संसार के दो सबसे बड़े अवैध अफ़ीम उगाने वाले राज्यों से भारत की निकटता ने भारत की आंतरिक सुरक्षा चिंताओं को बढ़ा दिया है। नशीली दवाओं के अवैध व्यापार एवं बंदूक बेचने, गुपचुप धन विदेश भेजने और मानव तस्करी जैसी अवैध गतिविधियों के बीच कड़ियों को स्पष्ट कीजिए। इन गतिविधियों को रोकने के लिए क्या-क्या प्रतिरोधी उपाय किए जाने चाहिए?
Read this question in English
India’s proximity to two of the world’s biggest illicit opium-growing states has enhanced her internal security concerns. Explain the linkages between drug trafficking and other illicit activities such as gunrunning, money laundering and human trafficking. What counter-measures should be taken to prevent the same?
Approach · directive: “explain / what counter-measures”
What it asks · Explain how narcotics trafficking links with gunrunning, money laundering, human trafficking and terror around India, and suggest counter-measures.
It asks 2 things — answer each
- Explain the linkages between drug trafficking and gunrunning, money laundering, human trafficking and terror funding, with the enabling geography
- What counter-measures should be taken: enforcement and coordination, financial tracking, borders, regional cooperation and demand reduction
Open with · India sits between the Golden Crescent and the Golden Triangle across a 3,323 km border with Pakistan and a 1,643 km border with Myanmar; the 2019 national survey counted about 2.26 crore opioid users, 77 lakh needing urgent help, so transit has become consumption and the trade feeds other crimes.
Cover
- Terror link: drug money is used to fund insurgent and terrorist groups (narco-terrorism), and drugs are sometimes bartered for weapons, as reported along the western border and in the north-east.
- Gunrunning: the routes and networks that bring heroin across the western and eastern borders also move arms, ammunition and explosives.
- Money laundering: proceeds move through hawala, front companies, real estate and trade-based laundering, and can fund terror and other crime.
- Human trafficking: the same organised networks exploit porous, unfenced borders to traffic women and children, and use victims as drug couriers; corruption in enforcement helps them.
- Enabling factors: difficult terrain and open stretches on the Punjab-Pakistan and Myanmar borders, the Myanmar free movement regime, weak coastal surveillance, corruption, and domestic demand.
- Counter-measures, enforcement: the NDPS Act, 1985 and PIT-NDPS Act, 1988; the Narcotics Control Bureau; the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 and FIU-India; joint action by NCB, BSF, customs, the Coast Guard and State police.
- Counter-measures, wider: border fencing and surveillance, coastal security, financial tracking, intelligence-sharing with neighbours and UN conventions, and demand reduction, treatment and alternative livelihoods in poppy areas.
Close with · Drugs, arms, money and trafficked people move through one criminal system, so the response must be equally joined up: sealed borders, tracked money, regional cooperation and the drug-free India that Nasha Mukt Bharat intends, through treatment as much as enforcement.
Add value (verified)
- MHA Border Management Division: India's border with Pakistan is 3,323 km along Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh; with Myanmar 1,643 km along Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram.Ministry of Home Affairs, Department of Border Management: Annexure I, BM-I Division (2021) ↗“Myanmar 1643 kms running along Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram.”
- The same MHA annexure lists the Pakistan border as 3,323 km along Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, and the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.Ministry of Home Affairs, Department of Border Management: Annexure I, BM-I Division (2021) ↗“Pakistan 3323 kms running along Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir”
- PIB (May 2025), citing the 2019 national survey: about 2.26 crore people use opioids, nearly 77 lakh needing urgent intervention; Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan was launched on 15 August 2020 in 272 high-risk districts.PIB backgrounder: Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan, a national movement towards a drug-free India (6 May 2025) ↗“Opioids, one of the most harmful categories of drugs, are used by approximately 2.26 crore individuals, with nearly 77 lakh requiring urgent intervention and support.”
- Newspaper report (The Tribune, 8 February 2024): the Home Ministry decided to scrap the Free Movement Regime with Myanmar for internal security, and to fence the entire 1,643 km Indo-Myanmar border.The Tribune (newspaper report): Government scraps free movement between India and Myanmar to ensure internal security (8 February 2024) ↗“The Home Ministry has decided that the Free Movement Regime (FMR) between India and Myanmar be scrapped to ensure the internal security of the country”
- PIB (October 2024): a four-tier NCORD mechanism, an NCORD portal and a Joint Coordination Committee coordinate the fight against narcotics under a whole-of-government approach.PIB backgrounder on the Government's fight against narcotics (October 2024) ↗“NCORD: A four-tier NCORD mechanism was established for coordination and collaboration. NCORD Portal: Functions as a data integration and knowledge management system. A Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) was formed for detailed investigations.”
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2018, GS Paper III — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 3 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer· 371words · Minimalist IAS
India sits between the Golden Crescent (Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran) and the Golden Triangle (Myanmar, Laos, Thailand), across a 3,323 km border with Pakistan and 1,643 km with Myanmar. The 2019 national survey counted about 2.26 crore opioid users, 77 lakh needing urgent help: transit has become consumption, and the trade feeds other crimes.
Linkages between drug trafficking and other illicit activities
- Narco-terrorism: drug money funds insurgent and terrorist groups, and drugs are at times bartered for weapons along the western border and in the north-east.
- Gunrunning: the routes, carriers and handlers that bring heroin across the borders also move arms, ammunition and explosives.
- Money laundering: proceeds are washed through hawala, front companies, real estate and trade-based laundering, and the cleaned money finances further crime and terror.
- Human trafficking: the same networks exploit porous borders to traffic women and children and use victims as couriers; corruption keeps the chain intact.
- Enablers: difficult terrain, the Myanmar free movement regime, weak coastal surveillance and rising domestic demand.
✏️ Map to sketch in the exam · Drug entry routes into India
- Shade: Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Rajasthan, Gujarat = Pakistan border (3,323 km): Golden Crescent routes
- Shade: Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram = Myanmar border (1,643 km): Golden Triangle routes
- Legend: border States as per MHA
Draw on India's official outline (Survey of India boundary).
Counter-measures to prevent the nexus
- Law and coordination: the NDPS Act, 1985 and PIT-NDPS Act, 1988 enforced through the Narcotics Control Bureau; the four-tier NCORD mechanism, its portal and a Joint Coordination Committee join Centre, States and agencies.
- Follow the money: the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 and FIU-India to trace hawala and trade-based flows, with confiscation of assets.
- Borders: fencing the entire 1,643 km Myanmar border and The Tribune's February 2024 report of the decision to scrap the free movement regime, with surveillance technology and coastal security.
- Regional and global: intelligence-sharing with neighbours under the UN drug conventions, since supply lies abroad.
- Demand reduction: the Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan (15 August 2020) in 272 high-risk districts; de-addiction, awareness and alternative livelihoods in poppy areas.
Drugs, arms, money and trafficked people move through one criminal system, so the response must be equally joined up: sealed borders, tracked money, regional cooperation and the drug-free India that Nasha Mukt Bharat intends, through treatment as much as enforcement.
Prepared by Minimalist IAS to the answer standard of Shivam Singh (mentor, 7 years) · facts checked against official sources (how we verify) · updated 3 Oct 2026. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.
