Recently, the Defence Minister has described border villages as the country's first line of defence in dealing with multiple challenges posed by India's geo-strategic location.

How Border Villages will act as First Line of Defence? 

• Intelligence gathering: Enhances situational awareness about security threats, suspicious activities, smuggling attempts etc. 
  • Residents serve as Eyes and Ears for border forces due to familiarity with local terrains, crossing points, patterns of movement etc.
• Tackles workforce shortages: E.g. Residents of Chushul village (Ladakh) in 2020 helped Army in securing supplies during standoff with Chinese troops
• Developed border areas discredits adversary claims: E.g. people and infrastructure on the ground confirms the true situation and counters any misleading claims.
  • Moreover, it also helps in prompt military deployments in sensitive regions

Existing Challenges/Concern

• Infrastructure Bottlenecks due to hilly and difficult terrains. E.g. Northeast 
• Scattered Population and low population density
• Persistent law and order problems due to illegal cross-border movements, insurgency, smuggling etc. 
• Trust deficit due to feeling of being deprived of the developmental facilities and low Socio-economic profile
• Development of Border villages by adversary countries. E.g. China’s new border village policy along Line of Actual Control (LAC)