Information Fusion Centre for Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR)

Manifest Pedagogy

As written in earlier articles, Indian Ocean region is of prime importance for the upcoming exam for its repeated references in newspapers. The article will make better sense when read with following articles posted earlier in Manifest 11.

• Indo-Maldives relations

• India – Japan relations

In news

Defence minister launched the Information Fusion Centre – Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR)

Placing it in syllabus

1. India and its neighbourhood
2. Security challenges and their management in border areas
3. Various Security forces and agencies and their mandate

Static dimensions

1. Indian Ocean and its importance
2. Threats in Indian Ocean region and impact on India

Current dimensions

1. Information Fusion Centre and its importance

Content

IFC is based at the Indian Navy’s Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC) at Gurugram in the National Capital Region. IMAC is the single point centre on Indian Navy, linking all the coastal radar chains to generate a seamless real-time picture of the nearly 7,500km coastline.

Objectives

• The IFC for Indian Ocean Region has the primary objective of jointly monitoring the vast Indian Ocean Region
• To strengthen maritime security in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR)
• IFC-IOR is aimed at keeping the global commons open and accessible for all

Significance and Impact on International relations

• The Indian Ocean Region is vital to world trade and economic prosperity of many nations as more than 75% of the world’s maritime trade and 50% of global oil consumption passes through the IOR.
• However, maritime terrorism, piracy, human and contraband trafficking, illegal and unregulated fishing, arms running and poaching pose myriad challenges to maritime safety and security in the region.
• Response to these challenges requires enhanced situational awareness of the maritime activities in the region so as to enable security agencies function effectively. Hence IFC-IOR launch is a step forward.
• However, the scale, scope and the multi-national nature of maritime activities, make it difficult for countries to address these challenges individually. Hence, collaborative efforts between maritime nations in the IOR, is essential.
• Towards this, the IFC-IOR aims to engage with partner nations and multi-national maritime constructs to develop comprehensive maritime domain awareness and share information on vessels of interest.
• The intention of this collaborative endeavour shall be to secure the global commons for a peaceful, stable and prosperous region towards the well-being of all
• In addition to utilising our collective wisdom and resources towards addressing the myriad challenges in our region, the IFC-IOR will help us interface and integrate, wherein, countries in IOR would benefit from each other’s best practices and expertise.
• More significantly, the IFC-IOR will help foster bonds of trust, camaraderie and partnership; ingredients that are vital for relationships between nations to transcend from being merely transactional to ones that are transformational

Functions of IFC

• Indian Navy has launched its Information Fusion Centre (IFC) that will share information on vessels of interest with other friendly nations.
• IFC will function as a platform where multiple friendly nations can freely exchange non-sensitive information from maritime domain.
• The IFC – IOR shall be a collaborative construct that will work with partners, countries as well as international agencies; to enhance maritime security and safety
• It would also aim to work closely with the multi-national constructs and other information fusion centres.
• IFC-IOR will work closely with countries in the region on white shipping and will be operated by the Indian Navy.
• The IFC-IOR would work towards capability building in the region, coordination of incident response and disaster relief, and in time, also share submarine safety information

Test Yourself : Mould your thoughts

Analysing the threats in Indian Ocean Region, explain how Information Fusion Centre helps in countering them.

Prelims Question

1. Which of the following is NOT a function of Information Fusion System ?

a) Co-ordination of incident response and disaster relief

b) Working closely with countries on white shipping

c) Free exchange of sensitive information from Maritime domain

d) Share information on vessels of interest with other countries

2. Consider the following statements

1.White shipping refers to sharing and exchange of information on identity and movement of military vessels

2. Information Management and Analysis Centre (Gurgaon) is a  model centre for White shipping agreement in India

Which of the above statements is/are correct

a) 1 only

b) 2 only

c) Both 1 and 2

d) Neither 1 nor 2

(Solution will be given during Fortnightly Manifest Test solution discussion)