. Now at FOC [1]
SAR Convention	Hamburg, 1979; in force 1985; administered by the IMO [9]

5. Multi-Dimensional Analysis

Geopolitical / Strategic

• With 30 nations taking part, SAREX acts as a soft-power and HADR platform. The RRM described the participation as "mutual commitment towards… maritime safety across the region" [1].
• INMCC serves 7 neighbouring countries, which makes India a regional provider of SAR services [8].
• The RRM invoked "One Earth, One Family, One Future", framing SAR as a global public good [1].

Scientific / Technological

• The move from LEO to GEO to MEO matters because MEOSAR offers near-instant detection and location of distress beacons, unlike the delayed fixes from LEO satellites [1][8].
• The MEOLUT was developed in-house, which supports self-reliance in critical SAR infrastructure [8].
• The Board discussed technology integration, real-time information sharing, distress-alert management and vessel tracking [1].

Administrative / Governance

• The RRM called for a Whole-of-Government and Whole-of-Nation approach, covering the military, police, ports and the shipping community [1].
• The NMSAR Board is the coordination body linking Centre and coastal States [2].
• The Chairman stressed that lessons from past missions should translate into better mission readiness [1].

Legal / International

• Under the SAR Convention, parties must provide SAR services off their coasts. Help must be given regardless of the nationality or status of the person in distress [9].
• The ISRR is India's SAR area of responsibility under this convention framework [1][9].

Social / Ethical

• The beneficiaries are fishers, seafarers and coastal communities. Preservation of life is treated as the overriding value [1].
• The SAR obligation is non-discriminatory, applying regardless of nationality or status [9].

6. Recent Developments (last 12–18 months)

• 10 Nov 2025: 23rd NMSAR Board meeting in Gandhinagar, focused on inter-agency coordination [3].
• 7 Oct 2026: 24th NMSAR Board meeting; National Maritime SAR Awards 2026 presented [1].
• 7–8 Oct 2026: SAREX-2026 inaugurated, with the exercise off Paradip [1].
• 2026: Indian MEOLUT reached full operational capability [1].

7. Prelims Hooks

• SAREX-2026 is to be held off Paradip, Odisha, on 8 Oct 2026 [1].
• 32 delegates from 30 foreign nations at SAREX-2026 [1].
• The 24th NMSAR Board meeting was held on 7 Oct 2026 [1].
• The Indian Search & Rescue Region (ISRR) covers about 4.6 million sq km [1].
• The NMSAR Board was set up in 2002; the DG Indian Coast Guard is its Chairman [2].
• ICG motto: "Vayam Rakshamah" (We Protect) [1].
• India's satellite SAR sequence: LEOSAR → GEOSAR → MEOSAR [1].
• MEOLUT = the ground terminal for MEOSAR; India's reached FOC in 2026 [1].
• INMCC is located at ISTRAC, Bengaluru, and covers India plus 7 neighbouring countries [8].
• India's LEOLUTs are at Bengaluru and Lucknow [8].
• INSAT-3DR and GSAT-17 carry SAR payloads in GEO [8].
• India's COSPAS-SARSAT ground segment has been operational since 1989–90 [8].
• SAR Convention: Hamburg, 1979; in force 1985; IMO-administered; oceans divided into 13 SAR regions [9][10].
• SAREX-2024 (the 11th edition) was held off Kochi with the theme "Enhancing SAR Capabilities Through Regional Collaboration" [4].
• 22nd NMSAR Board: Kochi, 2024. 23rd: Gandhinagar, 2025 [2][3].

8. Why a Faster Alert Does Not Mean a Faster Rescue

• MEOLUT only fixes the first step of a rescue
• MEOSAR helps India learn sooner and more exactly where a distress beacon is [1][8].
• But a rescue has three steps: detect, reach, recover. Satellites help only with the first.

• After the alert, a ship or aircraft still has to cover the distance. India's search area is 4.6 million sq km [1]. Distance and the number of ships and aircraft decide how long that takes.

• The last full audit found the Coast Guard short of ships and aircraft

• The CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General, the auditor of government spending) reviewed the Coast Guard in Report No. 7 of 2011 [12].
• In December 2010, the ICG had only 65% of the ships it needed. Its aviation arm had only 48% of the aircraft it needed [12].

• Planned purchases had not arrived on time. That was the main reason for the gap [12].

• Helicopters bought for rescue could not be used for rescue

• The CAG found that ICG ALH (Advanced Light Helicopter) aircraft could not be used for SAR missions [12].
• The reasons were technical: rescue-hoist trials and certification were not done, radar and Doppler faults, and an auto-hover software update was still pending [12].

• A helicopter that cannot hover and winch someone up cannot pull a person out of the sea, however fast the alert arrives.

• Read this data with care

• These numbers are from 2010–11. The fleet has changed since then.
• The point that still holds: satellite ability (now at FOC) can run ahead of ship and aircraft ability. A Mains answer should keep the two separate.

9. Why the Small Fishing Boat Is the Weakest Link

• A satellite can only hear a boat that is carrying a transmitter
• COSPAS-SARSAT finds distress beacons (small radio devices that send an SOS signal) [8]. A boat without one is invisible to MEOLUT, LEOLUT or GEOLUT.

• Large merchant ships must carry such equipment. Small fishing boats are the hard case. They are also the main users of SAR named in the note (fishers and coastal communities) [1].

• ISRO built a cheaper device for fishing boats

• The Distress Alert Transmitter (DAT) lets a fishing boat send an emergency message through a communication satellite [13].

• The INMCC (Indian Mission Control Centre) decodes the boat's identity and location. It then passes this to the Coast Guard's MRCCs (Maritime Rescue Coordination Centres, the control rooms that run a rescue) [13].

• The old device had a blind spot, and the new version closes it

• With the first DAT, a fisher pressed the button but got no reply. They could not know if anyone had heard.
• DAT-SG (Second Generation) sends an acknowledgement back to the boat. It can also receive warnings about cyclones, tsunamis and bad weather while the boat is at sea [13].

• Indigenous transponders were reported as a "lifeline" for fishers during Cyclone Dana [15].

• What the sources here do not answer

• None of the sources used here says how many of India's fishing boats actually carry a working DAT-SG or transponder.
• That coverage number, not MEOLUT's FOC, decides how many fishers this system can actually save. Treat it as the key open question.

10. Why No One Can Yet Say How Well India's SAR Works

• Exercises and awards measure effort, not results
• SAREX tests readiness and interoperability (the ability of different forces and countries to work together) [1]. Awards honour good missions [1].

• Neither tells us how many people were not saved, or why.

• The CAG found that failed missions were not even counted

• In SAR, pollution-control and anti-poaching operations, the ICG could not tell the CAG how many missions failed or could not be carried out because it lacked resources [12].

• If failures are not recorded, the system cannot learn from them. The NMSAR Chairman's call to turn "lessons from past missions" into readiness [1] needs this data first.

• What a useful scorecard would contain

• Time from alert to arrival on scene.
• Lives saved compared with total distress cases.
• Missions dropped or delayed because no ship or aircraft was available, which is the exact gap the CAG flagged [12].

11. Who Should Do What Next

• NMSAR Board: publish a yearly SAR outcome report
• The Board already meets every year and reviews the National SAR Plan [2].

• It should add outcome figures: response times, success rates, and missions failed for lack of resources. This answers the CAG's 2011 finding that such data did not exist [12].

• Ministry of Defence and ICG: match ships and aircraft to the new alert speed

• Close the force-level gap the CAG found (65% ships, 48% aircraft) [12].

• Certify every helicopter for hoisting and hovering before counting it as a SAR asset. This was the ALH problem [12].

• ISRO, coastal States and fisheries departments: put two-way transmitters on small boats

• Push DAT-SG, which confirms to the fisher that help is coming [13], instead of one-way devices.

• Make sure every alert flows through INMCC to the MRCC without delay [13].

• INCOIS: stop boats from needing rescue at all

• INCOIS already uses ISRO's NavIC messaging system to send cyclone, tsunami and high-wave warnings, and Potential Fishing Zone advisories, to fishers [14].

• A boat that turns back because of a warning never needs a rescue. Prevention costs far less than a search across 4.6 million sq km [1].

• India as regional provider: use SAREX to share devices, not just drills

• INMCC already serves 7 neighbouring countries [8], and 30 nations attended SAREX-2026 [1].
• Offering DAT-type devices and alert-sharing to these partners would turn exercise goodwill into lives saved.

12. Anchors for Answers

• Data: India's search and rescue region (ISRR) covers 4.6 million sq km [1]; in December 2010 the ICG had only 65% of the ships and 48% of the aircraft it needed [12]
• Report/Committee: CAG Report No. 7 of 2011, Performance Audit of the Role and Functioning of the Indian Coast Guard (2004-05 to 2009-10): found shortfalls in ships and aircraft, ALH helicopters not cleared for SAR, and no record of failed missions [12]
• Law/Case: International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue, 1979 (Hamburg; in force 1985): requires states to help anyone in distress regardless of nationality [9]
• Scheme: ISRO's Distress Alert Transmitter (DAT / DAT-SG) for fishing boats, linked to INMCC and the Coast Guard MRCCs [13]; NavIC messaging used by INCOIS for cyclone and tsunami warnings to fishers [14]

13. Mains Relevance

• GS-III: Security challenges and their management in border areas (coastal and maritime security); various security forces and agencies and their mandates; disaster management; science and technology (space applications).
• GS-II: Important international institutions (IMO); India and its neighbourhood (IOR cooperation).
• Possible question stems: 1. "Modern maritime security is not the responsibility of any single agency." Examine India's maritime Search and Rescue architecture in the light of this statement. 2. Discuss how India's shift from LEOSAR to MEOSAR strengthens its humanitarian and strategic role in the Indian Ocean Region. 3. Multinational exercises such as SAREX are instruments of maritime diplomacy as much as operational drills. Comment.

14. Related Topics to Study Next

• COSPAS-SARSAT programme: the international system behind LEO, GEO and MEO SAR.
• SAR Convention 1979, SOLAS and UNCLOS: the legal duty to render assistance at sea.
• Indian Coast Guard: its mandate, the Coast Guard Act, and its role in coastal security after 26/11.
• SAGAR / MAHASAGAR vision: India as a net security provider and first responder in the IOR.
• IFC-IOR (Information Fusion Centre) and INCOIS: maritime domain awareness and ocean early warning.
• NavIC and GAGAN: other ISRO navigation services that support maritime safety.
• HADR operations by Indian forces: SAR as one part of disaster response.

15. NCERT Concepts to Revise

• Comptroller and Auditor General (Polity): The CAG's 2011 audit found Coast Guard shortages in ships and aircraft and no record of failed missions.
• Performance audit (Polity): The CAG report on the Coast Guard was a performance audit, checking whether it met its goals efficiently.
• United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Geography): The SAR Convention sits within the wider ocean-law framework that sets duties to help people in distress at sea.
• INSAT (Geography): ISRO's INSAT-3DR carries a search-and-rescue payload used to detect distress beacons from boats.
• NavIC (Geography): INCOIS uses NavIC messaging to send cyclone, tsunami and wave warnings to fishers at sea.
• Indian Ocean (Geography): India's search-and-rescue region, regional partners and maritime diplomacy all centre on the Indian Ocean.

16. Common Errors / Trap Areas

• Who chairs the NMSAR Board. It is the DG ICG, not the Navy chief or the Ministry of Shipping. The RRM inaugurated SAREX but did not chair the Board [1][2].
• Name of the satellite segment. The PIB text calls it the "Indian Earth Orbit Local User Terminal (MEOLUT)". The "ME" stands for Medium Earth Orbit. Do not mix up MEOLUT, LEOLUT and GEOLUT [1][8].
• SAREX edition numbers and venues. SAREX-2024 (11th) was off Kochi; SAREX-2026 is off Paradip. The sources do not give SAREX-2026's edition number, so don't assume one [1][4].
• SAR Convention dates. It was adopted in 1979 but came into force in 1985. It is an IMO convention, not a UNCLOS instrument [9].
• INMCC location. It is at ISTRAC, Bengaluru, not at ISRO HQ or NRSC Hyderabad [8].