Who is guarding our International Borders?

Who guards India’s International Borders? The Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), commonly known as the Paramilitary forces, guard the six different international borders. The Border Security Force (BSF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and Assam Rifles (AR) are involved the border guarding duties.

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Guarding the International borders is the foremost task of the security agencies. In our country, the international borders are guarded by the Central Armed Police Forces along with the Army in certain places. The Central Armed Police Forces are more commonly known as the paramilitary forces and come under the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Guarding the International Borders with Six Countries

India shares its borders with six different countries; Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh & Myanmar. These six international borders are guarded by different paramilitary forces. Both the Indo-Pakistan and Indo-Bangladesh borders are guarded by the Border Security Force (BSF). The Indo-China border is guarded by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), a specialized mountain force. Both the Indo-Nepal and Indo-Bhutan borders are guarded by the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), while the Indo-Myanmar border is guarded by the Assam Rifles (AR).

International Border	Guarded by	Number of Companies Deployed
Indo-Pakistan Border	Border Security Force (BSF)	411
Indo-Bangladesh Border	Border Security Force (BSF)	480
Indo-China Border	Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP)	136
Indo-Nepal Border	Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB)	162
Indo-Bhutan Border	Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB)	97
Indo-Myanmar Border	Assam Rifles (AR)	60
Total Number of Companies Deployed		1346

Borders are not Uniform

The Government informed the Rajya Sabha that the International borders are not uniform in character and have different physical features, terrain and climate conditions along with different threat perceptions. The number of personnel required to guard the borders varies from border to border and sector to sector.

The deployment of Border Guarding Forces in the international borders is reviewed by the Ministry of Home Affairs in consultation with Border Guarding Forces from time to time. Recently, BSF has deployed 18 additional companies on international border in Punjab.

Central Armed Police Forces are also deployed in LWE affected States

The Government also informed the Rajya Sabha that a total of 116 battalions of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) are currently deployed for assisting the State Governments in the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected States of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.