Security in districts like Kishanganj does not begin at the border outpost. It begins in schools that work, on roads that connect villages to markets, and in communities where young people have a realistic future that does not involve working for the networks that prey on marginalisation. That is not idealism. It is operational logic.

Kishanganj ranks among the most underdeveloped districts in Bihar. It appears on the Niti Aayog’s Aspirational Districts list, a designation that documents substantial deficits in health outcomes, education access, and economic opportunity. Those deficits are not just social problems. In a district positioned at a tri-junction with Bangladesh and Nepal, they are security vulnerabilities with direct operational consequences.

The connection is well-documented. UNODC’s research has consistently found that economic marginalisation creates the conditions criminal and extremist networks exploit for recruitment — not usually through ideology, but through economic........

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