Border Security, Organised Crime and Security Forces

What the official syllabus says

General Studies III (Main Written Examination, Paper V):

• Security challenges and their management in border areas - linkages of organized crime with terrorism.
• Various Security forces and agencies and their mandate.

Topics in detail

India's borders

• Land borders with Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar; the coastline and island territories
• Nature of each border: Line of Control, Line of Actual Control, open borders with Nepal and Bhutan, the riverine border with Bangladesh
• Challenges: infiltration, smuggling, illegal migration, fencing in difficult terrain, border disputes

Management of border areas

• Border fencing, floodlighting and technology: the Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System
• Border Area Development Programme and the Vibrant Villages Programme
• Integrated check posts and land ports
• Coastal security after the 2008 Mumbai attacks: coastal police stations, the role of the Navy, Coast Guard and marine police
• Principle of one border, one force

Organised crime and terrorism

• Kinds of organised crime: drug trafficking, arms smuggling, counterfeit currency, human trafficking, extortion, contract killing
• Drug routes: the Golden Crescent and the Golden Triangle; drones across the western border
• Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985; Narcotics Control Bureau
• Links between gangs, smugglers and terror groups; funding of terror by crime
• State laws against organised crime

Security forces and agencies and their mandate

• Armed forces: Army, Navy, Air Force; Chief of Defence Staff and the Department of Military Affairs (2019)
• Central Armed Police Forces: Border Security Force (Pakistan and Bangladesh borders), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (China border), Sashastra Seema Bal (Nepal and Bhutan borders), Assam Rifles (Myanmar border and the North-East), Central Reserve Police Force (internal security and counter-insurgency), Central Industrial Security Force (industrial units, airports, metros)
• National Security Guard (counter-terrorism and hostage rescue)
• Indian Coast Guard
• Intelligence agencies: Intelligence Bureau, Research and Analysis Wing, National Technical Research Organisation
• Investigation agencies: CBI, NIA, NCB, Enforcement Directorate
• National Security Council and the National Security Adviser
• State police: a State subject (Seventh Schedule); police reforms and the Supreme Court's directions in Prakash Singh (2006)
• Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958

Central Armed Police Forces

Overlaps

• Haryana: Disasters and Internal Security: Haryana Police and the defence establishments in the State.