LIVE: Cabinet approves induction of 9,000 more ITBP troops for China border

With the tension along the Sino-Indian border refusing to abate and China continuing to sustain a large number of troops close to the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the cabinet on Wednesday approved the induction of close to 9,000 troops into the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP). This, sources said, will entail raising seven new battalions and a new sector headquarters. With ITBP being the first line of defence on the China border, sources said, this will strengthen the security grid on the LAC where Indian and Chinese forces have clashed multiple times in Eastern Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh in the last few years and Indian forces continue to be denied access to many of their traditional patrolling points in the Depsang plains and the Charding Nalla region in Ladakh. It will also help give the ITBP, which has 100 per cent deployment most of the year, the luxury to afford rest, recuperation and better training for its personnel.