Context

• Assam shares a 263 km border with Bangladesh. Much of the border was fenced, but a 61 km stretch in Dhubri district remained open owing to the terrain dictated by the Brahmaputra. This stretch is where the vast Brahmaputra and its numerous channels with chars (sandbars) in between flow into Bangladesh. Infiltrators, cattle smugglers and others invariably took advantage of the difficulty in keeping vigil along this stretch, even on speedboats.

Difference between Barbed Fencing, Smart Fence & Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System:

• Barbed Fence – Refers to the securing of the border with physical fences that obstruct infiltration. Smart Fence – The smart fences have an addition of electronic systems to the barbed wire, which helps in detecting movement along the border.
• CIBMS – Lastly, when one cannot have a physical border security system due to the geographical reason, CIBMS is being used. CIBMS uses technology driven by sensors to detect any form of movement in the water, on the land surface and in the air.

About the Current Fence:

• Current Fence Comprises of microwave communication, optical fibre cables, cameras, and an intrusion detection device, this system is called BOLD-QIT (Border Electronically Dominated QRT Interception Technique) and was established under the Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System.