Vibrant village programme: No line for actual control as ITBP goes vocal for local fish, egg, milk

New Delhi: For the first time, Indo-Tibetan Border Police has entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh governments for giving employment and livelihood opportunities to locals living along the India-China border. The plan conceived under the vibrant village programme (VVP) has so far covered 51 vibrant villages and 108 border villages for supplying vegetarian and non-vegetarian items worth ₹1 crore.

Speaking to ET, ITBP IGP at Dehradun, Sanjay Gunjyal said: "The process was started in October during Deepawali. So far, we have made payment of ₹1 crore to villagers. This system helps reduce carbon footprint in the fragile Himalayan upper region by promoting eco-friendly transportation, local sourcing and carbon offsetting and creating job opportunities in border areas."

Home minister Amit Shah recently said forces, including Army, will procure milk, eggs, fish and vegetables from locals to provide employment opportunities and prevent population thinning in border areas.


Following the success of the Dehradun model, an MoU has been signed by Arunachal Pradesh where nearly 400 villages will provide daily supplies to ITBP. Arunachal Pradesh Agriculture Marketing Board CEO Okit Palling told ET, "The MoU plans to cover 400 villages. We are going to assess the ration requirement by ITBP for next one year and slowly improve our capacity to provide the same to border camps."

A senior officer said, "Earlier, the procurement was done through an e-portal that was time-consuming and led to scarcity of officers in far-flung areas. We concluded products, source of origin and buyers are available at one place. The model will be follo- wed by Army and Sashastra Seema Bal."