Why in News?

• Connectivity issues are troubling people living in areas bordering china in the Ladakh region, which was discussed during the BADP meeting chaired by Union Home Minister.
• The Ladakh region, which has high significance from strategic considerations, remains cut-off for almost half of the year throughout the winter season from the rest of India.

Geographical features of Ladakh:

• Ladakh is the highest plateau of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir with much of it being over 3,000m.
• Ladakh (“land of high passes”) is a region that currently extends from the Kunlun mountain range to the main Great Himalayas to the south, inhabited by people of Indo Aryan and Tibetan descent.

Border Area Development Program:

• Connectivity is one of the major hinderance which limits the development prospectus in border areas.
• In order to improve infrastructure, Border area development program along with India-Pakistan border was initiated in 1987 during the seventh five year plan period.
• It is implemented by the department of border management, Ministry of Home affairs through state government.

Objective:

• The objective was to meet the special development in socio-economic conditions of the people living in inaccessible and remote areas near the international border.
• The funds under BADP are provided to the States as a 100% non-lapsable Special Central Assistance.

Areas covered under BADP:

The programme has been expanded since to cover the border blocks of the 17 States (including 8 North Eastern States), which have international land borders with Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and Bangladesh.

BADP Guidelines:

• Coverage of BADP has been extended to cover all the villages which are located within the 0-10 Km of the International Border
• The list of schemes permissible under BADP has been expanded to include schemes/ activities relating to Swatchhta Aabhiyan , Skill Development programmes, Promotion of sports activities in border areas , Promotion of Rural Tourism/ Border Tourism, Protection of heritage sites.
• Construction of helipads in remote and inaccessible hilly areas, which do not have road connectivity, Construction of toilets in schools, public places particularly for women; Skill development training to farmers for the use of modern/ scientific technique in farming, Organic farming, etc.
• Provision for Third Party Inspection and Quality Control Mechanism under MHA for random inspections of the BADP schemes.
• Warehouses for food grains and fodder in hilly areas particularly in snow bound areas of Jammu & Kashmir Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and, E-chaupals, Agri shops, mobile media vans etc. have been made.
• Special/Specific area schemes such as composite development of at least one village of sizeable population surrounded by five-six or more villages close to the border as Model Village.

Reason for the hinderance of the program:

• Difficult terrain
• Political interference
• Corruption
• Faulty implementation
• Poor planning and lack of coordination
• Fund diversion.