India Announces 54 New Outposts on Disputed Border

By Ankit Panda
The Diplomat

Earlier this summer, we saw signs that India’s new government under the nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi would likely play a forward position in India’s border dispute with China. For example, New Delhi suggested it would provide “military training” to people living along the India-China border, developed plans to actively promote settlements in the region, and, more recently, announced that it would construct an 1,800 km highway along the India-China border.

This week, following prior trends, reports emerged that the Indian government will continue to bolster its claim to Arunachal Pradesh. According to the Times of India, the Indian government “has given an in-principle approval for induction of nearly 12,000 personnel in the Indo-Tibetan Border Police.” The Indo-Tibetan Border Police is the Indian force tasked with guarding the 3,488 km border with China.

“An in-principle approval has been made in this regard. Now that the home ministry has already cleared [the] creation of 54 border posts, manpower recruitment and training for the task is the immediate necessity. The force is awaiting the final policy approval after which large-scale recruitments will be launched,” said a spokesperson for the force.

These 12 battalions will be deployed at 54 new border outposts that will be built along the border. According to Live Mint, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police recently completed a “restructuring” that overhauled the force’s administrative structure and added additional capability.

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