Guarding of Indian borders

Guarding of Indian borders

Subject – Defence and Security

Context – Ramesh Davesar writes: A national border guard, reporting to the army, will enhance border security

Concept –

• India shares land borders with Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar, which stretch approximately 15,106 km.
• In addition, we have an approximately 3,323 km-long LoC with Pakistan, which further extends to the rechristened 110 km stretch of “Actual Ground Position Line” (AGPL) dividing the Siachen glacier region.
• Further east, we have the 3,488 km LAC with China.
• We share maritime boundaries with Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Myanmar and Indonesia; we have a 7,683 km coastline and an approximately 2 million sq km exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Security guarding the borders –

• Along with the army, we have multiple other security agencies — the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) and the Paramilitary Forces (PMF) — sharing the responsibility of guarding the borders.
• While the army is deployed along the LoC and AGPL, the Border Security Force (BSF) looks after the international border with Pakistan and Bangladesh.
• Guarding the LAC has been assigned to the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and Assam Rifles.
• The Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) is responsible for guarding the borders with Nepal and Bhutan.
• The Assam Rifles looks after our border with Myanmar.
• In a nutshell, in addition to the army, we have four agencies guarding borders with six neighbours.
• Conversely, maritime borders are guarded by a single agency — the Coast Guard.

Specialised and dedicated armed bodies for border security

Most countries have raised specialised and dedicated armed bodies for border security. For example –

• Iran has the Border Guard Command,
• Italy has the Border Police Service,
• Russia has created a Border Guard Service,
• US, it is under Homeland Security.
• Closer home, in China, it is the People’s Armed Police,
• Pakistan has a Frontier Corps for its western border and the Rangers looking after the Indo-Pak Border.

Most of these countries, based on threat perception and for better combat cohesion, have placed these organisations under the command of the armed forces.