Paradigm shift in border area development

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh recently described India’s border villages as “country’s first villages, not remote areas,” marking a paradigm shift in the government’s approach towards the development of the border areas. The Vibrant Village Programme (VVP) articulated with this new approach to push development and connectivity in 1,500 villages along the country’s northern border, including 455 border villages in Arunachal Pradesh along the India-China border. The primary objective of this centrally sponsored scheme is to prevent outmigration of people from these border villages by providing basic amenities in life, including good roads, quality education, better healthcare, and faster internet connectivity to improve their living conditions. Apart from infrastructure development, creating economic opportunities to augment household income and generating employment and secured livelihood avenues is critical to ensure that reverse migration to these border villages in Arunachal Pradesh gains momentum. One of the Articles in the Agreement between India and China on the “Political Parameters and Guiding Principles for the Settlement of the India-China Boundary Question” states that “In reaching a boundary settlement, the two sides shall safeguard due interests of their settled populations in the border areas.”  Therefore, Arunachal Pradesh border villages having settled populations is crucial to counter any dispute raised by the Chinese side over the areas in the border state during settlement of the boundary question. The Border Area Development Programme (BADP), implemented with the primary objective of meeting the special development needs and well-being of the people living in remote and inaccessible areas situated near the international borders of India, failed to check outmigration of people from border villages in Arunachal Pradesh. This was a cause for concern as it led to a decline in civilian population in border settlements along the strategic borders when China continued to establish new villages, undertake infrastructure development at a rapid pace on the other side of the Line of Actual Control, and mischievously and unilaterally renamed villages in Arunachal Pradesh. India has been firmly rejecting such Chinese attempts, describing them as “senseless attempts” and asserting that “assigning invented names will not alter the reality that Arunachal Pradesh is, has been, and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India.” Lessons must be learnt from poor implementation of BADP in Arunachal Pradesh so that VVP is not derailed from its objectives. Audit scrutiny carried out by the Comptroller and Auditor General revealed that the Annual Action Plans for BADP implementation were prepared without a long-term plan or perspective plan for saturation of border villages as required under scheme guidelines. The audit report also pointed out that BADP guidelines provide for saturation of border areas with essential infrastructure such as roads, schools, health services, electricity, water supply, community centres, public toilets, houses for teachers and health staff, housing, anganwadi centres, etc. Only after saturation of 0-10 km villages can state governments take up the next set of villages within 0-20 km distance and so on up to 0-50 km. Of the 455 villages in Arunachal Pradesh included under the VVP, 135 villages are unconnected, which also points towards the gaps in BADP implementation. A fresh push for faster development of border villages resulting in improvement in connectivity, physical and digital, has reportedly triggered reverse migration of people back to their villages in some pockets. This is an encouraging development and needs to be sustained by ensuring that projects under VVP are implemented in a time-bound manner. Strict monitoring of quality control and frequent inspection of project execution are essential to ensure that funds released are judiciously utilised and utilisation certificates are submitted in time for the timely release of subsequent instalments. Villagers are key stakeholders in any development initiatives in their village and, therefore, facilitate their participation in decision-making processes related to the creation of new infrastructure like educational institutions, healthcare facilities, market sheds, playgrounds, common facility centres, etc. The remoteness of border villages limits the imagination of villagers about the scope of commercial cultivation of their traditional crop. In subsistence farming under traditional agricultural practice in these border villages’ production is limited to feeding the household members and enough to meet the requirements of other members of the community. Due to the lack of modern farming technology, the scope of commercial cultivation is limited. Besides, reaching out to the nearest market remains difficult due to poor connectivity. Once the unconnected villages are linked to other areas with good roads to be built under VVP, the concept of commercial cultivation for surplus production from agricultural land will be seen by the villagers as a viable income-generating avenue. These border areas, known for mesmerising natural landscapes, are also ideal as tourist spots. Infrastructure development under VVP has brightened hopes for eco-tourism promotion in these areas. Once people start feeling that they are no longer residents of the last or remote villages, the reverse migration to all these strategic border villages of Arunachal Pradesh will also gain momentum.