Five maritime universities proposed
G. KRISHNAKUMAR
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Kochi is among the cities suggested for setting up a maritime university.
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Kochi is among the five cities in the country short-listed for setting up a maritime university.
A Parliamentary committee has recommended that the remaining institutions should be established in Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Vishakhapatnam, with clearly demarcated geographical jurisdiction.
The Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture, headed by senior CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury, recommended that the government consider bringing in fresh, comprehensive legislation for the creation of the universities.
“The most important point is to have multiple maritime universities to cater to the expanding sector as maritime trade is growing at the rate of 20 per cent every year,” the committee said.
The committee observed that a country like India with a large coastline did not boast a number of maritime universities to train engineers and officers when the sector is facing an acute shortage of manpower.
India is one of the largest maritime countries in the world with a strong, dedicated, efficient and reliable reservoir of officers and ratings of merchant navy, but it does not have a single maritime university to facilitate the needs of maritime and related sectors.
The committee suggested that there is the need for augmenting training capacity and capabilities in the country to meet the projected global shortage of 27,000 officers by 2015.
It is also necessary to increase the share of India in the world maritime manpower fleet from the current six per cent to at least 20 per cent.
The committee also felt that one university was not enough to serve the purpose of maritime studies and research. The panel remained unconvinced of the reasons for having a single university. It felt that the maritime university should cover the entire gamut of maritime activities and endeavour to deal with an exhaustive range of subjects other than shipping.
It has recommended that the term “maritime studies” be elaborated in the Bill to explain the scope of courses to be offered — maritime security; law; history; ocean engineering; exploitation of resources; ship and port management; maritime transport; and logistics and maritime insurance.
The objective of the proposed maritime university is to facilitate and promote maritime studies, research and extension work with focus on emerging areas of studies like oceanography; maritime history; maritime laws; maritime security; search and rescue; and transportation of dangerous cargo. It will also initiate studies in environmental studies and related fields.
Research facilities
The university will promote advanced knowledge by providing institutional and research facilities in such branches of learning as it may deem fit and make provisions for integrated courses in science and other key and frontier areas of technology and allied disciplines. The university will take appropriate measures for promoting innovations in the teaching-learning process, inter-disciplinary studies and research.
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