The Coast Guard is the primary government agency entrusted with Maritime Laws Enforcement Authority in the exclusive economic zones of India. The maritime zones of India have been divided into three Coast Guard regions with a regional headquarters each at Mumbai, Chennai and Port Blair. The regions have been further sub-divided into 11 Coast Guard districts covering the coast line along the nine maritime states on the main land and two district  headquarters in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. In addition, four Coast Guard Stations are working under these district headquarters. Further, there are Coast Guard Air Stations and Coast Guard Air Enclaves which are responsible for air borne operations of the Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard ships and aircraft are always ready for providing assistance to the crew and vessels when in distress at sea and assists the customs and other authorities in anti-smuggling operations. The vast sea area of 2.1 million sq kms in exclusive economic zones is regularly kept under vigil to keep the poachers at bay.

The Coast Guard brought to light an incident of maritime fraud on the high seas. In this incident, a merchant vessel Koba Queen-1 was hijacked by her own crew after changing her name to Gloria Kopp and attempts were made to sell the cargo of 20000 tonnes of finished steel. The Panamian registered vessel was untraceable since July 1999. The crew of the vessel comprised 25 Ukrainians. The vessel was boarded near Pondicherry by the Coast Guard and was taken into custody and action was initiated against the hijackers.

The Coast Guard carried out three operations in the Bay of Bengal to foil the efforts of merchant ships gun-running for the LTTE. While one ship MV Mariamma scuttled herself, the other two were prevented from landing their cargo and were driven out of the India’s exclusive economic zone. An unmanned bullet ridden boat engaged in transfer of arms from MV Mariamma was seized by the Coast Guard ship in this operation and brought to Chennai.

A five member delegation led by Datuk Jaufar Ismail, Director General, National Security Division, Prime Minister’s Office, Malaysia visited India to interact with Indian Coast Guard authorities. A series of presentations were made to the delegation on topics related to CG law, operations and training to aid them to create a Coast Guard like organization in Malaysia. The delegation visited CG Air Station Chennai, Coast Guard Ships Vikram, Sucheta Kriplani and C-139.

In order to develop friendly relations with neighbouring countries and helping them to train their maritime policing forces, an Indo-Maldivian joint exercise Dosti-V was conducted off Male. Two Coast Guard ships, one fixed wing aircraft and one helicopter took part in the exercise alongwith Maldivian CG ships. Various exercises were demonstrated on law enforcement, GMDSS, SAR, oil pollution response etc., for Maldivian Coast Guard personnel. The CG team also delivered lectures and demonstration on the various topics to the Maldivian Coast Guard personnel.

The Indian Coast Guard Ship Sarang towed a Mauritian Coast Guard vessel Vigilante all the way from Mauritius for a period of 14 days and covering a stretch of 2650 nautical miles for repairs by the Naval Dockyard, Mumbai. The Government of India as a goodwill gesture offered repairs for MV Vigilante. It had developed defects and became non-operational within a year of its commissioning. The accomplishment of this mission has marked the beginning of a new chapter in the activities of Coast Guard.

The Asian Regional Forum (ARF) workshop on anti-piracy was conducted by Coast Guard at Mumbai. It was attended by delegates from 17 member countries. The workshop deliberated on the issues relating to strengthening of mutual co-operation and co-ordination to prevent and suppress the piracy and armed robbery at sea. The ARF workshop was the first ever international event conducted by the Coast Guard in India. Presentations, interactions and a day at sea on board Coast Guard ships formed part of the workshop. The ‘day at sea’ in which 9 ships, 4 IBs, 3 Dorniers and 3 Chetak helicopters participated displayed the capabilities of the Indian Coast Guard.

The first ever Indo-Japanese Coast Guard joint exercise was conducted off Chennai. The visiting Japan Coast Guard (JCG), patrol large helicopter (PLH) Shikishima with its helicopter participated along with one OPV, one interceptor boat (IB), one helicopter and Dornier aircraft from Indian Coast Guard. The motto of the joint exercise was "Friendship for Safer Oceans". The Commandant of JCG, Admiral Shogo Arai witnessed the exercises at sea alongwith Vice Admiral John C De Silva, Director General Coast Guard from CGS Varaha.

The Coast Guard, State Administration, Fisheries and Forest Department in a joint operation saved a whale which had been beached in the shallow swamps of Koddaikarai (near point Calimere) off Kanyakumari. The whale was in waist deep water beached in soft sticky mud, which did not permit a person to stand as it was quick sand type of mud. The whale was about 40 feet long and 6 to 7 feet height and weighed approximately 8 to 10 tonnes. The Coast Guard moved to supplement the efforts of the fisheries, forest and local district officials. All efforts were in vain and no heavy lift helicopter was willing to take the risk of lifting the whale. The authorities also got in touch with experts in Canada and USA. However, own-solutions worked. At first, some light dredgers were planned to be deployed to dredge a path to the whale. Later the technique of blowing the mud with a high pressure water jet and shaking the whale while securing her with ropes over matting so that she did not get hurt, was applied. Fortunately, the whale’s mouth was in the water and efforts were made to keep its back wet. Some light rain also helped. The first step was to feed the whale, which had not eaten for two weeks. The whale required atleast 500 kgs of fish. With the help of four trawlers towing in tandem, the whale was loosened and gradually dragged out. However, after the first effort, she went back into her old position. But with the next effort she was pulled out and finally with a flap of her tail disappeared into deeper waters. A big cheer rose from all the fishermen, forest officials and the Coast Guard personnel who had been camping there. The place had become a tourist spot. It was a whale of a problem and a whale of a solution.

The Parliamentary Consultative Committee (PCC) of the Ministry of Defence comprising 18 Members of Parliament (MPs) visited Chennai to discuss about "Coast Guard". The Defence Minister, Mr George Fernandes, Chairman of PCC and Mr Harin Pathak, also accompanied the committee. The Defence Minister in his opening address appreciated the good work being done by the Coast Guard. He informed the Members that the Coast Guard had apprehended a pirated Japanese ship Alondra Rainbow that was searched by the Navies and Coast Guard all over the world. The Director General Coast Guard during his presentation highlighted the present Coast Guard operations and the new challenges being faced by Coast Guard. The committee later embarked on board Coast Guard ship Varuna for a short sea sortie to witness Coast Guard exercises in which 10 ships and 6 aircraft participated.

A joint exercise Amphex-2000 with Navy, Army, Air Force and Coast Guard units was organised recently by the Navy. CGS Vivek and one Dornier aircraft took part in the joint amphibious exercise conducted in Andaman and Nicobar Island.

A joint exercise DGX-2000 was conducted by Navy with Air Force and Coast Guard. Coast Guard ships Vijaya, Vigraha and 1 Dornier took part in the exercise.

CGS Naikidevi rescued 15 crew members of the distressed MSV Shanti (TTN-31). The vessel departed Colombo for Tuticorin without cargo and encountered rough weather. The vessel lost steerage and was unable to make way using its own power due to frequent tripping of the engine. CGS Naikidevi located the distressed vessel 15 NM off Manaped Light. The vessel was towed and brought to Tuticorin harbour.

The fishermen community and many coastal people are not aware of the rules of the sea, life saving equipment, action in emergency situations such as storms at sea and cyclones ashore. Therefore, a Community Interaction Programme was initiated to target the people and schools to educate them on the basics of the sea, marine safety and also about the role of Coast Guard in various operations.