Which one of the following ships was deployed in ‘Mission Sagar’, which was sent to different countries carrying Food and COVID related items on 10 May 2020?

Correct — A, INS Kesari. Mission Sagar began on 10 May 2020 when INS Kesari sailed for the Maldives, Mauritius, Seychelles, Madagascar and Comoros with food stores, COVID-related medicines including hydroxychloroquine, Ayurvedic medicines and naval medical assistance teams aboard. Kesari is a landing ship tank, an amphibious vessel with cargo holds and space for troops, which is why it and not a frigate was chosen to carry hundreds of tonnes of relief.

• (b)INS Satpura — INS Satpura is a Shivalik-class stealth frigate, a warship built for surface and anti-submarine action rather than for lifting cargo.
• (c)INS Shivalik — INS Shivalik is the lead ship of that same frigate class and has the same fighting role.
• (d)INS Gomati — INS Gomati was a Godavari-class frigate, and it was decommissioned in 2022 after nearly four decades of service.

SAGAR, meaning Security and Growth for All in the Region, is India's stated framework for its role in the Indian Ocean, and it rests on the claim that India will act as the first responder for its maritime neighbourhood. Mission Sagar was the humanitarian expression of that framework during the pandemic, using naval sealift to reach small island states whose supply lines had been cut by the closure of air routes.

The ship type is the reasoning route through this item, and it holds even for a candidate who has forgotten the name. Relief on this scale means holds, ramps and deck space, so the answer has to be an amphibious ship rather than a frigate. The follow-on deployments make the same point: Mission Sagar-II in November 2020 went to Sudan, South Sudan, Djibouti and Eritrea aboard INS Airavat, another landing ship tank. Anchored to the 2020 exam, this was a live current-affairs item; today it reads as the first of a run of such missions.

• INS Kesari sailed on 10 May 2020 for the Maldives, Mauritius, Seychelles, Madagascar and Comoros under Mission Sagar.
• The cargo included food stores, COVID-related medicines and Ayurvedic medicines, with naval medical assistance teams aboard.
• Kesari is a Shardul-class landing ship tank, an amphibious vessel, not a frigate.
• SAGAR stands for Security and Growth for All in the Region, India's Indian Ocean policy framework.
• Mission Sagar-II followed in November 2020 aboard INS Airavat, reaching Sudan, South Sudan, Djibouti and Eritrea.

• Picking a well-known warship name without asking whether it could carry cargo.
• Confusing Mission Sagar with Mission Sagar-II, which used a different ship and reached different countries.
• Reading SAGAR as a ship or a mission name rather than as the policy framework the mission was named after.

A named-operation item. Ship class is the reliable shortcut, since a relief mission needs an amphibious or supply vessel rather than a frigate.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  In India's maritime policy, SAGAR stands for

  • (a)Sea and Air Growth for All Regions
  • (b)Security and Growth for All in the Region
  • (c)Strategic Alliance for Growth and Regional Access
  • (d)Sagarmala Growth and Reform

  Answer(b) Security and Growth for All in the Region — the framework under which Mission Sagar was launched.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  A landing ship tank of the Indian Navy is designed primarily to

  • (a)hunt submarines
  • (b)carry troops, vehicles and cargo and put them ashore
  • (c)launch fighter aircraft
  • (d)lay sea mines

  Answer(b) carry troops, vehicles and cargo and put them ashore — which is what made INS Kesari suitable for a relief mission.