Context:The Darbuk-Shyok-Daulat Beg Oldie (DSDBO) road has been in the making for around two decades and is expected to be completed by 2020.
Key Points

• The road from Darbuk traverses at an altitude of 14,000 feet and reaches Shyok, the last Indian village in the region.
• Between Shyok and Karakoram Pass (that divides Ladakh from China’s Xinjiang province) lies Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO).
• From the DSDBO road, a road branches off towards Galwan Valley, a hill feature, which India wants to protect because it overlooks the area around the main road. The branch road has prompted the stand-off in Galwan Valley.

Significance

• Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO) is a historic campsite and current military base located on an ancient trade route connecting Ladakh to the Tarim Basin.
• DBO is on a plateau at an altitude of over 16,000 feet and is the location of an Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) used by the air force to drop supplies.
• DBO is India’s northernmost corner, which in army parlance is called Sub-Sector North, and building a road till here has been of vital importance to India.
• DBO is located only 9 km away from the Line of Actual Control with China and the road will help manage the border and the areas adjoining Aksai Chin, Chip Chap River and Jiwan Nalla.
• It will also ensure faster deployment of troops in the area. Before the laying of the road, the only way to reach the area was via the ALG, where heavy-lift aircraft, such as the C-130J, can land.
• It is named after Sultan Said Khan (Daulat Beg), who died here on his return journey after the invasion of Ladakh and Kashmir.

Road Ahead

• In the Wuhan (2018) and Mahabalipuram (2019) summits, both India and China had reaffirmed that they would make efforts to ensure peace and tranquillity in the border areas.
• On 1st April 2020, India and China completed their 70 years of diplomatic relations. Both countries have resolved border issues peacefully in the past four decades which gives them hope that the tensions will subside soon.
• India and China are amongst the largest economies, demography, markets and militaries of the world. Therefore, it is in the interests of both the countries to align their energies for the growth and development of their people, region and global peace.