Seshadri Vasan | Centerfor Asia Studies;C3S (original) (raw)

Commodore R Seshadri Vasan,
Indian Navy (Retd)

An alumnus of the Defence Services Staff College and the College of Naval Warfare, India, Commodore (Retd) Vasan has a distinguished career spanning over 34 years. His wide ranging appointments both at sea and ashore include Command of warships, appointment in carrier borne wing of INS Vikrant, command of long range Maritime Reconnaissance/ASW squadron, member examiner of the Aircrew Categorisation and Standardisation Board (AIRCATS), Chief Staff Officer (Operations) at Southern Naval Command the premier training command of the Indian Navy.He commissioned a major naval air station INS Rajali close to the east coast of India and commanded another air station INS Garuda on the west coast.

His training includes being on the faculty for over two years at the prestigious Naval War College that trains senior level officers from all the three services. He was also the Director of Naval Air Operations and Training at Naval Head Quarters. He was Proctor at the very first private Maritime University AMET from mid-2007 to 2009 and was totally responsible for the discipline, grooming and extra-curricular activities of the students. This also included many foreign students who were trained by the Institute. The Institute won many laurels both in the academic and other activities and even today is acknowledged as a premier maritime training institution that has many innovations to its credit. Even now he is associated with AMET for guest lectures and for conduct of the OPRC courses conducted along with the Indian Coast Guard.
He was on deputation to the Indian Coast Guard from 2000 to 2003 as the Eastern Regional Commander with maritime jurisdiction in the Bay of Bengal including the Indo Bangladesh maritime border and the Indo Sri Lanka maritime boundary. He was charged with the task of I4SR, EEZ surveillance, anti-piracy, Search and Rescue, anti-poaching and marine pollution prevention. During this time he was also responsible for advising the newly formed Coastal Security Group regarding training at sea.
Since his retirement he has been writing regularly for various magazines, newspapers and websites. He has been conducting workshops and delivering talks for International delegates in many parts of the world on maritime issues, military diplomacy, strategy, security and aviation issues He was selected for an International Visitor Leadership Programme on ‘National Security and Media’ in US for three weeks in Aug-Sep 2009. He presented a paper at Chatham house in October2012 and also interacted in the British Parliament with the All Party Parliamentary group on Transatlantic and Asian Security. He was on a security panel at a Harvard University programme at Taipei. He has interacted with international audience and presented papers at Sydney, Melbourne, London, Kiel, Taipei, Seoul, Kunming, Colombo, Johannesburg, Rome, Lisbon, Marseilles, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Nanjing, Shenshen, Budapest, Hague and other institutions in India.The topics presented range from Maritime Security and Stability, Border control, India China relations , Counter Terrorism, Defence Procurement Policy, International Relations, Maritime Neighbourhood policies , Aviation Safety and Security issues etc.,

In addition to being the Additional Director Projects and Development, he steered the Maritime Security Programme at the Observer Research Foundation, a major think tank in India. After three successful years in ORF, he joined the Center for Asia Studies as Head, Strategy and Security Studies in October 2008. Besides being the Director of the Asian Secretariat of the World Borderpol (WBO) served as President, Navy Foundation Chennai chapter for three years. He was also the Chairman of the Aeronautical Society of India, Chennai charter for two years. He is on the Board of Advisory Group at the Madras University and Stella Maris College; a visiting faculty at the Indian Maritime University, HIET, AMET the first private maritime university in India and the Great Lakes Institute of Management . He has devised an elective course Military Strategy with a twenty hour syllabus at the Great Lakes Institute of Management and has been conducting this programme for the last three years.

He is associated with many think tanks including the Chennai Centre for China Studies and the Center for Asia Studies. A few of the institutions he is associated with and has spoken at include Centre for Indian Ocean Studies,HSG( German Think tank),Defence Security Council Middle East,FINS,Terrapin, South Africa ,National Maritime Foundation and other institutions of repute.
Phone: +914442327112; 914428330295
Address: No 14, Rutland Gate 4th Street, Chennai

less