NEW DELHI: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said the development of border areas was a strategic imperative. India's geo-strategic position is such that it is exposed to different kinds of challenges and the best way to deal with them is to ensure border area development, as border villages are the country's first villages and not remote areas, he said.
"Our objective is to transform the villages along the Northern borders, especially in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh, which are suffering from limited connectivity and infrastructure, into model villages. We aim to connect them to the mainstream of development," he said.
He was addressing the Border Area Development Conclave in New Delhi, which was jointly organised by the Indian Army and Centre for Land Warfare and Studies.
China on its side has fervently been sprucing up infrastructure including the well organised 'Xiaokang' villages all along the 3,488 km long Line of Actual Control.
Singh said, "The government, along with the Indian Army, is ensuring the participation of people residing in border areas in their development. We are encouraging the youth to enroll in NCC. Many government schemes are being run with the sole aim of development."
He said the focused development of infrastructure along the borders has helped in multiple ways. "The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has constructed over 8,500 km of roads and more than 400 permanent bridges. Atal Tunnel, Sela Tunnel & Shikun-La Tunnel, which is going to be the world's highest tunnel, will prove to be milestones in border area development. Our government has started the 220 Kilo-Volt Srinagar-Leh Electricity Line to connect the border areas of Ladakh with the National Electricity Grid. In addition, the transmission and distribution infrastructure of north-eastern states is being strengthened. High-speed internet has been provided to over 1,500 villages through the Bharat-Net broadband project. In the last four years alone, more than 7,000 border villages have been connected with internet connection, and our focus has been Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh," he said.
Rajnath said infrastructure development has not only ensured prompt military deployments in sensitive regions, but have also connected the people residing in border areas with the rest of the country. He underlined the fact that while building roads, bridges and tunnels in border areas is imperative for national security, it is also important in making the lives of the people in these regions better, in collaboration with the state governments.
"From 2020 to 2023, the footfall of tourists in Ladakh, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh increased by 30%. Similarly, there has been a significant increase in Kashmir as compared to the last few years. This has resulted in job creation and strengthening of the local economy. We are taking consistent steps to make J&K a tourist hotspot," he said.
Further, the minister threw light on reverse migration, which he said was one of the positive outcomes of economic development in border areas. He made special mention of Huri village in Arunachal Pradesh, a unique example of development through civil-military collaboration. He stated that while the central and state governments focused on economic progress, BRO & Indian Army laid emphasis on infrastructure development, which resulted in reverse migration.
Army Chief General (Gen) Upendra Dwivedi described border area development as a core component of national security. "Infrastructure development; smart borders comprising communication networks and power supply; economic development with employment generation; border area tourism and empowerment of next generation by providing skill enhancement and creating education opportunities" are the key pillars of the vision of border area development, he said.
Pointing to the important aspect of countering the Chinese claims over areas along the Line of Actual Control, the Army Chief said, "Developed areas with a strong economic and tourist activity act also as a deterrence to the adversary. It basically discredits adversary claims. People are there on the ground to confirm what is correct and what is not."
As per an earlier report in TNIE, more than 600 Chinese villages are being built to create a buffer. These will have multiple uses including facilitation of movement along the borders, a means of surveillance on forces and strengthening territorial claims.