India is determined to have secure borders and will not compromise national security at any cost. Speeches of the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister during the recently concluded elections have highlighted this determination and resolve. This firmness, as well as perspective planning with regard to border security, indicates a scenario which is going to shape up in the days to come. It is a comprehensive policy for border security, which includes infrastructural development of border villages as well, which in turn will go a long way to improve the operational efficiency of the border guarding forces.
Across all his recent addresses, the Home Minister’s border security messaging has converged on four pillars:
* Technology-first approach: smart fencing, drones, radars, tunnel detection, and night-vision cameras replacing manpower-intensive patrolling.
* Demographic security: framing illegal immigration not merely as a law-and-order issue, but as a threat to the demographic character of border regions.
* Zero-tolerance deportation: pledging to identify and expel every illegal infiltrator, likening the campaign to the successful anti-Naxal operations.
* Centre-State coordination: insisting that BSF/ITBP/SSB outposts alone are insufficient; local police, panchayats, and state governments must co-ordinate and form the inner layers of a border security grid. In his keynote address at the recently concluded Rustamji Memorial Lecture organised by the Border Security Force (BSF) in New Delhi to pay tribute to K.F. Rustamji, the founding Director General of the BSF, the Home Minister has declared the future planning and the endeavours of the Government of India. The centrepiece announcement was the Smart Border Project.
Mr Amit Shah said the government will roll out a “smart border” project over the next year to make the 6,000-km-long borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh impenetrable, and to thwart any “conspiracy” aimed at altering the demographic character of border regions. “I want to assure BSF troops that we will launch this smart border project in the 60th year of its raising and we will make the Pakistan and Bangladesh borders impenetrable,” the Home Minister declared. The Ministry of Home Affairs will implement an impenetrable security grid across the country’s international boundaries. “Within the next year, under the Smart Border concept, we will equip the BSF with modern technology, including drone radars and advanced cameras,” Mr Shah announced.
He assured BSF personnel that this initiative would significantly ease their operational challenges while making border management more effective and robust. The Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System (CIBMS) grid is in force and comprises physical barriers, non-physical barriers, and surveillance systems. Intelligence agencies, the BSF, state police and the administration coordinate their efforts for border security. Approximately 3,142 km of the 4,156 km India-Bangladesh border has been fenced as of 2024, with the remaining stretches covering riverine areas, hilly terrain, and disputed areas.
Political instability in Bangladesh following Sheikh Hasina’s ouster in 2024, and the rise of radical Islamist elements have added new security pressures along this border, resulting in the new deportation policy and the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025. This Act consolidates India’s immigration framework by replacing four older laws ~ the Passport (Entry into India) Act 1920, the Registration of Foreigners Act 1939, the Foreigners Act 1946, and the Immigration (Carriers’ Liability) Act 2000 ~ and introduces stricter regulatory and enforcement measures. It mandates compulsory reporting of foreign nationals by hotels, educational institutions, and healthcare facilities, while requiring airlines and shipping companies to share advance passenger information.
Under the Act, the Bureau of Immigration is given statutory backing to identify, detain, blacklist, and deport illegal migrants. The Home Minister also announced that the Union Government will soon launch a “high-powered demography mission,” first declared by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his August 2025 Independence Day speech. The Government has already announced the formation of the commission which will submit its report within a year. The mission would help identify vulnerable infiltration points for the BSF to strengthen border management. The purpose of this mission is to prevent artificial demographic changes in Border states and elsewhere, thereby protecting local livelihoods, land, and national security.
The Home Minister also stressed the fact that every infiltrator will be identified and expelled, comparing this drive to the anti-Naxal campaign, and urged the BSF to respond to this challenge with full might. He emphasised that the initiative is key to the Government’s zerotolerance policy against illegal immigration, particularly from Bangladesh and Myanmar. These remarks symbolised the need for border security beyond physical fencing wherein effective protection of citizens living in the border states will be realised through coordinated efforts with State Governments wherein the involvement of local police and panchayats to efficiently detect and deport infiltrators will be key. This clearly marks the strategic resolve of the government with regard to border security and border management.
India suspended the Free Movement Regime (FMR) along the India- Myanmar border in February 2024, ending the decades-old arrangement that permitted residents within 16 km of the border to cross freely without documentation. India also announced the construction of a 1,643 km fence. Plans are underway to deploy smart fencing on the India-Myanmar border with electronic surveillance, anti-drone technology, tunnel detection systems, high-mast lighting, and watchtowers. However, the National Unity Government of Myanmar has urged India to suspend border fencing efforts, reflecting the geopolitical sensitivities involved. The Himalayan nations hold immense geo-political and strategic significance for India.
As the world’s highest mountain range, the Himalayas act as a natural barrier between India and its northern neighbours ~ China, Nepal, Bhutan, and Pakistan. All these nations share history, culture, and economic ties with India, making the entire region one of the utmost importance for India’s foreign policy, and security considerations. India has 15,106-kms-long International Borders with these neighbours including Bangladesh. This includes the Line of Control on the Pakistan border, and the Line of Actual Control on the China border.
Despite various commonalities in the border regions between India and Pakistan, and India and China, there are typical challenges from the strategic and security angle in different segments of the Indo-Pak, and Indo-China borders. One of the major geopolitical concerns for India is China’s growing footprint in the Himalayan region. China’s claim over the Indian territory of Arunachal Pradesh, which it calls South Tibet, and Ladakh has been a long-standing issue between the two countries.
China’s aggressive infrastructure development near the border and its strategic road and railway projects in Tibet have raised apprehensions about its intentions in the region. This has prompted India to enhance its military capabilities and infrastructure development in the border areas to secure its interests. In fact, over the last few years, especially after this government came to power in 2014, not only were the old projects of construction of roads on the Indo-China border expedited, but careful planning has been done to ensure development of villages on every border.
(The writer, a retired IPS officer, has served in various capacities including as Commissioner of Delhi Police, DG-BSF, DG-NCB, DG-BCAS and Special Director, CBI)