North East Boundary Issues – UPSC GS3

Four out of six neighbours of Assam were carved out of Assam between 1963 and 1972. The boundary lines were drawn hurriedly and casually by the civil servants, just like the approach adopted by Radcliffe in demarcating the India-Pakistan border. This is why such intense border issues do not fester between Assam, Tripura, and Manipur as those two were already territorial entities by themselves and not created by dividing Assam.

There is the existence of a smaller state syndrome in 4 states. They believe that their culture, identity, and ethnicity are being subjugated by Assam, the bigger state. It is the same reason which makes Pakistan anxious about India’s policy.

Central government is trying too hard to integrate the Northeast region as one single monolith. This has awakened sleeping regionalism, as every state has a unique culture and diversity of its own. Setting up an organization like the NEDA (Northeast Demo­cr­atic Alliance) by the ruling party also tries to impose homogeneity over the diverse region. Such an integrationist approach also defeats the rationale behind the creation of smaller  Northeast states. They were created to address their insecurities about being overwhelmed by outsiders and losing their identity

Boundary division in colonial times was done to serve the commercial interests of the British. While post-independence, it was more focused on administrative convenience. Thus, in both scenarios, the tribal rights were not given much respect while undertaking the demarcation exercise.

There is a tussle between adherence to the constitutional boundary versus obedience to the cultural boundary. The people of new states like Mizoram, Meghalaya (which have been carved out of Assam) show greater respect to cultural boundaries. For the tribes of the North Eastern states, the word ‘country’ is restricted to their respective homelands. A nation is a place where they are free to live the way their ancestors lived. However, Assam is tilted towards the constitutional boundaries, which gives it more control over forest regions that have been historically under the control of tribals.

State and centre governments have failed to focus on long-lasting solutions. In the past, Assam had inflicted economic blockades on Mizoram and Nagaland after every border tussle. No central government has taken these border disputes seriously and tried to resolve them.