India has 15,106.7 km. of land border and a coastline of 7,516.6 km. including island territories.
Name of the country Length of the border(in km.)
Bangladesh 4,096.7
China 3,488.0
Pakistan 3,323.0
Nepal 1,751.0
Myanmar 1,643.0
Bhutan 699.0
Afghanistan 106.0
Total 15,106.7
Things generally smuggled: drugs, arms, human and fake currency
Challenges to Border Management
These include lack of coordination between various central and state agencies, uncooperative state government departments, hostile local population, vested interests, lack of political will and strained neighbourly relations.
Besides, there are many hotspots along these borders whose inherent socio-cultural and political dynamics could throw up serious challenges for border management in future. Some of these are Moreh along the Indo-Myanmar border, the Siliguri corridor along the Indo-Nepal and Indo-Bhutan borders and Sir Creek area along the Indo-Pakistan border.
The Siliguri corridor, a 22 km wide area, linking the Northeast with rest of India has also been witnessing severe unrest. The demand for a separate Gorkhaland and Kamtapur has made the entire area extremely vulnerable.
Indo-Bangladesh Border
Indira-Mujib Agreement laid down the methods for demarcating various disputed stretches of the India-Bangladesh boundary Berubari and Tin Bigha. Under the Land Boundary Agreement of 1974 between India and Bangladesh, both the countries are committed to exchange the enclaves and cede the adverse possessions.
* border extremely porous with many disputed pockets.
* population residing within 150 yards of the border
* Undemarcated stretches, existence of enclaves (chhit-mohols), and adverse possessions have been causing constant friction between the border guarding forces of India and Bangladesh.
* A major consequence of a porous border is the ease with which it is crossed illegally. The trend of illegal migration from Bangladesh into India has continued since independence. Various push factors such as political upheavals, religious persecution, demographic pressures, environmental crises and pull factors such as availability of land, employment opportunities, medical care, and education have contributed to the large-scale influx of Bangladeshis into India.
* This illegal migration has changed the demographic profile of many border states, which has resulted in separatist movements.
* The porosity of the border also allows Indian insurgents to cross over to Bangladesh and other neighbouring countries for asylum. Presently, the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), the All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF), the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT), and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB)
* Smuggling of cattle has become a serious concern. Truckloads of cattle from Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh are shipped to the India-Bangladesh border everyday ostensibly for grazing purposes.
* Along with cattle, smuggling of arms, and other essential items such as sugar, salt and diesel, human and narcotics trafficking, counterfeit Indian currency, kidnapping, and thefts are quite rampant along the IndiaBangladesh border.
Indo-Nepal Border
The conception of such a border can be found in the Treaty of Peace and Friendship that the two countries signed in 1950.
* The open border between the two countries has facilitated close social, cultural, and economic exchanges and led to a special relationship between the two countries.
* There are many points of dispute along the Indo-Nepal border, mostly a result of the constantly shifting courses of the turbulent Himalayan rivers. Prominent among these are the ones relating to Kalapani and Susta. The submergence, destruction and removal of border pillars an encroachment into no-mans land by people from either side add to the problem.
* An open border allows easy egress to terrorists and insurgents. In the late 1980s, Sikh and Kashmiri terrorists sneaked into India via Nepal. In later years, many insurgent groups from the North East, such as the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), and the Kamtapur Liberation Organization (KLO), also misused the open border. Earlier, Maoists reportedly often escaped into India when pursued by Nepalese security agencies.
* Apart from insurgents and terrorists, many hard-core criminal pursued by Indian and Nepalese security forces escape across the open border.
Indo-Bhutan Border
* Indias boundary with Bhutan is also an open boundary.
* The border was peaceful till Indian insurgent groups such as the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO), United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) established camps in the southern districts of Bhutan. This problem has been effectively dealt with during the Bhutanese governments Operation All Clear, which saw the destruction and uprooting of all insurgent camps in Bhutanese territory.
* Smuggling and trafficking are also rampant along the border. Chinese made goods, Bhutanese cannabis, liquor and forest products are major items smuggled into India. Livestock, grocery items and fruits are smuggled out of India to Bhutan.
Indo-Myanmar Border
* Though the boundary is properly demarcated, there are a few pockets that are disputed.
* The internal dynamics of the region in terms of the clan loyalties of the tribal people, inter-tribal clashes, insurgency, transborder ethnic ties also adversely affect the security of the border areas. These cross-border ethnic ties have facilitated in creation of safe havens for various Northeast insurgent groups in Myanmar e.g. (NSCN), the United National Liberation Front (UNLF), the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) but the Myanmar government appears either unwilling or incapable of flushing them out of its territory.
* There is practically no physical barrier along the border either in the form of fences or border outposts and roads to ensure strict vigil. Insurgents make use of the poorly guarded border and flee across when pursued by Indian security forces.
* The location of the boundary at the edge of the golden triangle facilitates the unrestricted illegal flows of drugs into Indian territory. Heroin is the main item of drug trafficking. The bulk of heroin enters India through the border town of Moreh in Manipur.
* The smuggling of arms and ammunition, precious stones and Chinese made consumer items finds its way into India illegally. Red Sanders, ATS (amphetamine type stimulant), grocery items, bicycle parts, etc are smuggled from India as well as human trafficking.
* The provision of allowing the tribal communities of both countries to travel up to 40 km across the border without any passport or visa has also contributed to increased smuggling in the region.
Indo-Pakistan Border
3 parts: Radcliff line, (LoC), (AGPL)
* The LoC has been vulnerable to constant infiltration by foreign terrorists, Kashmiri separatists and Pakistani army regulars for long.
* Like the Bangladesh boundary, the India-Pakistan boundary also does not follow any geographical barrier.
* Porosity of this border has facilitated various illegal activities such as smuggling, drugs and arms trafficking, and infiltration. Heroin and fake Indian currency are the two predominant items of smuggling along this border. Other items include saffron, textile, mercury, which are smuggled from Pakistan.
* A large scale hawala network is flourishing in Punjab, especially in Ludhiana.
India-China Border
* The entire boundary is disputed.
* Presently, there are only three designated areas along the India-China border through which border trade takes place; these are LipuLekh, Shipki La and Nathu La.
Governments Response
Although the Indian government had been formulating various schemes for managing these diverse challenges, the concept of border management entered the government lexicon only in the wake of the Kargil conflict of 1999, and the subsequent report submitted by the Kargil Review Committee.
Task Force on Border Management Chairmanship of Madhav Godbole:
* Concerted efforts be made to settle border disputes and demarcate the borders at the earliest opportunity.
* Department of Border Management be created
* one border guarding force should be deployed in each stretch of the border and it should not be distracted from its principal task and deployed for other internal security duties.
* establishment of a marine police force, strengthening of Coast Guard and setting up of an apex institution for coordinating various maritime issues.
* accelerated development of infrastructure along the border, especially to wean away the border population from illegal activities.
The approach as employed by the Government towards managing the borders has four important elements, viz. guarding, regulation, development of border areas, and constituting bilateral institutional mechanisms for resolving disputes and ironing out conflicts with neighbours.
Guarding the Borders
The BSF has been assigned responsibility for the India-Pakistan and India-Bangladesh borders, Assam Rifles (AR) for the India-Myanmar border, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) for the India-China border, and the Sahastra Seema Bal (SSB) for the India-Nepal and India-Bhutan borders.
To house these border guarding personnel, to send regular patrols and to interact with the nearby villages, border out posts (BOP) have been set up all along the borders.
For securing the riverine and creek areas, the water wing of the BSF is deployed (Creek Crocodiles).
Night Vision Devices, Hand Held Thermal Imagers, Battle Field Surveillance Radars, Direction Finders, Unattended Ground Sensors, High Powered Telescope are used by the border guarding forces as force multipliers for greater surveillance.
Regulation
Fencing, flood-lighting, boder roads
Integrated Check Posts (ICPs) - The Land Port Authority of India Bill was introduced and passed in 2008, which provides for the establishment of these ICPs. These ICPs would house all regulatory agencies like Immigration, Customs, border security, etc together with support facilities like parking, warehousing banking, hotels etc. in a single complex equipped with all modern facilities.
A Statutory Authority called Land Ports Authority of India (LPAI) has been set up to oversee and regulate the construction, management and maintenance of the ICPs.
Development of Border Areas
Lack of economic opportunities makes the border population more susceptible to take up smuggling and trafficking.
BADP schemes comprise of development of community-based infrastructure like forestry, pasture land, fishery ponds, floriculture parks, community centres, mobile dispensaries, mini marketing yards, etc. Funds are provided to the States as a non-lapsable Special Central Assistance
National Highway Development Programme
Special Accelerated Road Development Programme for the Northeast Region
Bilateral Institutional Mechanisms
meetings of home secretaries, area commanders of border guarding forces and the Joint Working Group on Border Management.
Border Liaison Meetings (BLMs) take place between local Area Army Commanders at designated places every six months.
The Surveyor Generals of India and Myanmar also meet to discuss the work plan for joint inspection, repairs, restoration and maintenance of boundary pillars on the border, similar institutional mechanisms with Bangladesh.
Recommendations:
Guarding
* Identify sensitive areas along the border and increase the number of border posts in these areas. Also augment the strength of the border guarding personnel in sensitive border out posts.
* Train the border guarding forces and equip them with modern gadgets and weapons for better surveillance of the border. Install alarm systems to detect breach of fence and respond quickly.
* Improve the working and living conditions of the border guarding personnel to boost their morale.
* Ensure better coordination among all agencies involved in border management such as the border guarding forces, Customs, intelligence agencies, and state police.
* Sensitise the people living along the borders and encourage them to work as eyes and ears for the border guarding forces.
Regulation
* Do not allow human habitation or cultivation in the intervening area between the border and the fence.
* Legalise trade in essential items to prevent smuggling. Open markets near the border where people can buy and sell goods without paying any duties.
* Issue multipurpose identity cards to the people residing along the borders to distinguish between Indian citizens and illegal migrants.
Development
* Work towards all round development of the border areas to wean away the border people from illegal activities as well as to dispel the feeling of alienation in them.
Bilateral mechanisms
* Strengthen bilateral mechanisms by frequently convening meetings of concerned officials to iron out tensions as well as to resolve border disputes.
Challenges to Coastal Security and Island Territories
Coastal
* The coastline is highly indented with numerous creeks, rivulets and streams along with inhabited and uninhabited islands, sandbars, and mangrove forests. These water channels, most of which are interconnected and run deep inside the land, render the coastline porous and hence vulnerable to cross-border infiltration, smuggling, and arms and drugs trafficking and provide deal hideaways for infiltrators, criminals and contraband. E.g. 1993 Mumbai serial blasts and the November 2008 attack on Mumbai.
* The matter is made worse by the existence of several high value targets such as oil refineries, atomic power plants, space stations, ports and naval bases along the coastline. While it is obvious that these installations would face a conventional threat from Pakistan in the event of war, there are growing worries about non-conventional threats as well as terrorist attacks, sabotage, etc.,
* Straying of both Indian and Pakistani fishermen - at least of the arrested fishermen could be recruited by Pakistans Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) and used as agents against India and use their boats to sneak in arms, explosives and operatives into India e.g. Kuber
Islands
* Their strategic location, i.e. proximity to the important Sea Lanes of Communication (SLOC) and Southeast Asian and African countries coupled with considerable distance from the mainland add to the Island Territories vulnerabilities.
* intelligence reports have suggested that many uninhabited islands are being misused by terrorist groups and criminal gangs as transit points for smuggling arms and narcotics e.g. Lashkar-e-Taiba in Lakshadweep.
* Instances of piracy in the Malacca straits have increased manifold.
* The Andaman and Nicobar islands have seen large scale influx of illegal migrants from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka (Tamils) Myanmar, Thailand, and Indonesia.
* String of Pearls: China, in recent years has been quite active in the Indian Ocean region. With an objective to contain its potential adversary (read India) in the region, China has helped Myanmar to construct a naval base at Haingyi and set up listening posts in Coco Island, close to Andaman and Nicobar. It has also helped Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to built ports, which could be utilised by China during adverse times.
Governments Response
At the outermost layer, the Indian Navy patrols the high seas and carries out aerial reconnaissance with ship-based aircraft. The intermediate layer comprising of the Exclusive Economic Zone (between 12 and 200 nautical miles) is patrolled by the Coast Guard. And the territorial waters are patrolled by the Coastal Police.
The fishermen deliberately cross the international border in search of a good catch. For keeping track of fishing vessels, the state governments of Maharashtra and Gujarat have made it mandatory for all the fishing vessels to install Global Positioning System (GPS) and high frequency wireless system. These equipments help the fishing vessels in ascertaining the international borders and remain within the Indian territory.
Automated Identification System (AIS) aimed at improving the security of the Port by monitoring the movement of vessels have also been installed in these ports.
To differentiate between local people and foreign elements, various coastal states have issued identity cards to all villagers residing along the coast.
speedy delivery of 204 interceptor boats,
easing of environmental norms for setting up coastal police stations,
issuance of multi purpose identity cards to all fishermen, sea-faring personnel and coastal villages,
implementation of uniform licensing of fishing boats across the country,
installation of special transponders and Global Positioning System on registered boats for identification and tracking,
deployment of commando units of Central Industrial Security Force in all ports,
constituting unified command for coastal districts to counter terrorist threats from sea.
* Sagar Prahari Bal
For the security of the Island Territories, the Indian Government has set up a joint command in Andaman and Nicobar called the Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) comprising personnel of the Army, the Navy, the Air Force and the Coast Guard.
Recommendations:
Address manpower shortage(biggest problem) for the coastal police by recruiting retired Coast Guard and Navy personnel.
Enlist people from coastal villages in the Coastal Police Force. Their seafaring experience is likely to be an asset.
Consider incentives such as special allowances and insurance to overcome the reluctance of police personnel to carry out coastal patrolling.
Impart extensive and specialised training to the Coastal Police personnel to change their indifferent attitude towards coastal security.
Impose steep fines on fishermen found violating the international boundary. On repeated violation, cancel the licences of offending fishing boats.
Sources:
Border Management Report of IDSA, MHA Report.
Name: Anjneya Varshney
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