India shares land borders with six sovereign nations. The state's Ministry of Home Affairs also recognizes a 106 kilometres (66 mi) land border with a seventh nation, Afghanistan, as part of its claim on the Kashmir region; however, this is disputed and the region bordering Afghanistan has been administered by Pakistan as part of Gilgit-Baltistan since 1947 (see Durand Line).[2]
India does not have a National Border Policy. For the strategic national interest reasons, there are suggestions that India must define a National Border Policy to comprehensively deal with border related issues, not just the fencing of open borders but also to deal with the negative consequences of porous borders. For example, India-Nepal border is an open border with no fence, which has been misused by Pakistan's ISI to create trouble in India.[6] India has constructed the fences along the following borders:[7]
India co-hosts the joint ceremonies with the neighbouring nations at the following border crossings. The most attended and emotionally charged among these is the one at Wagha-Attari Border near Amritsar-Lahore.
India-Pakistan border
Border ceremony at Attari–Wagah border.
At the following border crossing sites the beating retreat flag ceremonies are jointly held by the military of both nations every day at 6 pm, which are open to the public as tourist attractions.[8][9] No special permit or ticket is needed. From north to south, the ceremony sites are as follows:
India and China have five Border Personnel Meeting point (BPM points) where they hold the flag meeting to discuss the military matters as well as the ceremonial BPMs for cultural exchange to improve bilateral relations by celebrating New Year's Day (January 1),[13] India's Republic Day (January 26), Harvest Festival (April 14),[14]PLA Day ( May 15) and Indian Independence Day (August 15).[15] These meetings include the playing of each country's national anthem and saluting of their respective flags, and ceremonial addresses by representative of both armies.[14] On Indian side only Indian citizens are allowed to visit only 2 passes out of these several BPM passes/sites, Bum La Pass and Nathu La, only on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays, only after obtaining Inner Line Permit (ILP) one day in advance.[16]
These BPM passes and border posts where these meetings are held, from west to east, are as follows:-
Nathu La: The pass is used for pilgrims to monasteries in Sikkim such as Rumtek, one of the holiest shrines in Buddhism. For Hindus, the pass reduces the journey time to Lake Manasarovar from fifteen days to two days.[17]
Indian and Bangladeshi soldiers at Benapole–Petrapole border ceremony.
Benapole–Petrapole border ceremony, a similar but much friendlier ceremony than the Indo-Pakistani Attari-Wagah ceremony, is held daily jointly by India's Border Security Force and Border Guards Bangladesh at India-Bangladesh border from 4.30 to 5 pm. It is open to civilians without any ticket or special permit.[18][19] The Benapole–Petrapole joint retreat ceremony results in lowering of national flags of India and Bangladesh.[20]
India has 7 functional ICPs, and plans are underway to upgrade 13 more LCS to ICP, including 7 at borders taking total of border ICP to 14, at the cost of ₹3,005 crore (US$350 million) (c. June 2024 ).[21][22] Designated Integrated Check Posts (ICP), with both customs and immigration facilities are:[23]
Karimganj–Golapganj uppozilla in Sylhet District of Bangladesh via Sutarkandi integrated checkpost crossing on NH37(India) and Sheola post (Sylhet division, Bangladesh), the plan announced c. Oct 2017.[21]
Shillong–Sylhet via Dawki ICP integrated checkpost crossing (Jaintia Hills, India) and Tambil post (Bangladesh). Dawki ICP foundation stone was laid in January 2017 and is in operation since 2018.[24]
Kawrpuichhuah – official spelling (also spelled as Kawarpuchiah or Kawripuichhuah) – near Tlabung in Lunglei district, opened in Oct 2017.[21][25][26] The 22 km long Lunglei–Tlabung–Kawrpuichhuah road was upgraded in 2014–2015 in a World Bank-funded project to enhance India-Bangladesh border connectivity.[27] It is located on Khawthalangtuipui river (Karnaphuli)
This proposed list of border bazaars and haats is in varying stages of implementation, as suggested by State Governments to the Ministry of External Affairs for setting up Border Haats.[23]
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (August 2021)
India-Bhutan Border Haat on India-Bhutan border are in operation, such as the Gelephu-Hatisar border market road entry point,[37]Phuntsholing to its west and Samdrup Jongkhar to its east are two other border market road entry points into Bhutan.
Pradeep Damodaran's book Borderlands: Travels Across India's Boundaries chronicles all land borders of India.[40] The Bollywood director J. P. Dutta has specialised in making Hindi movies with India's border as a key element of the theme, his movies are Border, Refugee, LOC: Kargil, Paltan, etc.[41]
^Envis Team (4 June 2006). "Ecodestination of India-Sikkim Chapter"(PDF). Eco-destinations of India. The Environmental Information System (ENVIS), Ministry of Environment and Forest, Government of India. p. 45. Archived from the original(PDF) on 19 June 2007. Retrieved 1 December 2006.
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