Home Minister Rajnath Singh urges SSB to start FM station for border areas

NEW DELHI: In a counter to Chinese radio stations belting out propaganda in Nepal, home minister Rajnath Singh has asked the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) to start an FM channel in the border areas through which PM Narendra Modi's ' Man ki Baat' can reach people and he too can speak to forces and the locals.

Addressing a passing out parade of SSB assistant commandants in Srinagar (Uttarakhand), Singh said, "SSB should think of operating FM radio channels in the border areas so that the prime minister's 'Man Ki Baat' programme could also be heard in the remote locations. If necessity arises, I can also find time to address our jawans posted in border areas through these SSB-operated FM channels."

On his last visit to Nepal, Singh had raised the issue of Chinese community radios spreading propaganda in Nepal with authorities there. Nepal had assured cooperation in the matter.

Singh also asked SSB to take the lead role in curtailing the menace of Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) and to remain vigilant on the presence of fundamentalist and anti-India forces in the areas in vicinity of the borders. He said SSB was at the vanguard of porous international borders through which most of the FICN was now being smuggled into the country.

The home minister also lauded the role of SSB in anti-insurgency operations against the NDFB in Assam. He said the SSB had almost destroyed the backbone of the NDFB.

Singh said SSB was founded in 1963 to spread the message of nationalism in areas close to the borders and that the force had been successful in its mission. Exhorting SSB personnel, the home minister said the uniform which they were wearing was not merely a piece of plain cloth and they should take pride in it.