Union home minister Amit Shah on Monday launched the Vibrant Villages Programme (VVP) to be implemented in four states and one Union Territoryfrom Kibithoo village in Anjaw district of Arunachal Pradesh, about 10 km from the China border.

The launch of the VVP, a Central government-sponsored scheme under which 2,967 border villages in four states and a Union Territory, from Kibithoo assumes significance because it comes within a week of the neighbouring country renaming 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh which China considers an extension of South Tibet.

The venue of the launch at Kibithoo village, under the Kibithoo administrative circle of Anjaw district which shares border with both China and Myanmar, is also significant because it was witness to the 1962 Indo-China War.

Ties between the two countries have remained since the Galwan Valley clash in 2020. Arunachal Pradesh shares 1,126 km border with China. Overall, India shares 3,488 km of border with China.

The vibrant village programme (VVP) has been launched to “improve the quality of life of people living in identified border villages and encourage people to stay in their native locations thereby reversing the outmigration from these villages and adding to security of the border”.

The VVP will ensure the “comprehensive” development of 2,967 villages in46 blocks of 19 districts abutting the northern border in Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh and the Union Territory of Ladakh, where India and Chinese troops clashed in 2020.

In the first phase of the programme, 662 border villages have been shortlisted, of which 455 are in Arunachal Pradesh. The VVP will benefit 1.42 population in the four states and one UT.

Of the Rs 4,800 crore to be spent on the VVP, Rs 2,500 crore will be spent exclusively for road connectivity between 2022-23 and 2025-26.

In his 30-minute speech, Shah, without naming China, said India’s border policy was clear.

“We want peace with all but nobody can intrude upon even an inch of our land. This is our policy...We have accepted border security as national security. Beyond this there can be no message. Border security is national security. Therefore, border infrastructure is Modi ji’s priority,” Shah said.

The Home minister, who will be spending the night at Kibithoo, took the opportunity to take a dig at the Opposition Congress while listing out the infrastructure creation along international border areas from 2014 to 2023.

“ What Congress could not do in 12 terms (vis-a-vis creation of border infrastructure), Modi ji has done in two terms. This shows the government’s priority as far as the border area is concerned,” Shah asserted, adding the Centre has given Rs 40,000 for overall infrastructure development in frontier Arunachal Pradesh.

Shah also inaugurated nine micro hydel projects constructed under the “Golden Jubilee Border Illumination Programme” which will generate 725 kw of power to benefit ITBP and Army people besides the border population. Shah also unveiled infrastructure projects of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, which guards the border with China.

Shah will on Tuesday visit Namti field and pay homage at the Walong War Memorial, a site of the Indo-China war.

China has been swift in criticising Shah’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh as it violated Chinese “sovereignty” in the area which it claims as part of South Tibet.

While outrightly dismissing China’s move to rename 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh, the Centre had last week asserted the frontier state was an integral part of India.