How to become an Indian Coast Guard Officer

The Indian Coast Guards are also known as Bharatiya Tatrakshak. It is a para-military, multimission task force that is dedicated to protecting the coastline of the country. The organisation is a multi-missioned one that handles operations throughout the year. Despite being comparatively smaller than the other forces, they have a broader range of task skills for both surface and air operations. The Indian Coast Guard is a governmental organisation that is responsible for a variety of services related to the sea, particularly defending the county's marine area and enforcing laws for the same.

The Indian Coast Guards came into action as an independent Armed force in the country according to the Coast Guard Act, which comes under the Ministery of defence in our country. The most essential responsibility of the coast guard officer is safeguarding and defending the artificial islands, offshore terminals, installations and devices in the country's oceanic zone. They also take care of guarding the sailors and fishermen in case of difficulty. They keep a check on marine pollution and help control it. 

The core responsibilities of an Indian Coast Guard Officer are as follows:

• Secure and protect the offshore installations, artificial islands as well as other structures in the Indian waterbodies. 
• Work along with the customs department as well as their workers to help in anti-smuggling operations. 
• Help implement the MZI (Marine Zone of India) act, which states that there are restrictions on fishing in Indian waters by foreign vessels.
• Bring out plans to secure life and property in the marine area. 
• Essentially carrying out search and rescue operations in the time of crisis like natural disasters.
• Learn to handle and operate weapons, sensors and other types of equipment for regular use in everyday duty life. 
• Systematically collect meteorological and oceanographic data for interpretation purposes by marine scientific labs. 
• Take charge of the community interaction programme that helps train fishermen about the sea safety norms, maintenance of the boat machinery. 

The skills and abilities that are mandatorily required to get into the sector of Indian Coast Guard Officer is robust physical health as they constantly are in the ocean waters, which requires great physical stability. They also need to be an excellent team player, the reason being that the entire crew must function together when it comes to handling work. An individual must be dedicated enough to the job role assigned as well as the nation so as to do full justice to the position they are in. They are required to be well-disciplined, punctual, organised, dedicated along with having some leadership abilities. They must also be fit to serve the offshores in case the need arises. 

People who are devoted, passionate to serve the nation, and have a passion to contribute something towards the country then choosing a career as an Indian Coast Guard is a great choice. They must be well aware of the marine laws as well as technical skills so as to implement them on duty. A sense of integrity and responsibility are crucial to them.  They also need to maintain excellent problem-solving skills and decision-making abilities. A good sense of communication and interpersonal skills also come in handy. They are required to work in odd hours hence some amount of flexibility and adaptability is a must.