Arunachal Pradesh, Assam: boundary issues

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YEAR-WISE DEVELOPMENTS

2023: an accord

Sukrita Baruah , Tora Agarwala, April 21, 2023: The Indian Express

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Arunachal Pradesh counterpart Pema Khandu signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) over the long-standing border dispute between the two states, a development Home Minister Amit Shah described as a “historic occasion”.

The two states share a roughly 800-kilometre long border and the disputed areas the MoU deals with are 123 border villages, which span 12 districts of Arunachal Pradesh and 8 districts of Assam.

How old is the border dispute between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh?

Before North East Frontier Agency or NEFA (former name of what is now Arunachal Pradesh) was carved out of Assam in 1954, a sub-committee headed by then Assam Chief Minister Gopinath Bordoloi had made a set of recommendations in relation to the administration of NEFA and submitted a report in 1951. In line with the recommendations of this report, around 3,648 kilometres of the “plain” area of Balipara and Sadiya foothills were transferred from NEFA to Assam’s then Darrang and Lakhimpur districts.

When Arunachal was made a Union Territory in 1972, it contended that several forested tracts in the plains that had traditionally belonged to hill tribal chiefs and communities were unilaterally transferred to Assam.

What were past efforts to resolve this issue?

In April 1979, a high-powered tripartite committee was constituted to delineate the boundary on the basis of Survey of India maps, as well as discussions with both sides. While around 489 km of the 800 km were demarcated by 1983-84, futher demarcation could not take place because Arunachal did not accept the recommendations and claimed several kilometres of the 3,648 sq km, which was transferred to Assam in line with the 1951 report.

Assam objected to this and filed a case in the Supreme Court in 1989, highlighting an “encroachment” made by Arunachal Pradesh.

To resolve the dispute between the states, the apex court appointed a local boundary commission in 2006, headed by a retired SC judge. In September 2014, the local commission submitted its report. Several recommendations were made (some of which suggested Arunachal Pradesh get back some of the territory which was transferred in 1951), and it was suggested that both states should arrive at a consensus through discussions. However, nothing came of it.

What was the process leading up to this MoU?

Assam CM Sarma and Arunachal CM Khandu commenced CM-level talks over this border issue on January 24, 2022. In their second meeting on April 20, 2022, they made some key decisions. The first was that the border issues between both the states would be confined to a list of 123 villages which Arunachal Pradesh had claimed before the Local Commission in 2007.

The second was that a boundary line delineated by the high powered tripartite committee in 1980 would be taken as the notified boundary and all realignment would be done in relation to it.

The third decision laid down how this resolution would take place. It was decided that both states would set up 12 regional committees covering the 12 districts of Arunachal Pradesh and the 8 counterpart districts of Assam for joint verification of the 123 villages. The committees were to make recommendations keeping in view “historical perspective, administrative convenience, contiguity and people’s will”.

To what extent has the issue been resolved?

The dispute over 37 of these 123 villages had been resolved on July 15, 2022, itself with the signing of the Namsai Declaration between the both CMs, where they “agreed in principle” over them. This effectively reduced the number of disputes to be resolved to 86.

Through the MoU, the dispute over another 34 villages has been “amicably resolved”.

Of the 71 villages over which an understanding has been reached, the following has been decided:

• One village in Arunachal Pradesh as per the notified boundary will be included in Assam

• 10 villages in Assam as per the notified boundary will remain with Assam

• 60 villages in Assam as per the notified boundary will be included in Arunachal Pradesh

The village boundaries of 49 of the remaining villages are unresolved, and the MoU states that in these the Regional Committees will finalize the boundaries within a period of six months “through continuous dialogue”.

Another three villages are located partially within the Indian Air Force’s bombing area in Dullong. The MoU states that the matter regarding these three villages will be taken up by Arunachal Pradesh with the Government of India and the Indian Air Force.

According to the MoU, both the state governments agree that no new claim area or village will be added in the future beyond these 123 villages. It also states that both the state governments “agree to effectively prevent any new encroachment in the border areas” and that they agree that the MoU is “full and final” in respect to the 123 villages.