Abstract

Indian Ocean is the world’s third largest ocean, the only one bearing a country’s name. It extends about Seventy five kms and consists of vital sea lanes and some of the Asia’s largest flourishing economies in its rim. It is bounded by Japan and Australia in the East, Africa in the west and Asia in the north and Antarctica in the south. The Indian Ocean alone comprises of about twenty percent of earth’s water surface and numerous scattered small islands like Comoros, Seychelles, Maldives, Mauritius, Coco’s, Diego Garcia, Lakshadweep, Andaman & Nicobar and bigger islands like Sri Lanka and Madagascar which are strategically bigger players. The connectivity to extra regional countries and access to the Indian ocean can only be possible through the seven major maritime choke points - Strait of Malacca, the Cape of Good Hope, Bab-el-Mandeb, Strait of Hormuz, the Suez canal, the Sunda strait and the Lombak strait. India has a considerable Geo-strategic interest in Indian Ocean, India’s interest in that the presence of the extra-regional forces is minimized so that Indian Ocean littoral countries can pursue their developmental programmes in a co-operative regional framework. In order to safeguard the maritime interests, to build geo-strategic potential in the region, India has to develop into major maritime power in the region.

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