A Vision for the Future

S.K. Sood (retd)

The five Central Armed Police Forces, namely Border Security Force (BSF), Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) have well defined mandated tasks, each of which is extremely important in the security matrix of the country.

The BSF, ITBP & SSB are mandated to secure vast land borders of India with Pakistan, China, and Bangladesh during peace, besides, assisting the defence forces in their war efforts. The CRPF is a designated Internal Security force while the CISF was raised for security of Vital Areas (VAs) and Vital Points (VPs) including industrial installations. Its task has now been expanded to include private industrial installations also. Besides the mandated tasks, each of the above forces are also required to assist Civil authorities in maintaining Law and order whenever called upon to do so.

All these forces were raised over fifty years ago except SSB which was converted into a uniformed border guarding force in 2001. Over the period of time, these forces have evolved systems and procedures including adopting modern technology for carrying out operations. Modernisation however is an unending process, the scope of which must encompass other aspects of their functioning in order to improve overall efficiency.

Border Guarding Forces

The security of borders of India is particularly important in view of repeated attempts by militants and trans-border criminals to exploit border porosity to fuel trouble. Border guarding has evolved from mere border policing by state Armed Police forces up till mid-sixties to guarding by specialised forces. Punjab militancy compelled India to install fences along India-Pakistan Border in Punjab. Their success in Punjab resulted in fencing being erected all along the India-Pak border in nineties and subsequently along India-Bangladesh border.

The fence proved useful till the trans-border criminals learnt to negotiate it and thus it was decided to strengthen its obstacle value and reduce stress on troops by installing flood light and early warning systems. However, border guarding practices remained manpower intensive, due to the necessity of keeping the fence obstacle under observation and fire. The introduction of technology in shape of ‘Night Vision Devices’ and ‘Thermal Imagers’ failed to reduce the burden on men because these are dumb devices and require men to use them. Reactions to the threats observed through these devices is also restricted due to lack of corresponding physical mobility.

The spate of terrorist attacks, especially since 2016 in Pathankot, Nagrota and Uri and other places. has once again flagged the importance of modernisation. Consequently, the Government of India has been pushing for technological solutions on both Eastern and Western borders through Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System (CIBMS) project which aims at integrating technology with existing systems to minimise human error. The system is under trial for last five years initially in the western sector where it was in shape of a turnkey project by a foreign company. However, finding the project co