NEW DELHI: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has given approval for writing the history of the country’s borders on Tuesday.
The decision was taken in a meeting of officials from various ministries and departments. Informing about the development, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in its official release said, “Raksha Mantri held a meeting with eminent personalities of Indian Council of Historical Research and officials of Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, Directorate General of Archives, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Defence, here on September 17, 2019.”
Talking about the scope of work, the MoD mentioned that the work will cover various aspects of borders including tracing its making; making & unmaking and shifting of borders; role of security forces; role of borderland people encompassing their ethnicity, culture and socio-economic aspects of their lives. The project is expected to be completed within two years.
It is the first-of-its-kind project to make people aware of national borders and people living in the border regions. The Defence Minister called it important from the view of understanding the country’s borders better.
Rajnath Singh emphasised the importance of writing the history of Indian borders reiterating that it would provide a better understanding of the borders to the public in general and officials in particular. Singh welcomed various suggestions and directed officials to consult experts on source material, broad contours, methodology and action plan required for completing this project expeditiously.
India has very unique land and maritime borders. India has 15,106.7 km of land border and a coastline of 7,516.6 kms including island territories. India shares land borders with seven foreign countries which include Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and Bangladesh.