Maritime University Bill to be introd in Budget Session

New Delhi, Feb 11: The government will introduce in the Budget Session of Parliament a bill for setting up the Indian Maritime University (IMU) in Chennai, aimed at fostering excellence in maritime education and research and bridging the critical gap between the needs of the industry and the academic community.

This was announced by Shipping, Road Transport and Highways Minister T R Baalu, while addressing a meeting of his ministry's Parliamentary Consultative Committee meeting at Kumarakom in Kerala yesterday.

''The Indian maritime University (IMU) in Chennai, with regional campuses at Kolkata, Mumbai and Visakhapatnam, will be established through an Act of Parliament and the bill in this regard will be introduced in the Budget Session,'' Mr Baalu said.

A top official of the Shipping Ministry told UNI that the proposed university would come up in Chennai on the patterns of the World Maritime University (WMU) in Malmo, Switzerland.

''The draft Bill for the proposed university is being finalised by the Shipping Ministry in consultation with maritime experts and academicians,'' he said, adding that the ministry had already procured 300 acres of land in Chennai and earmarked Rs 200 crore for the university.

The university will offer about 22 disciplines. These include degrees in marine biology, inland water transport, maritime law, maritime engineering, coastal shipping and multimodal transport.

He said there are many maritime institutions and training centres in the country, but a need was felt to create a university that would standardise maritime education throughout the country, bringing it at par with world standards, particularly with the WMU.

To speed up the preparatory works for the setting up of the University, Mr Baalu had earlier formed an Empowered Committee by the National Maritime Academy for selection and preparation of a Detailed Project Report (DPR).

The need for a world class maritime university in India has assumed urgency because the domestic shipping industry has been facing a shortage of marine officers following large-scale exodus of trained men from Indian ships to foreign-flag vessels.

Despite having a long coastline and tremedous potential for sea-borne trade, India does not have any maritime university so far while China has got as many as ten. Still, India is the largest supplier of trained manpower to the global shipping industry.

India is becoming a major supplier of maritime personnel -- some 77,000 of them, including 22,000 officers, are employed all over the world.

According to a report, the global demand for marine officers is expected to go up in the next five years and India may continue to be a major source of supply. Therefore, there is a need to formulate a maritime manpower policy.

A survey done by the ministry reveals that there will be a shortfall of 46,000 officers worldwide in years to come. ''Therefore, creating this university is the need of the hour,'' said the official.

UNI