INS Sagardhwani

16.10.2023

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Why in the news?

Recently,INS Sagardhwani, an oceanographic research vessel of Naval Physical & Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL) of DRDO, embarked on a two-month long Sagar Maitri (SM) Mission-4 from South Jetty, Southern Naval Command (SNC), Kochi.

INS Sagardhwani

• It is a marine acoustic research ship designed and developed by NPOL, Kochi and constructed indigenously by GRSE Ltd.
• It was launched in July 1994.
• The ship is fitted with state-of-the-art equipment like the latest wave height measuring radars, marine radio etc.
•  The NPOL is involved in studying the ocean environment and other related fields.
• It is exclusively used for the scientific and research programmes of NPOL
•  The vessel has been engaging in extensive oceanic observing missions and research for the last 25 years.

What is Sagar Maitri?

• Sagar Maitri is a novel initiative of DRDO
• It supports the broad objective of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s policy declaration ‘Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR)’ to promote closer cooperation in socio-economic aspects as well as more significant scientific interaction, especially in ocean research among Indian Ocean Rim (IOR) countries.
• Under the aegis of this policy, DRDO initiated a scientific component named ‘MAITRI (Marine and Allied Interdisciplinary Training and Research Initiative)’, which focuses on establishing long-term collaboration with IOR countries in the field of ‘Ocean Research and Development’.
• In the SAGAR MAITRI programme, INS Sagardhwani will retrace the tracks of INS Kistna, which participated in the International Indian Ocean Expedition during 1962-65.
•  The missions aim to establish long-term scientific partnerships and collaborations with Oman, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Myanmar — the eight IOR countries.
•  SAGAR MAITRI missions, the delegation visited Yangon (Myanmar) in April 2019, followed by the second mission (SM-2) to Klang (Malaysia) in August 2019 & Singapore in September 2019, including the conduct of one-day scientific seminars in all three countries.
• The current mission (SM-4) plan includes scientific deployments onboard INS Sagardhwani in the Northern Arabian Sea and initiating collaborative research programmes with the Department of Marine Sciences & Fisheries at Sultan Qaboos University, Oman.
• These missions give the scientists an opportunity to cooperate and build strong working relationships with their IOR counterparts studying the oceans.

Source:PIB