India has long promised 'vibrant' border villages, as China speedily builds up

"GANGTOK, India Nearly four years ago, Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the Parliament she had big plans for India's border villages. "Border villages with sparse population, limited connectivity and infrastructure often get left out from developmental gains," she said, while announcing the government's spending budget for 2022-2023. She unveiled the Vibrant Villages Programme, aiming to undo the neglect of thousands of communities on the border. Its first phase started with more than 600 villages along India's 2,100-mile-long border with China, many high up in the forbidding Himalayan plateau."

"The finance minister didn't say it, but India's initiative appeared to be a response to China's decade-long buildup of troops and military and civilian infrastructure along their shared border. Today, there's a tale of two borderlands in the Himalayas. China has systematically fortified its borders with India, as well as neighboring Nepal and Bhutan, creating hundreds of villages next to these South Asian countries along Chinese-controlled Tibet, and moving tens of thousands of civilians there. Analysts say the authorities in Beijing hope they will act as the state's "eyes and ears" along the disputed border, and that many of the villages double as military bases."

India launched the Vibrant Villages Programme to develop more than 600 remote settlements along its 2,100-mile border with China, many on the high Himalayan plateau. The program aims to reverse long-standing neglect of infrastructure and connectivity in sparsely populated border villages. China has fortified its borders with India, Nepal and Bhutan, establishing hundreds of settlements in Chinese-controlled Tibet and relocating tens of thousands of civilians there. Chinese authorities expect these settlements to serve as local surveillance and strategic assets, with many functioning as dual civilian and military sites. Slow Indian projects and youth out-migration risk further depopulation and territorial pressure.

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