How India can stop intrusions from China at the border

India is facing a difficult situation on its borders. Though we obsessively focus on the western front vis-à-vis Pakistan, what goes mostly ignored is the Chinese side.

Between 200 and 300 Chinese intrusions inside the Indian territory occur every year but for the sake of "normalisation" of relations with Beijing, Delhi keeps them under wraps.

There is perhaps a solution to improve the situation - a better administration of border areas. For security purposes, the Indo-Tibet Border Police Force (ITBPF) is deployed from Karakoram Pass in Ladakh to Jachep La in Arunachal Pradesh along the 3,488km Indian-Tibetan border, manning border outposts in the three sectors of the Himalayan frontier.

Unwillingness

While the ITBPF, raised on October 24, 1962, is a specialised mountain force with professionally trained mountaineers, the civil administration in these areas is still in the hands of young IAS officers, unequipped and often unwilling to go through the hardship necessary to interact and help the local population.

Today, there is an acute need for a special cadre to administer India's borders, especially in the Himalayas. Is the government ready to take a first step in this direction?

Probably not, as it may ruffle many feathers starting with the powerful IAS lobby.

It is worth noting that Jawaharlal Nehru did it, though with romantic concerns. He wrote: "I am not at all sure which is the better way of living, the tribal or our own. In some respects, I am quite certain theirs is better. Therefore, it is grossly presumptuous on our part to approach them with an air of superiority."

Though constitutionally a part of Assam, in the 1950s, the NEFA was administered by the ministry of external affairs, with governor of Assam acting as agent to the president of India, seconded by a senior officer (often from the ICS), designated as advisor to the governor.

Nehru took a great initiative in creating a separate cadre for India's frontiers, mainly NEFA, Tibet, Sikkim and Bhutan.

When on April 4, 1952, the then prime minister mentioned to Jairamdas Doulatram, the governor of Assam, the need of a "special" cadre; the idea was not appreciated by all.

Finally, in 1954, the first batch of officers, drawn mainly from the Army but also from the All-India services, was posted on the frontiers.

The initial recruitment to the Indian Frontier Administrative Service (IFAS) was made through a Special Selection Board.

Segregation

Sixty years later, one realises that though the idea was good, the over-romantic views about the border population amounted to the segregation of a large chunk of the Indian population and triggered underdevelopment of the border areas, which still exists today.

KC Johorey, who later became chief secretary in Goa, was one of the pioneers to join the IFAS. He still remembers what Nehru told his batch: "The staff must go along with the flag and the typewriters can follow later on."

Johorey recalls his first posting along the Siang Frontier Division: "There were two houses, one for the burra sahib (for Yusuf Ali, his boss), and behind another smaller hut. The houses were really huts made of bamboos, palm leaves and canes. Even the tables and the beds were of bamboos. There were no mattresses, no electricity and no furniture. The houses were very clean and airy. That was all," says he.

One of the most famous members of the IFAS is Maj Ranenglao "Bob" Khathing, who single-handedly brought Tawang under Indian administration in February 1951.

Development

Another officer, major SM Krishnatry, has left an extraordinary account of his "tour" report in what is today the Upper Subansiri district of Arunachal Pradesh.

Krishnatry, who had earlier been posted for seven years in Tibet, provides a detailed description of his adventures: "(Earlier) most exploratory expeditions in the tribal frontiers have been armed or armoured with heavy escorts much to the cost and suppression of human rights, occupation of their lands, burning of villages, molestation of women, looting of livestock, crops and banning of trade."

Unfortunately, Verrier Elwin could only see the anthropological side of the issue, forgetting the strategic as well the economic aspects of the border development; it resulted in a huge development gap between the frontier areas and the rest of India, which became critical after Tibet's invasion in 1950.

As a result, when China attacked India in October 1962, the country was unable to give Mao's troops a befitting response.

The IFAS, an ad-hoc creation of Nehru, was dissolved in the mid-1960s and the intrepid IFAS officers were "merged" with the "boring" IFS, IAS or IPS.

It is perhaps time to review the concept and create a new IFAS (or an Indo-Tibet Border Administrative Service), with daring officers coming from different walks of life (perhaps mainly from the Army to start with), but who would be willing to undertake the vital task to develop Indian frontiers.

(Courtesy of Mail Today.)

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