Rewind to what ITBP chief said, read the warning
Indian Express - Opinion · Published 7 November 2026 · Last updated
The recent political controversy over border face-offs obscures the critical strategic warning by the former ITBP chief regarding India's growing technological disparity with China in modern warfare.
Key points
- A leaked and subsequently withdrawn video featured outgoing Indo-Tibetan Border Police chief Shatrujeet Kapur identifying China as the biggest adversary and disclosing continuing face-offs in Arunachal Pradesh.
- Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party spokespersons accused the government of suppressing facts about the border situation and providing clean chits to China.
- India and China share a 4,057-kilometre-long Line of Actual Control along which border disputes and transgressions have persisted for 65 years.
- Official reports during the UPA regime from 2010 to 2013 disclosed well over 600 Chinese transgressions along the Line of Actual Control, which defence minister A K Antony acknowledged while reassuring national interests.
- The Modi government shifted its border patrolling policy after the 2014 standoff, replacing the earlier practice of disengagement with proactive diplomacy and strong ground posturing, beginning with the 2017 Doklam tri-junction face-off.
- The outgoing ITBP chief warned that China cannot be confronted using traditional methods because the arrival of drones has fundamentally changed the nature of warfare.
- The Defence Research and Development Organisation has recently developed high-power laser-based directed-energy weapons capable of tracking and destroying individual drones and drone swarms.
- The ITBP chief emphasized that India must embrace drone and anti-drone systems in a big way to prepare for future border skirmishes and limited conflicts like Operation Sindoor with Pakistan.
Background
- During the 2010-2013 UPA period, official reports recorded more than 600 Chinese intrusions across the frontier.
- India altered its strategic border posture following the 2014 standoff and the 2017 Doklam tri-junction confrontation by replacing withdrawal tactics with strong ground posturing.
UPSC relevance, Prelims facts and Mains angle for this issue are in the full SWAदेSH note.
Original report: Indian Express - Opinion