The Republic of India is contaminated with mines, mainly as a result of large-scale mine-laying by government forces on and near the Line of Control (LoC) separating India and Pakistan during the 1971 war and the 2001–2002 stand-off between the two states. Antipersonnel and antivehicle mines were laid on cultivated land and pasture, as well as around infrastructure and a number of villages.

Despite occasional official claims that all the mines laid were subsequently cleared, reports of contamination and casualties have continued. A media report in November 2013 cited a government statement that about 20km² of irrigated land was still mined in the Akhnoor sector of the LoC alone.[1] Security forces also report extensive use of mines by Maoist insurgents in the northeastern states of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand, although mine types are not specified and may include command-detonated as well as victim-activated explosive devices.[2]

In June 2016, India’s NDTV news reported that the Indian army was demining areas of the LoC in Rajouri district, Kashmir in order to return land to communities for agricultural use as it vacated fields near to the border, which were reportedly taken over and mined during the Kargil Conflict in 1999 and Operation Parakaram in 2001. A commanding officer was quoted as saying that “we are clearing (mines) to avoid any accidents” and that “[t]hese mines are very old—sometimes they are not in the records also.”[3]

In 2015, four people were killed and three injured by mines and other explosive remnants of war. (See the Casualties and Victim Assistance country profile for further details.)

Program Management 

India has no civilian mine action program. 

Land Release

There is no publicly available information on land release in 2015. The Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for clearing mines as well as improvised explosive devices (IEDs) placed by non-state armed groups.[4] Media reports have indicated police also play an active part in clearing mines and improvised explosive devices on an ad hoc basis in states dealing with insurgency.