INS Viraat is the World's oldest serving warship. It was commissioned in 1959 and served the Royal Navy as HMS Hermes, before being acquired by India in 1987. Since then, it has served as the flagship aircraft carrier for the Indian Navy.

INS Viraat is being decommissioned on 6th March 2017. I want to help ensure that it does not end up being sold for scrap, like INS Vikrant was a few years ago.

Converting INS Viraat into a museum would allow all India citizens to see what life on board an aircraft carrier is like, something that very few people are normally able to experience. It can continue to serve as an inspiration for young men and women who aspire to join India's defense forces.

INS Viraat is also a perfect way to showcase our Navy's proud history.

In addition to this, India would be only the third country in the world to have such a museum - the others being the USA and the UK.

The annual costs for maintaining such an installation are a small, small fraction of India's defense budget, and I believe that the potential benefits far outweigh this cost.

We need to convince the Defense Ministry that the costs and short term gain that arise from selling the ship for scrap are just not comparable to the long-term benefits of maintaining her as a museum, something that can be enjoyed by generations to come.