Kumar Abhinav

The recent dispute with India over Limpiyadhura-Kalapani-Lipulekh areas has widely been regarded as a brazen act of undermining Nepal's sovereignty by our southern neighbour. The encroachment of Nepali land by our neighbours has taken place from time to time, thanks to our long and porous border with them.
The long and open border therefore necessitates a greater emphasis on the use of technology to monitor its border and bolster security with a view to make its border with two bigger neighbours more secured from any future intrusion or encroachment as well as stopping any criminal and illegal activities taking place along the border with two neighbours.
The concept of border security has evolved due to the threat posed by terrorism, criminal activities, arms smuggling, and so son. Border security that plays a vital role in safeguarding the sovereignty and nationality of any nation is an important part of national security.

Border Dispute
If there is a dispute over border security between or among countries, it naturally gives rise to a tense situation between the neighbours. For example, we can take the North-South Korea border. Border disputes are also the cause of repeated violent attacks between the two countries. This confirms that border security is needed to safeguard a peaceful environment, national identity, sovereignty and nationality for any nation.
Nepal is bordered by China to the north and India to the east, west and south. The northern border with China is mostly abutted by the hilly terrain of Nepal while the long border with India is porous and open and has not been fenced. Due to the open border, there have been reports of human trafficking, trafficking of drugs and narcotics and contrabands and other criminal activities along the Nepal-India border.
The recent budget allocation by the government includes the issue of utilisation of technology for the purpose of maintaining border security, which can be termed as one of good aspects of the budget.
At present, the Armed Police Force under the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of Nepal is in charge of border security in Nepal. The Armed Police Force carries out mainly the task of protecting the country's borders, maintaining customs, revenue and industrial security, controlling armed conflict within the country or managing law and order situation and tackling the challenges of terrorism activities taking place within the country.
For every nation, no matter how large or small its population, an encroachment into its land calls for a diplomatic readiness to protect its civilian community to ensure a legitimate and safe quality of life of its citizens. This expresses a state of nationality and Sovereignty. One possible way of ensuring territorial integrity of the country is the use of technology to maintain and manage border security to thwart any intrusion in the country's territory by forces that are harmful to the country. Therefore, from the diplomatic relations of the country to the economic, administrative and defensive work of the country, it is clear that border security plays a big role. We can use the following methods to tighten Nepal's border security.

Use of Drones
Because of our open borders, thousands of people pass through our country every day. It is not possible for us to monitor these people them one by one. Since some districts are connected by hilly terrain, it is a challenge to have security forces in them. In such a case, we can take the help of technology. Border security allows people to track up people's faces, activities, and make it easier to watch border activities through video. The drone, fitted with a thermal detection camera, is much better than a stationary video camera at tracking random activities such as attempting to cross illegally borders through mountainous terrains. Able to fly at high altitudes, drones can provide detailed information by detecting different ground activities. And it can play a key role in a country like ours with open borders.
Use of Roboguards
Roboguard is a wireless early warning perimeter alarm system to detect the presence of intruders. Currently, it is being used by developed countries for border security. It has two other cameras installed. One at the top and one at the end of Roboguard, and the control of these cameras that allows the security forces to monitor the activities taking place at the border. And if someone moves within a meter of this roboguard, it sends a message to the security forces and necessary actions might be taken. Robot guards have not only made patrolling the border easier, but have also saved the lives of the forces.

Use of Biometric System
Due to the open borders in Nepal, the movement of migrants is seen as a major challenge. Therefore murder, violence, etc. are on the rise. We can therefore use biometric systems to solve such problems. Border Security Biometric systems are put in place to track and manage human records. It includes thumb print recognition system which shows the recorded information of that person.

Ground Sensor for Border
This method detects human footprints at the border and provides full support to the relevant security agencies. Primarily, this method can play a role in preventing smuggling and criminal activities that take place at midnight. This method can be used within the existing borders in the Terai districts of Nepal.

Border Surveillance satellite
Today it has become imperative to place the national borders and coastlines under constant surveillance using satellites and sensored-packed unmanned aerial vehicles such as drones, aerostats and manned aircraft. All of this is the advantages technology provides via advance communication systems and artificial intelligence (AI).
For every nation, its land is very important whether the nation is small or big. If a nation tries to encroach on the land and border security of that nation, the nationality and sovereignty of that nation may be questioned. Therefore, to prevent such acts, technological border security is needed to further strength the security of the country.

(The author is former student at the National Institute of Technology,
Raipur, India)