CISF IMU MoU Opens First RSO Maritime Security Course at Chennai

A CISF IMU MoU signed at Chennai on 22 June ties the Central Industrial Security Force and the Indian Maritime University into a five-year arrangement covering maritime security training, capacity building, research and consultancy. The first Recognized Security Organization course began the same day.

The agreement was inked at the Indian Maritime University headquarters in Chennai. It holds for five years.

What the CISF IMU MoU Covers

Under the framework, IMU and CISF will jointly design and run specialised Recognized Security Organization courses and other capacity-building programmes for CISF personnel. The MoU also opens the way for exchange of expertise, joint research, curriculum development, academic support and knowledge-sharing across emerging areas of port and maritime security.

IMU is the national maritime university at Chennai, run under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways. It brings established port and shipping management programmes, and the aim is to turn CISF personnel into trained maritime security professionals.

First RSO Course Begins at IMU Chennai

The first batch of the Recognized Security Organization course started on campus on the day the MoU was signed, which marked the immediate operationalisation of the partnership rather than a paper commitment for later. The course is built to create a pool of highly trained maritime security professionals inside the Force.

The stated aim is a professional cadre able to safeguard the country's growing maritime infrastructure and support secure maritime trade, with port security standards raised in step.

CISF Builds Out Its Maritime Security Role

The Force has widened its maritime footprint over the past few years through the security of ports, the development of maritime security training modules and partnerships with academic and training institutions. That maritime role now runs alongside its established work on critical infrastructure and on large public security operations, the kind of deployment seen in the Amarnath Yatra security grid. Building home-grown maritime security expertise also fits the wider Aatmanirbhar Bharat push for self-reliance in security capability.

Mahasagar Lab and PSA Training

The push has a recent record behind it. The Mahasagar Simulator Lab at Rashtriya Raksha University was inaugurated earlier this year, and the Force has put growing emphasis on Port Security Assistant training modules. The new RSO course at IMU adds an academic spine to that work, arriving as Indian warships step up overseas port calls such as the current INS Udaygiri visit to Vietnam.

Who Signed the CISF IMU MoU

Officials present framed the tie-up as a meeting of CISF's infrastructure-security experience with IMU's maritime knowledge and research base. The signing came as the Navy expands its fleet, including the recent tri-commissioning of three indigenous warships at Kolkata.

For CISF, the document was signed by DIG Ajay Khandelwal, Deputy Inspector General, South Zone. For IMU, it was signed by Registrar K. Saravanan, in the presence of Dean Prof K Sankaran and Cdre Kishore Dattatraya Joshi, Controller of Examinations and a retired Indian Navy officer.