The Indian Maritime Foundation (IMF) was established in December 1993 by a group of officers who have served in the Indian Navy, the Indian Merchant Marine and other professions. They have dedication and a high sense of commitment to this cause of public service they have embarked upon.

The IMF is a non profit organization, registered in Pune as a charitable trust. It has branches in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai.

 
Joint Maritime Seminar – 04 May 2017 Fostering Co-operation between Sea Faring Communities By Dr(Cdr) Arnab Das, Director MRC

The 21st century is witnessing much higher volumes of maritime activities than ever before. The technology support is making the seas far more accessible and encouraging seafarers to undertake longer voyages and in more hazardous conditions. The strategic shift in the geo-politics globally, has brought the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) to the fore and the Indian Seafarers need to be equipped with the understanding of the nuances to better manage affairs at sea. The Indian Maritime Foundation (IMF), the Indian Navy (IN) and the Nautical Institute (NI) came together sometime back to encourage interactions among the seafarers to better understand the operating conditions and foster cooperation. The series of joint maritime seminar began with the theme “Fostering Co-operation between Sea Faring Communities”. The Joint Maritime Seminar – 2017 was held on the 04 May 2017 at the Asvini Auditorium, Mumbai.
SIMA’s Annual Exhibition – 2017 By Cmde R Vir

The Society of Indian Marine Artists (SIMA) , held its annual exhibition of seascapes at Balgandharva Kala Dalan at Pune for three days from 8ht Feb to 10th Feb. Mr Atul Khanna , a well known Industrialist of Pune, inaugurated the Exhibition as the chief guest . 52 seascapes, painted by 23 members of SIMA, were on display. Commodore Rajan Vir, President of SIMA, in his welcome address he spoke about the genesis of SIMA, it was set up in 2002 under the aegis of IMF to kindle and encourage interest in marine art among our painters, in keeping with our overall aim of raising awareness about the oceans in our people and to try to make them sea-minded, a major maritime sub- continental nation that India is.
Wreath Laying Ceremony at Pune - 31st January 2017

Council Members of the Indian Maritime Foundation (IMF), assembled at the Seafarers Memorial at 8.45 am on the 31st of January for the annual Wreath Laying Ceremony. The Memorial, the first of its kind in Pune, was cocieved by the Founder President of IMF, Cmde Rajan Vir. It was inaugurated in 1998 by Admiral Arun Prakash, then the Commandant of the NDA. The Seafarers Memorial is dedicated to all Seafarers - Indian Navy,, Merchant Marine, Fishermen and all others who go out to sea for their livelihood, who have made the supreme sacrifice at sea, The Cereny began with reading of the Naval Prayers by Cmde Rajan Vir. This was followed by laying the Wreath at the Memorial. The Wreath was carried by Capt Ravi Hazarnavis, Senior Vice President and Cmde Ajay Chitnis, Vice President Mumbai Branch.
Indian Maritime Foundation 23rd Anniversary

Founded in 1993 by a group of Indian Navy and Merchant Navy Veterans, with the primary aim of promoting awareness of the oceans amongst the people, the IMF turned 23 this month. It has been a long and ardous journey, and most of the founder members still pull together, albeit that the average age of the council members has gone up from 63 to 81 years! 87 Issues of the Quarterly Journal and 1003 council meetings later, the IMF is still going strong and raring to achieve higher standards in 2017. More about our activities in a separate year end post. We celebrated the 23rd Anniversary at the Central Park Hotel in Pune, with Vice Admiral Girish Luthra, AVSM, VSM, ADC, the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Naval Command as the Chief Guest and delivering the Anniversary Lecture. Admiral Luthra exemplifies the 'Scholar-Sailor' concept, with a brilliant career record right from his days as a Cadet, through various operational, staff and training assignments, to important and decision making Flag appointments; he has been the CinC of the Southern Naval Command prior to his current role as the Commander in Chief of the Sword Arm of the Navy. The title of his talk was, "Indian Navy : Strengthening Maritime Security and Stability", which turned out to be a brilliant expose` on the current geostrategic scenario and changing geopolitical equations. The Indo-pacific concept and the pivot East policies were put across in a manner that the entire audience remained engaged right throughout. He took on the questions posed to him with consumate ease.
Seascapes Workshop at Peacock Bay

After a gap of two years, SIMA members were again back at Peacock bay at the National Defence Academy in Jan, 16 for their seascapes workshop. Among the participants were all our enthusiastic art stalwarts, including Shailesh Sonawane, Hoshnar Kaikobad, Prateek Tandon and Deepshikha. Shailesh obliged the group by conducting a demo on how to paint a seascape. It was a day spent enjoyably in the calmness of the Academy on a Sunday, with a gentle, cool breeze on the banks of the Khadakwasla Lake. We express our gratitude to VAdm G Ashok Kumar, Commandant, for giving his approval for us to visit NDA and our thanks go to the staff of the Naval Training Team for giving us all help during the day.
Wreath Laying Ceremony at the Seafarers' Memorial, Pune

IMF Council Members assembled at the Seadarers' Memorial at 0900 hrs on the 1st of February 2016, for the Annual Wreath Laying Ceremony. This Solemn ceremony is performed each year in honour of all seafarers - Navy, Merchant Navy, Coast Guard, Fishermen and all who venture into the sea.
Coastal Clean-up at NDA

To commemorate World Environment Day, the Naval Training Team of NDA organised a Coastal Cleanship Drive on 05 Jun 17. All participants of 3rd NDA IEC and Officers, sailors and civilian staff & their families from NDA cleaned the areas like Chowpatty, west bank of Mutha river and Khadakwasla dam & it’s adjoining areas. Rear Admiral SK Grewal, VSM, Deputy Commandant and Chief Instructor NDA also participated in this cleanship drive. Three truckloads of garbage (approximately 3 Ton) was collected and disposed off during the drive. Air Marshal Jasjit Singh Kler, AVSM, VM Commandant National Defence Academy graced the Prize Distribution Ceremony of the event as chief guest on 06 Jun 17 and gave away the certificates, medals and trophies to the participants. Cmde PK Malhotra.
Third Lecture by Vice Admiral Pradeep Chauhan Maritime Security and You - Part III Dealing with China

Cmde Rajan Vir, the President of IMF began the proceedings with his welcome address. In addition to introducing the speaker, he thanked the sponsors for the evening – Lt Col and Mrs Jagdish Kumar. He then briefly spoke about the IMF and how it has been playing the role of a catalyst in making the people ‘sea-minded’ through lectures, seminars, marine art exhibitions and the constant campaign against marine pollution. As a part of the latter IMF has been conducting the International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) since 2003 in collaboration with Ocean Conservancy, a Washington based group. Last year’s results had just been received, he said, and India had been placed 11th amongst 130 countries, which was indeed creditable. He also spoke about the International Ocean Day, due to be celebrated the next day (8th June). About the ongoing lecture series, he stated that there was an urgent need for the citizens of the country to understand the current security scenario as the Indian Ocean, which has become an area of interest globally. China has aspirations of being a global power, and to that end regional supremacy is essential, and India has no alternative but to take this seriously. In that light the subject of today’s lecture is very topical he said, and felt that we could not have got a better speaker than Admiral Chauhan to speak on the subject.


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