NEW DELHI: Once known for being neglected and cut off from the rest of the country, India’s border villages are fast turning into hubs of economic activity.
One of the major drivers of the change is the Centre’s decision to turn paramilitary outposts along international borders into buyers of local produce. The move is part of a Rs 11,639 crore push to keep villages populated along sensitive frontiers under the Vibrant Village Programme (VVP).
Overall, 2,616 villages situated along the international borders are covered under VVP, in two phases. These include 455 villages in Arunachal Pradesh, 75 in HP, 51 in Uttarakhand, 46 in Sikkim, and 35 in Ladakh.
The Indo-Tibetan Border Police, which guards the Himalayan frontier with China, has been directed to procure all daily need items from these model villages. Be it procuring milk, vegetables, eggs and grains, they have to buy directly from the villages.
The government’s aim it to make border posts of army and paramilitary a local market wherein the troops deployed will buy every day essentials for local farms and reduce the economic isolation that has driven migration away from frontier areas.
The paramilitary forces have started the process, the Centre stated on Sunday. The Border Security Force has also started the process.
According to sources, the move has had a positive impact with residents returning to villages they had earlier left in Arunachal Pradesh’s Kurung Kumey, Dibang Valley and Shi-Yomi districts. The Centre is now planning to revamp schools in these villages and set up hospitals and colleges in these clusters, said a senior government official.
Two-phase project
The village scheme is run in two phases. The first, launched in April 2023, carries an outlay of `4,800 cr for 2022-23 to 2026-27. The second, launched in February this year, carries an outlay of `6,839 cr through 2028-29