Need to revisit policies on border development: Kiren Rijiju

Pic Courtesy: PTI

New Delhi: Union minister Kiren Rijiju said on Monday that there was a need to revisit the policies on border management to ensure that the frontier regions grow in step with the rest of the country.

Rijiju said the NDA government was committed to bringing prosperity for the people living in border areas through development.

"We as a nation, need to revisit our policies on border management and ensure that entire borders are as developed as other areas," he said after inaugurating a conference on smart border management and coastal and maritime security, organised by the India Foundation and the FICCI.

The union minister of state for home said the nation begins from its border and not from its capital.

Rijiju also released a FICCI-PwC report on 'smart border management' which has highlighted the threats and challenges faced by various agencies in the deployment of an effective coastal security mechanism across the Indian coast.

According to a press release issued by the FICCI, the report said, India's long coastline presents a variety of security challenges including illegal landing of arms and explosives at isolated spots on the coast, infiltration/ex- filtration of anti-national elements, use of the sea and off shore islands for criminal activities, smuggling of consumer and intermediate goods through sea routes etc.

Absence of physical barriers on the coast and presence of vital industrial and defence installations near the coast also enhance the vulnerability of the coasts to illegal cross border activities, the release quoted the report as saying.