NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has ordered the ITBP that guards the LAC between China and India its troops must learn Mandarin, the official language of China spoken by 70% of its population.
In a circular to the ITBP controlled by the MHA, the force has been asked to improve the language skills of its troops for better communication with their Chinese counterparts and also monitor their moves by observing what they talk.
The Mussoorie training academy has been directed to work out an advanced course in Mandarin. "Every officer and jawan of ITBP will have to complete the course in Mandarin, which includes basic learning and refresher course, before their posting on the China border,” the MHA sources said. —Our Bureau
They said the MHA has also written to the Defence Ministry to impart training in the Chinese language to the Army officers at the Army Educational Corps Training College and Centre at Pachmarhi in Madhya Pradesh. The Army has already dispatched to the LAC some of the officers trained in Pachmarhi with the fluency in Mandarin. The home ministry has also approached the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) here to depute some experts in the language to the ITBP, the sources added.
