The past few years have seen tensions flare-up between the otherwise two friendly neighbours—India and Nepal. While these tensions are political, how is it reflected at the shared border between these two states that the SSB is responsible for guarding?

SSB oversees guarding of open borders with Nepal and Bhutan. These borders were demarcated two centuries ago after the Treaty of Sugauli of 1816. While tensions may have arisen from time to time, this border has not seen any significant change since 1816. The only change happened when border pillars were constructed.

However, before the Kargil war, it was decided that the border would be manned and the SSB was given responsibility. Before the SSB, elements of state police used to patrol or monitor the ongoings at the border. In form of the SSB, this border gained an organized border guarding force. Unlike the Pakistan and Bangladesh border, which is fenced and has dedicated international checkpoints (ICPs) and transit routes, the Nepal border is open. For many decades now, people have been transiting to the other side.

Nepalese citizens have special status in India for employment in different sectors, which is almost at par with Indians. The challenge here is to keep the movement of people and goods as if the border is absent. Even though there have been some political tensions, it is the people-to-people relations along with other socio-cultural relations that ensured that the tensions weren’t felt strongly at least on the Indian side. The SSB has very good relations with the Armed Police Force, Nepal. The force undertakes regular meetings and interactions over phone or physically with this force. This ensures that issues at that level get resolved.

How was the situation for SSB during the 2015 blockade?

During the blockade in 2015, there was immense shortage of oil and essential commodities. At that time, the SSB did undergo pressure because the prices of basic goods were extremely high in Nepal.

In India, even an ordinary citizen wanted to make quick profit out of the crisis. Vehicles and motorcycles from India would ma