Villages along borderland areas play a crucial role in multiple strategic interests for a country. Apart from being the eyes and ears of border guarding forces, people living in border villages also play a vital role in cross-border trade and commerce. The launch of the second phase of the Vibrant Village Programme (VVP) by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Assam on Friday brought strategic border villages located in the blocks abutting international land borders in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, Bihar, Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh (UT), Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. The first phase of the VVP covered 46 blocks abutting the northern border in 19 districts in Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand and the UT of Ladakh. The VVP marks a strategic shift in approach of the central government towards border villages when it was launched in 2023. The Union Home Minister highlighted in his speech that the core objective of the centrally sponsored scheme is to make border villages the first villages of the country in respect of all development indices as envisaged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and stop viewing those as the last villages of the country, which is a pragmatic approach. The nomenclature of the scheme also conveys the new perspective, as the past nomenclature of a similar scheme - the Border Area Development Programme - had the perspective of looking at the development of these villages as part of border area development. The new scheme does not just envisage development of the border villages but also makes them vibrant with improved connectivity and quality health and education to ensure sustainable development. If villages along the international border remain underdeveloped and trigger an exodus of people, then they become safe havens for transborder criminals for illicit drug trafficking, smuggling, gun-running rackets and other transborder crimes. The objective of VVP is to create better living conditions and adequate livelihood opportunities to ensure prosperous and safe borders, control trans-border crime and assimilate the border population with the nation and inculcate them 'as eyes and ears of the border guarding forces', which the scheme document rightly describes to be crucial for internal security. It aims to saturate all villages in such blocks in four thematic areas, namely all-weather road connectivity, telecom connectivity, television connectivity and electrification through convergence under existing scheme norms. Lessons must be learnt from the failures in the implementation of BADP, especially in the northeast region, so that border villages can be transformed into first villages in the true sense at an accelerated pace. Due to poor implementation of the BADP, outmigration of people from border villages in Arunachal Pradesh could not be checked, and the thinning of population in such strategic border areas along India-China international borders raised security concerns. The Comptroller and Auditor General detected critical lapses in BADP implementation, such as doubtful and wasteful expenditures, violation of scheme guidelines and long delays in release of funds, etc. It is reassuring to know that migrant populations have started returning to their border villages in some of the border districts in Arunachal Pradesh during the first phase of VVP. Border villages in the region have huge tourism potential, as most of the areas are unexplored even though they have beautiful landscapes and colourful life. Ecotourism with homestay models can create sustainable livelihood avenues in these border villages once these are saturated with all-weather roads and fast internet connectivity. It was a lack of basic amenities in the border villages that triggered outmigration. Availability of quality and affordable healthcare services is also essential to reduce out-of-pocket expenditure of people living in border areas. Efficient planning, capacity building for various line departments in the implementation of scheme components, timely submission of utilisation certificates, and smooth fund flow are vital to addressing gaps in VVP implementation. These requirements call for strengthening the monitoring and evaluation system. The creation of the infrastructure needs to be followed up with skill development so that people living in these villages can leverage the assets created to innovate sustainable business models to augment their household income. Border villages having quality educational institutions is essential to check outmigration of students and youth. High-speed internet connectivity can facilitate smart classrooms and empower students and teachers in border villages to access global standard teaching and learning materials online. When students and youth are equipped with knowledge and skills, they can innovate ideas to unlock economic potential in their villages and play a crucial role in the transformation of their villages into model growth centres. It is in this context that the perspective of VVP to transform border villages from last villages to first villages in all respects has great potential to create a positive outlook among people in border villages, especially among youth. For the northeast region, developing border areas is critical to strengthening cross-border trade and commerce with friendly neighbouring countries.