Puducherry, Jan 22 (KNN)  The seventh campus of the Indian Maritime University which will promote maritime education and employment prospects of youth and fishermen in the region has been opened in Karaikal here.

The Indian Maritime University was inaugurated yesterday by the Minister of Shipping G K Vasan.  The other IMU campuses are located in Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Visakhapatnam, Kochi and Kandla.

“In today’s context, where global trade of a nation is indicative of its economic might and merchant navy is the prime mover of world trade, the role of seafarers is very crucial. Therefore, human resource development in this sector deserves utmost importance,” said an official notification.

Currently, there are more than 135 maritime institutes all over the country, offering pre-sea and post-sea training in various streams.  The Indian Maritime University was set up in 2008 as a Central University towards the purpose of consolidating these efforts.

The IMU presently offers Port and Marine short term courses and degree courses in Nautical Science, Marine Engineering, Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, and Ship Building and Repair.

The Shipping Corporation of India, under its Corporate Social Responsibility programme, awards scholarships to students pursuing the four year B. Tech. Marine Engineering course from the Indian Maritime University.

Further, the Union government has decided to open campuses of the IMU in all the maritime states of the country. The Karaikal campus of the IMU in the Union Territory of Puducherry was started with this objective.

A feasibility study conducted by the Ministry of Shipping concluded that new campus at Karaikal would benefit the rural youth to pursue a career in the maritime field. The government has recently opened campuses of the University at Kandla and Cochin.

Apart from the human resource development and infrastructure development, the Union government has focused on balanced development of all regions as well.

Earlier in September, 2013, a Maritime Training Institute of Shipping Corporation of India was inaugurated in Thoothukkudi to cater to the needs of southern districts of Tamil Nadu.

The Karaikal campus, it is expected, will benefit the youth and fishermen in the region and will boost the prospects of the Union territory. The government also plans to open campuses of IMU in the states of Karnataka, Goa and Odisha.
 
India is one of the largest nations in terms of the number of seafarers in the world. Indian seafarers have the reputation of being the most disciplined and best trained seafarers, who account for 7 per cent of the global seafarers.

As set out in the Maritime Agenda 2020, the vision document of the Ministry of Shipping, India aspires to substantially increase its seafarers to 9 per cent of the world share. Since the late 1990’s, the maritime training sector has seen a large private sector participation.   (KNN/ES)