Displaying an unabashed streak of hegemony and territorial ambitions, China has been quite aggressive over the last few years in building infrastructure along the border while India has a lot to catch up with. The repeated intrusions by the Chinese army inside Indian territory, right from Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh, have become a grave threat to the nation. Lack of proper infrastructure and migration of people living along the LAC to nearby towns has contributed to Chinese intrusions along the LAC. India has a long way to go if it has to catch up with China on border infrastructure. In this context, the ‘vibrant village programme’ announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget speech, will hopefully help New Delhi effectively counter the moves of the increasingly belligerent neighbour.
The no-holds-barred infrastructure push by Beijing is forcing India to react. Amid the prolonged standoff in eastern Ladakh, China has been busy establishing new settlements or augmenting facilities in the existing ones. According to a report of the US department of defence, China built a 100-home civilian village inside the disputed territory between its Tibet Autonomous Region and Arunachal Pradesh last year. Beijing is also constructing a bridge on the Pangong Tso, aimed at facilitating faster movement of troops between the lake’s north and south banks. The 13th and 14th rounds of the corps commander-level talks – held in October last year and January this year, respectively – failed to break the deadlock. The vibrant village programme will cater to underdeveloped villages with sparse population and limited connectivity, located along the border with China. Besides, the capital budget of the Border Roads Organization (BRO) has been hiked to Rs 3,500 crores from Rs 2,500 crores. This is expected to help the
BRO in expediting the works on strategically important projects. Among them is the Sela tunnel being built in Tawang, a district bordering China.