Kibithu, one of the eastern most villages in Arunachal Pradesh, is very close to the Line of Actual Control with China, which is being developed under the Vibrant Village Programme. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
The second phase of the Vibrant Village Programme (VVP) will cover 1,954 strategic villages along the land borders with Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Myanmar in 15 States and two Union Territories, according to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
The VVP was launched in 2023, originally to assist development in villages along the China border. The VVP-II was cleared by the Union Cabinet in April 2025.
On February 20, Home Minister Amit Shah is likely to launch the VVP-II programme at Nathanpur village in Assam’s Cachar district along the Bangladesh border.
The Ministry said that often, residents of the border villages may resort to illicit activities, petty crimes, connive in trans-border crimes, and are prone to migrating to urban areas, creating a vacuum that leads to demographic changes and illegal migration. “The VVP programme envisages ensuring assimilation of the border population with the nation, and inculcate them as eyes and ears of the border guarding forces (BGFs), create better living conditions and adequate livelihood opportunities, and wean away the border population from inimical activities,” the Ministry said.
The government also plans “culturally sensitive” border-specific outreach activities to engage with communities who live near international borders to build trust, provide information, and encourage cooperation “These activities will foster a positive relationship between border guarding agencies and local population, and promote a sense of shared responsibility in border management,” the MHA said in its guidelines shared with the States.
While VVP-I was aimed at villages along the China border, the phase two with a total outlay of ₹6,839 crore shall be implemented in select strategic villages in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal till the financial year 2028-29. It is proposed that ₹3 crore will be spent in each village.
Ensuring livelihood
The Ministry said the main objective of the VVP-II is to meet the developmental needs and well-being of the border population, as wells as promote diverse livelihood opportunities to ensure economic and cultural assimilation with the nation’s overall growth story. “In these villages, opportunities for professional growth, social cohesion and national integration would be enhanced to ensure that border regions are not left behind in the country’s development journey and would be developed as growth centres,” the MHA said.
The strategy includes saturation of existing schemes of the government to eligible individual beneficiaries and households, strengthen basic infrastructure and create enabling infrastructure and capacities to increase livelihood opportunities.
The purpose of the outreach activities would be to build trust between border control agencies and local communities by providing clear and accurate information about border security procedures, immigration laws, encourage active participation from border communities in reporting suspicious activities and contributing to overall security efforts.
Published – February 18, 2026 10:35 pm IST
