A centrally sponsored scheme of the Ministry of Home Affairs to strengthen the policing of India's coastline and territorial waters by building up the marine police forces of the coastal States and Union Territories with boats, stations, vehicles and equipment.
- The scheme was launched in 2005 in Phase I and expanded in later phases; it was substantially reinforced after the 26 November 2008 Mumbai attacks, which came by sea and exposed coastal-security gaps.
- It funds coastal police stations, interceptor boats, jetties, vehicles and surveillance equipment so that State marine police can patrol the shallow waters close to shore (up to the limit where the Coast Guard and Navy take over).
- It is part of a layered coastal-security architecture: State marine police patrol close to the coast (territorial sea inner zone), the Indian Coast Guard patrols the territorial waters and the contiguous and exclusive economic zones, and the Indian Navy has overall responsibility for maritime defence, with overall coordination strengthened after 2008.
- Complementary measures include the National Command Control Communication and Intelligence network linking coastal radars, registration and colour-coding of fishing boats, biometric identity cards for fishermen, and joint coastal-security exercises.
- The Director General of Coast Guard was designated as the authority for overall coordination of coastal security in the territorial waters region following the post-2008 review.
Coastal security is a recurring internal-security topic; the 2005 launch, the post-2008 strengthening, the three-layer patrol arrangement, and the marine-police focus of the scheme are commonly tested.
The Coastal Security Scheme builds up State marine police for the near-shore zone; it does not create the Coast Guard or the Navy, which handle the outer layers. It is a Home Ministry scheme, while the layered defence beyond the coast involves the Defence Ministry forces.
MHA scheme (2005, boosted after 26/11) equipping State marine police with boats and stations to police the near-shore zone in a three-layer coastal-security grid.