India to Build ‘Impenetrable’ Borders Using Drones, Radars and Smart Cameras

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday announced that the Centre will launch a “smart border” project next year to strengthen India’s borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh, amid renewed focus on illegal infiltration, national security and demographic concerns in eastern states.

Speaking at the annual Rustamji Memorial lecture organised by the Border Security Force (BSF) in New Delhi, Shah said the Narendra Modi government aims to make the nearly 6,000-km border with the two neighbouring countries “impenetrable” through advanced surveillance systems and technology-driven monitoring.

“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.

The Home Minister said the new border grid will rely on drones, radars, smart cameras and high-tech surveillance tools to curb infiltration and improve round-the-clock monitoring. The announcement comes as the BSF prepares to mark its 60th anniversary since being raised in 1965.

Shah also reiterated the government’s strong stand against illegal immigration, asserting that every infiltrator residing in India would be identified and deported. He urged BSF personnel to ensure that attempts to “artificially change the demography” of border regions are defeated.

The remarks have once again brought the politically sensitive issue of illegal migration from Bangladesh into national focus. The BJP has consistently argued that infiltration affects national security, welfare distribution and electoral demographics in border states such as Assam, Tripura and West Bengal .

At the same time, experts remain divided over the scale of the alleged demographic threat. While security agencies and BJP leaders claim illegal migration has altered population patterns in several border districts, migration researchers argue that there is no universally accepted estimate of undocumented immigrants in India and that some figures are politically exaggerated.

The Centre has already intensified efforts to identify undocumented migrants through border surveillance, verification drives and deportation proceedings. In Assam, the National Register of Citizens (NRC) continues to remain a key mechanism for identifying suspected illegal residents, though the exercise has faced criticism over documentation errors and exclusion concerns.

Shah further said the Union Home Ministry would soon hold meetings with the chief ministers of Assam, Tripura and West Bengal on border security. He also indicated that the Centre would shortly announce a high-powered demography mission , signalling that demographic monitoring could become a larger part of India’s internal security strategy in the coming years.