“Rising Drone Incursions: India’s Border Security Battle”

In the 60 days since the Model Code of Conduct came into effect for the ongoing general election in India, drone the Border Security Force (BSF) has either shot down or recovered 49 drones from the India-Pakistan international border. The majority of these drones were of Chinese make and originated from Pakistan, entering India’s Punjab territory and a few in Rajasthan. Since 2022, the total recovery of these drones has increased by about 13 times in the January-May period.

The Model Code of Conduct, which is a set of guidelines for political parties and candidates to ensure free and fair elections, came into effect on March 16. The BSF, which is responsible for guarding the 2,289 km India-Pakistan international border, prepared the dataset and analyzed it. The data shows that a total of 49 drones were either shot down or recovered by the security agencies from March 16 till date.

The maximum recoveries, 47, were made in Punjab, the border state which will vote in a single phase on June 1 for its 13 Lok Sabha seats. The remaining two drones were recovered from along the Rajasthan border in the Sriganganagar and Bikaner sectors, also guarded by the BSF. In Punjab, the highest number of recoveries were made in the Amritsar sector, followed by Ferozepur, Gurdaspur, and Abohar.

The BSF and its sister agencies, like the Punjab and Rajasthan Police, various anti-narcotics departments, etc., are using both human intelligence and technical gadgets to down or track these illegal drones, which pose a serious security threat along the Pakistan border as they also bring along drugs and arms. The security agencies have stepped up efforts to track drones in view of the Election Commission’s directions to undertake extra vigilance so that the polls process is not vitiated by these UAVs that push in drugs and also weapons at times.

The international India-Pakistan border runs along Jammu, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Gujarat along India’s western flank. The Punjab region shares 553 km of the front with Pakistan. The drone menace that first appeared in 2020 along the Jammu border continues to be a problem with a record pace. As per the data, while only six drones were either shot down or recovered from along this border in 2022 during January-May 14, it rose to 14 in 2023 and 75 in 2024 in the same period, which is an about 13X rise since 2022. In the whole of 2022, a total of 22 drones were downed or recovered, while in 2023, this number was 119.

According to a Union home ministry officer, the menace of these drug and arms-laden drones entering India from Pakistan illegally via the aerial route does not look to be going down in the near future. It is estimated that a good number of such UAVs are able to evade the radar of security forces like the BSF and the state police, but there is no doubt that the capabilities of these agencies have improved over time, and they are able to track an increasing number of these surreptitious flying objects.