Rajnath Singh reviews functioning of IMAC, IFC-IOR

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday visited the Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC) and Information Fusion Centre - Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) located at Gurugram in Haryana.

The Defence Minister reviewed the functioning of IMAC and IFC-IOR.

Senior Navy officials, including the Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Karambir Singh, briefed him on further enhancing the capabilities of the two centres under the National Maritime Domain Awareness (NMDA) Project.

"The NMDA project was launched in accordance with the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on SAGAR (Security And Growth for All in the Region)," a release issued by Ministry of Defence said.

The IMAC monitors movement of more than 120,000 ships a year passing through the Indian Ocean. The cargo carried by these ships account for 66 per cent of world crude oil, 50 per cent of container traffic and 33 per cent of bulk cargo.

"Thus, IMAC performs a very crucial role in collecting shipping information, analysing traffic patterns and sharing the inputs with the user agencies," it further reads.

The Defence Minister was also briefed on the IFC-IOR, which is a collaborative initiative by the Indian Navy in coordination with partner nations and multi-national maritime agencies to enhance Maritime Domain Awareness and Maritime Security.

"The Centre is likely to host International Liaison Officers from the partner nations in the near future," it added.