Personnel of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) have been asked by the Ministry of Home Affairs to fan out to villages in the border areas manned by them and collect their history, extending up to the past 2,000 years, The Indian Express has learnt. The forces have also been asked to add the history of the villages to their training module, officials said. The instruction came from Union Home Minister Amit Shah at a ‘Chintan Shivir’ (brainstorming session) of IPS officers posted in CAPFs held in New Delhi on June 12. Chairing the meet, Shah asked all the CAPFs to promote purchase of local products, saying this would increase employment opportunities in the border areas and eventually stop migration. “In the meeting, Shah also discussed these border villages and he then asked them to find out the 2,000-year history of all the villages and their nearby areas,” an official said. The purpose of the instruction, an officer said, could also possibly be linked to the government's plans to develop infrastructure in the border areas. Before establishing any institution, or developing infrastructure, the Centre perhaps wants to know about all the villages as well as their history so that they work accordingly, the officer said. The borders are largely manned by four forces — the Border Security Force (BSF), Assam Rifles, Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP). In an internal communication to field officials on June 16, a BSF officer said, “In a Chintan Shivir, the Home Minister has directed to collect details of 2000-year-old history or may be older of all the villages, and their nearby areas, and should add in the training module.” “All the seniors have been requested to send their frontiers subordinates to find out the details. After collecting [the details], they all should send it to the training headquarters by June 23 and they should continue their procedure of knowing the history of villages,” the communication stated. In a Chintan Shivir, various other topics related to the forces were discussed as well. These include border security, capacity building, guidance of junior officers, social media and law enforcement, central and state subjects among others. Shah also underlined the Vibrant Villages Programme, which aims at developing and creating employment opportunities in the border areas. “Contact and communication with every border village and its residents is very important for the security of the borders. The responsibility of the unity, integrity and internal security of the country is imbibed in the oath of the IPS officers and the security of the borders can be ensured only through coordination with the law and order and local administration of the district,” he said. Developing border infrastructure has been a priority for the government. Inaugurating a workshop on the Vibrant Villages Programme in Delhi last month, Shah had said that the Centre has spent more than Rs 25,000 crore on border infrastructure in the past nine years and priority should be given to Vibrant Villages in mapping of schemes, both at central and state levels.
