India will launch a “smart border” project within a year to make the 6,000-km frontiers with Pakistan and Bangladesh “impenetrable”, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Friday, asserting that infiltration attempts aimed at altering demographic balance will be defeated.
Speaking at the annual Rustamji Memorial Lecture organised by the Border Security Force (BSF) in New Delhi, Shah said the initiative will be part of a wider security overhaul involving technology-driven surveillance systems across sensitive border stretches.
He said the government has decided to create a “strong security grid” along the Pakistan and Bangladesh borders over the next year, integrating drones, radars and smart surveillance cameras to make the frontier “impenetrable”.
“I want to assure BSF troops that we will launch this smart border project in the 60th year of its raising and we will make the Pakistan and Bangladesh borders impenetrable,” Shah said, underlining the government’s commitment to strengthening border management.
The Home Minister reiterated that the Centre will identify and deport all infiltrators, adding that security forces must remain vigilant against attempts to alter India’s demographic composition through illegal cross-border movement.
Referring to the broader internal security approach, Shah said the government views infiltration as a strategic challenge and has already taken steps to strengthen enforcement mechanisms in border states.
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He also stressed coordination with state governments, noting that administrations in Tripura, West Bengal and Assam — all led by the BJP — are aligned with the Centre’s objective of preventing infiltration. A high-level meeting with chief ministers of these states will be convened soon to review border security measures.
Shah further announced that a high-powered demography mission, previously outlined by the Union government, will be formally introduced shortly. The mission is expected to focus on tracking and addressing demographic changes in sensitive border regions.
K F Rustamji, after whom the lecture is named, was the first Director General of the BSF when the force was raised in 1965.
The proposed “smart border” framework is expected to combine physical infrastructure upgrades with artificial intelligence-enabled monitoring systems, aiming to create a multi-layered security architecture along India’s western and eastern frontiers.
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