Examine the challenges of managing the India–China border in Arunachal Pradesh, given the multiple agencies involved in border guarding.

India's 3,488 km border with China is guarded by the ITBP under the MHA. In 2004 the ITBP replaced Assam Rifles in Arunachal under the "One Border, One Force" principle [1]. But the Army and the MEA also act on the same frontier, so in the Eastern Sector coordination is itself a core challenge.

Agencies on the Arunachal frontier

• ITBP (MHA): border outposts, patrolling and guarding duties [1].
• Army (MoD): handles armed clashes. At Yangtse (Tawang) on 9 December 2022, the Army pushed back a PLA attempt to change the status quo [2].
• MEA: runs the SR talks and the WMCC. The 24th SR round (2025) created a WMCC Working Group on border management [3].
• MHA with the State: runs the Vibrant Villages Programme (VVP) for frontier villages [4].

Challenges of the multi-agency set-up

• Two chains of command: the ITBP reports to the MHA and the Army to the MoD. This weakens the "One Border, One Force" idea on the LAC and slows intelligence-sharing and response.
• Mixed messaging: in 2022 the Raksha Mantri briefed Parliament within four days [2]. Later reported face-offs have had no single official voice, which leaves the narrative to Beijing.
• Gap between talks and ground: talks on boundary delimitation go on through WMCC bodies [3]. Meanwhile ground facts seen by the ITBP and the Army may not reach negotiators in time.
• Separate development and security work: Arunachal has 455 of the 662 priority VVP villages [5]. The scheme's ₹4,800 crore outlay [4] needs the state, road agencies and security forces to work together.

Factors that make coordination harder

• LAC not demarcated: the process of clarifying it is still going on [1]. Agencies patrol up to India's own view of the LAC, which invites friction.
• Large claims: China claims about 90,000 sq km of Arunachal [6]. It presses this through small, step-by-step moves on the ground.
• Terrain: high mountains and thick forest make surveillance and supply hard [1].

Way forward

• Set up joint operations and intelligence centres for the ITBP and the Army, with clear operational control on the LAC.
• Give the MEA a single official voice, backed by suo motu statements in Parliament as in 2022 [2].
• Use the WMCC Working Group [3] to agree rules for handling incidents.
• Link VVP outcomes to security needs [5].

Arunachal's border problem comes as much from scattered institutions as from the terrain. Joint command, one official voice and populated border villages would turn many agencies into one frontier policy. That would protect India's territorial integrity under Article 1 while keeping dialogue with China going.