India’s smart-border project explained: A tech-led ‘impenetrable’ shield ...
Notably Shah’s comments come several weeks after the one year anniversary of Operation Sindoor. As per Shah’s remarks the project is supposed to improve India’s technology-led border management at two of the country’s most sensitive frontiers.Delivering the annual Rustamji Memorial lecture hosted by the Border Security Force on Friday, Shah said the government would create a “strong security grid” along the Pakistan and Bangladesh fronts using technology, drones, radars and smart cameras.
He said the project would be launched in the 60th year of the BSF’s raising and to counter illegal cross-border movement of immigrants and terrorists. “We will find each and every infiltrator from the country and send them outside India,” Shah said.
He added that the BJP governments in Assam, Tripura and West Bengal were committed to preventing infiltration from across Indian borders. The Union Home Ministry will soon hold a meeting with the chief ministers of these states to review border security, he said.
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What will India’s smart border project entail?
While the government is yet to release a detailed blueprint for the new project, the proposed smart border system is expected to build on India’s existing Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System (CIBMS).
According to previous notifications published by the Ministry of Home Affairs, CIBMS has been conceptualised for the India-Pakistan and India-Bangladesh borders and involves the integration of manpower, advanced sensors, networks, technological intelligence and command-control solutions.
The objective of the project is to improve situational awareness and enable quicker response to emerging situations along the border. In practice, such systems can include thermal imagers, infrared and laser-based alarms, radars, sonar systems for riverine areas, fibre-optic sensors, ground sensors, high-resolution cameras and command centres that receive real-time data from surveillance devices.
Why is smart fencing needed?
India’s borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh include stretches where physical fencing is difficult due to rivers, marshlands, dense vegetation, settlements and shifting terrain. The Dhubri sector in Assam, for instance, has large char lands and multiple channels of the Brahmaputra, making traditional fencing difficult during the rainy season.
The government has previously used the BOLD-QIT project in Dhubri under CIBMS to cover unfenced areas dotted by rivers with technical systems, communication networks, day-and-night cameras and intrusion detection systems. The aim was to help BSF control rooms monitor activity and allow quick reaction teams to respond to illegal crossings and other cross-border crimes.
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Is the ‘smart border’ a new idea?
Not entirely. The smart border push has been under discussion for several years. In 2019, the government said two pilot CIBMS projects covering about 71 km had been completed out of which 10 km of work was done on the India-Pakistan border and 61 km on the India-Bangladesh border.
It had also said that further stages could cover about 1,955 km of border where physical fencing was not feasible. Furthermore, in December 2023, Shah had said the government was working to plug remaining gaps on the Pakistan and Bangladesh borders and that work was continuing on about 60 km of difficult stretches.
Hence the new announcement appears to be a part of a larger reveal regarding the decade long project of tightening India’s border security with the aid of technology.
Evaluating pros and cons: What do defence studies suggest?
Supporters of the project argue that technology can act as a force multiplier for the BSF. Smart surveillance can help detect movement in difficult terrain, reduce dependence on round-the-clock manual observation and improve response time.
The government’s case is that sensors, cameras, radars and command-control systems can help close vulnerable gaps, particularly in areas where fencing is not practical.
The official position is also that border security has to combine infrastructure, technology and local response capacity.
What are the concerns?
Experts writing for the Internal Security Centre at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for DefenceStudies and Analyses (MP-IDSA) caution that smart systems are not a substitute for human intelligence, local policing and diplomatic coordination.
MP-IDSA, is a non-partisan, autonomous body dedicated to objective research and policy relevant studies on all aspects of defence, security and international relations. Members of the body include Rajnath Singh, Rajesh Kumar Singh (Defence Secretary), Vikram Misri (Foreign Secretary).
As per previous studies published by the institute, any form of implementation of CIBMS needs to be carefully calibrated to avoid past failures and the relative situation of false alarms suffered by countries such as the USA when they tried to enact similar projects.
Technology can fail in adverse weather, riverine terrain and high-clutter environments. Earlier assessments of border surveillance systems have flagged gaps in integration, performance in difficult weather and the continued burden on manpower.
There are also diplomatic and local sensitivities. Research by CSEP notes that Bangladesh has objected to some Indian fencing efforts, citing bilateral guidelines on construction within 150 yards of the international border.
As per CSEP, India does not treat wired fences as defence infrastructure, but differing interpretations can create friction.
As of now India’s smart border project is understood as a technology-backed expansion of existing border management efforts. It aims to plug gaps where physical fencing is difficult and improve real-time surveillance along the Pakistan and Bangladesh borders.
However, as studies conducted by ORF and MP-IDSA suggest, the claim of an “impenetrable” border will likely be tested in future by terrain, cost, procurement timelines, maintenance, inter-agency coordination and neighbourhood sensitivities.
A credible assessment will depend on the project’s final design, funding, implementation schedule and measurable outcomes on infiltration, smuggling and drone activity.
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