Pushpita Das

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Dr. Pushpita Das is Research Fellow and the Coordinator of the Internal Security Centre at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA), New Delhi. Her areas of interest include border security and management, coastal security, drug trafficking, migration and India’s Northeast. At MP-IDSA she has been primarily studying India’s approach towards the management of its international borders. She has been co-opted as an Expert by the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) as well as the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on projects on Coastal Security. She has also contributed significantly in projects sponsored by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and the North Eastern Council (NEC).Dr. Das has been a Member of the Committee of Studies of the Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research, Jamia Milia Islamia; Member of Studies for revising the syllabus of (M.A. Political Administration), Rashtriya Raksha University; and Member for inputs on syllabus of Fundamentals of Border Security (Core), Sardar Patel University Security and Criminal Justice, Jodhpur. She was a visiting faculty at the Royal Institute for Governance and Strategic Studies (RIGSS), Bhutan. Dr. Das has also been invited as an Expert for Committee on Reviewing Study Material on Borders by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT); the Madhukar Gupta Committee for Border Management, and the Madhukar Gupta Committee for Restructuring the MHA.Dr. Das has written extensively on her areas of research including two books titled, India’s Internal Security: Role of State Governments (2024) and India’s Approach towards Border ManagementFrom Barriers to Bridges (2021); two monographs titled Illegal Migration from Bangladesh: Deportation, Fences, Work Permit (2016) and Coastal Security: the Indian Approach (2013); three occasional papers titled Status of India’s Border Trade (2014), Drug Trafficking in India (2012) and Coastal Security along Gujarat and Maharashtra coasts (2009); two edited books titled India’s Border Management: Select Documents (2010) and India’s North East: New Vistas for Peace (2008); and a number of articles and commentaries in journals and books. She has delivered lectures at several training institutes apart from participating in national and international seminars. Dr. Pushpita holds a Doctorate degree from the Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Research Fellow (SS)

Publication

India’s Approach to Border Management: From Barriers to Bridges

  • Publisher: KW Publishers
This book attempts to provide a comprehensive understanding of the circumstances which have shaped India’s approach towards its international borders and the framework it has developed to better manage its borders. The book argues that persistence of various cross-border threats and challenges and an absence of robust intra-regional trade among its neighbouring countries forced India to employ a security-centric and unilateral approach to border management with emphasis on hardening the borders to cross-border trade and travel and keeping the border areas underdeveloped to act as a buffer against external conventional threats. However, as India’s economy grew and the country gained more confidence and resources, India started perceiving the borders as bridges rather than barriers. Consequently, greater emphasis was being laid on development of border areas and restoring severed lines of communication with its neighbours through increased investments in building transportation networks both within the border as well as beyond. It also started constructively engaging its neighbours to effectively manage its international borders. Besides discussing the threats and challenges that India faces along the borders, the book aims to develop an understanding of India’s border management practices by analysing various programmes and initiatives such as the raising of border guarding forces; building of physical and electronic fences; the establishment of modern facilities for smoothening legitimate cross-border travel; the development of the border areas through special programmes; and increasing trade and connectivity as well as other cooperative bilateral mechanisms.
  • ISBN: 9789391490003 ,
  • Price: ?. 1088/-
  • E-copy available

Security Challenges and the Management of the India–Myanmar Border

Being highly porous, poorly guarded and located along a remote, underdeveloped, insurgency-prone region and proximate to one of the world’s largest five opium producing areas, the India–Myanmar border is vulnerable to the activities of insurgents and drugs and arms traffickers as well as criminals. Although the Indian government has been alive to the threats that emanate from a poorly guarded India–Myanmar international border, its attention towards the problem has been woefully inadequate.