"The second edition of the biennial pan-India coastal defence exercise ‘Sea Vigil-21’ will be conducted on 12-13 January 2021. The exercise [...] will be undertaken along the entire 7516 km coastline and Exclusive Economic Zone of India and will involve all the 13 coastal States and Union Territories along with other maritime stakeholders, including the fishing and coastal communities," the ministry said in a statement.
According to the ministry, the scale and conceptual expanse of the military drill will be unprecedented in terms of its geographical extent, the number of stakeholders involved and units participating, as well as in terms of the objectives to be met.
"Assets of the Indian Navy, Coast Guard, Customs and other maritime agencies will participate in SEA VIGIL, the conduct of which is also being facilitated by the Ministries of Defence, Home Affairs, Shipping, Petroleum and Natural Gas, Fisheries, Customs, State Governments and other agencies of Centre/ State," the statement added.
The inaugural edition of the exercise was held in 2019. The entire coastal security set up was reorganized after a terrorist attack in Mumbai on November 26, 2008, which claimed lives of more than 160 people and was launched via the sea route. The exercise aimed to comprehensively validate the efficiency of measures taken since the 2008 attack.