Ladakh:
Phobrang, Merak and Demchok, villages in Ladakh along the Line of Actual Control with China, have one thing in common. They are remote, utterly backward and are being abandoned by its own residents because of lack of facilities and connectivity.
Srianchu was 10 years old when India and China fought a bitter war in 1962 not very far from Phobrang village. 52 years later, nothing much has changed for him, as his fellow villagers have shifted to Leh, the district capital.
"Many have chosen to move to Leh in search of better opportunity. Many were carpenters, traditional workers but with no employment or any opportunity to earn a decent living. Many of the younger generation have decided to shift to Leh, much against their wishes," said Srianchu.
Lack of employment in the village has forced Phunsuk Dorje, a resident, to drive a taxi.
"There is no livelihood here, so I have started driving a taxi in Leh," he said ruefully.
The problem is bigger than just finding employment as District Collector Simrandeep Singh discovers during his interaction with the villagers. Till last year, 70 percent of funds meant for border villages used to be spent in Leh, leaving the villagers living along the Line of Actual Control, in the lurch.
"If 70 percent of the funds meant for us in the border villages is spent in non-border villages, what hope do we have. Now as the District Collector has assured, if those funds are spent here, then we can hope for some progress. Otherwise, there is lack of even basic facilities here," said Thinley, a middle-aged man.
Mr Singh, who has taken the initiative to reverse the trend of spending funds in these areas, however cautions them that it will take some time before they can start deriving the benefits.
Today, people in Phobrang village live without electricity, telephone and internet connections and lack reliable transport to the district headquarters in Leh. With livelihoods shrinking, people here are under a lot of stress with many in the young generation shifting to Leh to find employment. In these border villages, population is thinning and in the long run, such problems are bound to arise in defending the frontiers with China.