Amit Shah Arunachal village visit a signal to China

The visit of Union Home Minister Amit Shah to Kibithoo village in Arunachal Pradesh on Monday highlights the importance by the government attached to this frontier region. Kibithoo, which is not far from India’s border with China, is located in Anjaw district, the country’s eastern-most district.

Describing Kibithoo as India’s “first village” Shah said a change in perspective has been brought about by the present government: instead of thinking about such far-flung and remote villages as disconnected from the rest of the country, they were the “first” part of the country. In this connection, he outlined the salient features of the Vibrant Villages Programme that encompasses 2,967 villages in India’s 19 frontier districts in Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. The Programme has a three phase plan for the development of these villages.

The importance of this Programme cannot be overstressed. Some years ago, stories about migration from these remote villages began to emerge. In Uttarakhand, for example, entire villages were abandoned as they lacked basic services such as availability of potable water. Employment was another big issue. The danger posed by this migration to other parts of the country was not appreciated at that time. One only has to imagine what would happen if these villages—often located within a short distance from Chinese presence on the other side of the border—had no human presence.

In his speech, Shah highlighted this problem and how the government was tackling it through its developmental outreach. From potable water to cooking gas and from road and digital connectivity to most other essential services—such as bank accounts and bank branches—efforts were being made on a war-footing to reach these villages.

Within no time of Shah reaching Kibithoo, China protested that its “territorial sovereignty” was being infringed as Arunachal Pradesh belonged to it. There is nothing new in such protests, Beijing routinely does that whenever Indian leaders go to Arunachal Pradesh. What has changed is India’s thinking about these regions: Instead of viewing them purely as military outposts to be defended, they are now imagined as an integral part of India’s territory. If they are to be defended in-depth, they need to be populated and developed as well.

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Siddharth Singh

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