Training Ship Chanakya located near the city of Mumbai, is a shore based successor to the Training Ship Rajendra & Training Ship Dufferin, is situated off Palm beach road in an area of about. T.S. Chanakya is the oldest and most renowned maritime academy in India.
Introduction
Training Ship Chanakya is unit of the Mumbai campus of Indian Maritime University. It offers various training programs but the most respected is its flagship degree course i.e. the three-year degree program. The entry in this training institute is through Combine Entrance Exam conducted by Indian Maritime University. Graduates from T.S. Chanakya receive a B.Sc. degree from the Indian Maritime University, and are eligible to seek employment on Indian or Foreign going ships. Currently it is also called as Mumbai campus of Indian Maritime University, Chennai. T.S. Chanakya is a progeny of T.S. Rajendra and T.S. Dufferin. The earlier two were actual ships floating at Ferry Wharf, Mumbai while T.S. Chanakya is a shore based academy in Navi Mumbai. The entire Indian Shipping and Logistics Fraternity and Indo-origin seafaring community across world is majorly thronged by ex-cadets of this community also called as DRACEA. The members of DRACEA are at very high posts in maritime sector. Recently, T.S. Chanakya is also hitting limelight in non-shipping industries because of the ex-cadets who leave merchant navy career after significant experience at sea and go on to clear next level of competitive exams like CAT, GMAT, IAS and go for further studies or change in their job profile. Institutions like Harvard, Emory, CASS, LBS, Lancaster, Yale, Texas A&M, IIM's, ISB, XLRI, IIFT, FMS, Great Lakes, S.P.Jain, MDI etc. welcome these ex-naval officers in their admits willingly since they bring along a wide and diverse experience and add stupendous value to their future occupations and even entrepreneurship by their fresh and mature perspectives.
1927 was a remarkable and epoch making year in the history of modern Indian shipping. History tells us that India was a vast sea power in olden days. But in India there were no facilities to impart training to Indians to become merchant navy officers till 1927. The Great visionary Sir P. S. sivaswamy Iyer’s strong advocacy for the cause resulted in acceptance of a resolution on 19 March 1926 by the Central Government to commence the Indian Mercantile Marine, the Ministry of Commerce, accordingly acquired troopship Dufferin and the three-year course for the first batch commenced on Dufferin on 5 December 1927 with 26 cadets. The first cadet Ramdas Katari who was later to become the first Indian commander-in-chief of the Indian Navy belonged to this very batch. T. S. Dufferin was afloat for a period of 67 years of which 45 years were off Mazgaon pier having trained 2656 cadets. It is a matter of great pride that four Chiefs of Naval Staff of the Indian Navy, many admirals, four Nautical advisors and two chief surveyors with the Government of India had their training at ‘ Dufferin’ besides many senior executives and masters in various shipping companies. T. S. Rajendra was named after King Rajendra Chola. T. S. Rajendra had been specifically designed and built as a modern training ship by Hindustan Shipyard to train 250 cadets at a time as against 160 earlier. T. S. Rajendra served illustriously for 21 years by not only training a large number of cadets but also the saloon crew. The Government of India decided with great foresight to set up a shore based academy for training of nautical cadets so that output could be substantially increased. The shore based academy christened T. S. Chanakya was inaugurated on 5 April 1993, National Maritime Day. T. S. Chanakya became operational on 1 August 1993 and teaches the cadets the new order but also makes them upholders of the old ones.
Accommodation
The campus spreads across North-South, parallel to Palm Beach high way at Navi Mumbai in about an area of. The campus comprises Administrative block, Scholastic block with class rooms, faculty/staff rooms, library, laboratories and common rooms, Fire fighting complex, Power station and pump house, Marine engineering workshop, two hostel blocks, Catering block, Sports ground, Olympic size swimming pool, Laboratories such as: Physics/ Electronics, Computer, Seamanship, Navigation, Global Maritime Distress and Safety System, Environmental Sciences, Marine Engineering Control Station & Chart room, Gymnasium, own jetty having two FRP rowing boats etc.
Placement
T. S. Chanakya is one of the oldest maritime institute in the Asia, and the cadets from the institution never had an issue with the placement in the 90's and 20's. Since the day the institution was moved to IMU, it has only seen downfall under the guidance of Mr. J.K. Dhar. The historical data in itself suggest that IMU policies and increasing the number of Maritime institutions he lead to detoration in the condition and employment of the cadets.
Year
No Of Cadets
Placement
2003-2006
88
80%
2007-2010
119
70%
2008-2011
120
80%
2009-2012
147
60%
2010-2013
51
60%
2011-2014
126
77%
2012-2015
10
70%
2013-2016
126
45%
Courses
The institute conducts 2 streams of fully residential courses & other modular courses
Basic modular courses for in house cadets : a) Fire Prevention Fire Fighting b)Personal Safety & Social Responsibility c) Personal Survival Technique d) Elementary First Aid.
