Home Minister Amit Shah will launch the “Vibrant Villages Program” at the same Kibithoo town today as part of the Modi government’s efforts to connect all the border villages in states sharing the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China. This is the same place as one week after China renamed a section of forest clearing north of Kibithoo in the Anjaw district of Arunachal Pradesh.
The 4800 crore border village development plan, which between 2023 and 2026 includes a 2500 crore component for road connection, is intended to strengthen border defences by improving roads and infrastructure and to stop inhabitants from leaving these towns. In Uttarakhand State, the state with the closest border to New Delhi and one that shares a 345 km border with Tibet under China, the exodus of inhabitants from these border villages has been seen and is cause for concern.
In addition to connecting border villages, the village programme will also offer trans-valley connection in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and the Union Territory of Ladakh. To protect the India-Tibet border from any Chinese PLA incursions, the Modi government decided to raise seven additional ITBP battalions with 47 new outposts and 12 staging camps at a cost of 1800 crore.
Furthermore, it is clear that the ITBP will protect the LAC and collaborate with the Indian Army from the Karakoram Pass in East Ladakh to the Barahoti Plains in Uttarakhand to NathuLa in Sikkim to Zemithang, with the exception of annual rest and recreation for some battalions.
