The Concept of Border Though used interchangeably with words like 'boundary' and frontier', the term 'border' has a specific connotation. In simple terms, a 'border' is the official line separating two countries, provinces, or areas that a particular governing body control. In the international arena, borders place the states within a sovereign frame defining the extent of a state's power. Respecting sovereign borders, therefore, is tantamount to recognizing the sovereignty of a particular

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... . In terms of physicality, borders are generally classified into two: Hard (fenced and guarded); and Soft (regulated but open or unregulated) borders or in other words 'thick' and 'thin' borders. As, Borders are considered as an outer membrane of a state which protects the territory the border management entails facilitating the legitimate cross-border flows of people and trade while concurrently preventing the entry of persons of goods who/ which pose a threat to the home territories or population. Border management hence has to strike a fine balance between keeping the borders open for the legitimate flow of travel and commerce and closing them to potential threats. It is imperative that effective border management requires a precise conception of what constitutes a legitimate crossing and what is an irregular crossing and therefore a threat. Almost all countries at present have to grapple with a combination of threats and challenges along their borders, which include illegal, migration, drug and human trafficking, gun running, smuggling of commodities and cross border terrorism. Dealing with such threats apparently, borders signify simultaneous inclusion and exclusion, in the sense of what / who belongs to us and what /who does not. A well developed and well-guarded borders are generally inviolable and in keeping with the maxim: 'Developed borders are secured borders'. States undertake border development programmes motivated principally for this reason. It is realized that unlike the 'security approach' that is mostly centralized, militarized, and top-down, the 'development approach' is inherently