The seven new ITBP battalions are part of Indian efforts to curb the belligerence of our northern neighbor

Seven new border battalions, comprising 9,400 fresh troops, will go a long way strengthening our border with China. Government approval for the new battalions has come at the right time; for the dragon continues to be as fiery as it ever was, intensifying activity on our border, conniving with Pakistan to spread jihadist terror in India, and trying to strategically encircle India by hook or by crook. There will also be a new operational base for the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) which guards the 3,488-km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC) between India and China. The ITBP, which came into being in 1962, has around 90,000 personnel, a strength that would soon increase by over 10 per cent. The new manpower will help man 47 new border posts and a dozen ‘staging camps’ or troops bases, most of which will be in Arunachal Pradesh, the state which China claims as its own. Cognisant of the threat posed by China, the Government has also adopted a multipronged approach — from entering a multilateral strategic alliance the Quad to boosting the procurement of arms and equipment and building infrastructure in the areas near the LAC. Prior to the Galwan conflict in June 2020 and after that, the People’s Liberation Army has been furiously preparing infrastructure in the border areas, which resulted in a big “infrastructure differential” with China along the LAC. Thanks to the prompt action by our Government, which included the building of all-weather roads, bridges, tunnels, helipads, airfields, bridges, etc., that differential has greatly reduced.

Last week, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar shared the details of infrastructure building with the media. Such projects are spread across all the states along the LAC — Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh. The Government, Jaishankar said, is “focused on rapid development of infrastructure along northern borders with China for obvious strategic reasons.” Also, there are projects connecting India to the “friendly” neighbouring countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, and Myanmar. It is nice to notice that the world, especially Western nations, has woken up to the threats posed by China. Leaders across the globe have realised that everything that China does has, or can have, a strategic angle to it. The apps of its companies, like TikTok, are suspected of gathering data that Beijing can use at a critical moment. India banned TikTok and many other Chinese apps; other countries are contemplating such action. Even electrical appliances made by Chinese companies can be weaponised — at least, that is the fear. Global pressure on Beijing has forced it to stop shielding Pakistan-based terrorists; the pressure is likely to go up, as China’s nefarious designs unfold in different parts of the world. Resistance to the dragon’s bellicosity is increasing. India is playing an important part in resisting China. The ITBP’s new battalions are part of that resistance.