State of Affairs | Assam–Arunachal Pradesh Border Dispute | Shankar IAS Academy | UPSC | Mains 2026

Duration: 9:01 1411 transcript words EN summary

Video summary

On August 10th, a violent clash erupted between villages in the border regions of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, leaving nearly 18 people injured and four in critical condition. This incident has reignited the long-standing dispute over the boundary between these two states, which share approximately 800 kilometers of border. The conflict primarily centers on the Lower Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh and the Dhemaji district of Assam, where roughly 50 villages remain in a disputed status despite decades of diplomatic efforts. To understand the root of this issue, one must look back to the British era when the region was administered as the North-Eastern Frontier Agency (NEFA) until 1947, after which it came under the administration of India's Ministry of External Affairs until 1962. Following the Indo-China war in 1962, administrative control shifted to the Ministry of Home Affairs, with the Governor of Assam acting as the central government's representative for the region. The historical friction intensified in the 1950s when the Assam Chief Minister, Gopinath Bordoloi, formed a committee known as the Bordoloi Committee to demarcate boundaries. Based on its recommendations, certain areas of the NEFA were transferred to Assam, a move that Arunachal Pradesh later contested once it gained Union Territory status in 1972 and full statehood in 1987. The state argued that these transfers were unilateral and violated its territorial integrity. Consequently, a tripartite committee was appointed in 1979, which managed to demarcate about 489 kilometers of the boundary between 1983 and 1984, leaving roughly 300 kilometers undemarcated due to a lack of cooperation. Although further negotiations led to the Namasai Declaration in 2022 and a Memorandum of Understanding in 2023, which reduced the number of disputed villages from 123 to just 49, significant portions of the border remain unresolved, keeping the Lower Siang-Dhemaji region as a flashpoint for tension. To address such inter-state disputes, India employs a combination of constitutional, legal, and political mechanisms. Constitutionally, Article 131 grants the Supreme Court exclusive jurisdiction over disputes between states, while Article 263 establishes the Inter-State Council to facilitate dialogue between the center and states. Additionally, the State Reorganization Act of 1956 provides for Zonal Councils where administrative and boundary issues can be resolved. Beyond these legal frameworks, political solutions are often pursued through bilateral dialogues at the Chief Minister level, as seen in the successful talks that led to recent declarations. Other tools include appointing ad hoc boundary commissions with expert assistance and utilizing parliamentary legislation to create or reorganize states, as was done when Arunachal Pradesh was carved out of the NEFA. Despite these robust mechanisms, the persistence of the dispute highlights the necessity for sustained cooperation between the two states to achieve a lasting resolution.

Read the full video transcript

[music] >> On 10th August, the Arunachal Pradesh Assam border villages witnessed a violent clash. And in this incident, nearly 18 people were injured and four of them were in critical condition. And followed by this violent clash, the Arunachal Pradesh Assam border dispute has once again become a major topic of discussion in India. Hi. Hello, everyone. Welcome to the street of affairs 45 Shankar IAS Academy. Today, we are going to talk about Arunachal Pradesh Assam border dispute. So, the actual incident took place in the border villages of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. That is exactly between the Lower Siang district and the Dhemaji district of Assam. So, the Lower Siang district, it is Arunachal Pradesh and the Dhemaji district is located in Assam. So, what is the actual issue between the Arunachal Pradesh and Assam? To understand this, we have to go back in time. So, you can see that this is a map of northeast part of India, right? And you can see Assam is the state that shares nearly 800 km of boundary with the the state of Arunachal Pradesh. And before 1972, before 1972, the Arunachal Pradesh all these regions were known as Northeast Frontier Agency. The Arunachal Pradesh was later carved out from this Northeast Frontier Agency. So, the Northeast Frontier Agency was established by the British government in 1914. And in 1972, Arunachal Pradesh got the Union Territory status. And in 1987, Arunachal Pradesh became a state. So, note these dates. It is very important to understand this issue. So, the British established the North-Eastern Frontier Agency in 1914, and they were administering this region until 1947, that is until the independence. And once we got independence, the Ministry of External Affairs was uh administering this North-Eastern Frontier Agency until 1962. Until 1962, the Ministry of External Affairs was responsible for administering the North-Eastern Frontier Agency. And what is the significance of 1962? India-China war, right? So, after this India-China war, the administration went to the Ministry of Home Affairs. So, the administration went to the Ministry of Home Affairs. And the administrative representative of the Ministry of Home Affairs was the Governor of Assam. The Governor of Assam was the administrative uh representative of the Ministry of Home Affairs. That means that the the Governor of Assam will be representing the central government regarding the administration of the North-Eastern Frontier Agency. And we can see that in 1950, before that, in 1950s, the Assam Chief Minister, they formed a committee called Bordoloi Committee. So, the the Bordoloi Committee, the name comes the name comes from the Assam Chief Minister name, that is Gopinath Bordoloi. He was a former Assam Chief Minister. So, under his chairmanship, a committee was formed to demarcate the boundary in this region. To demarcate the boundary in this region. And based on the Bordoloi Committee's recommendation, certain regions of the North-Eastern Frontier Agency was also included into the state of Assam. And when the Arunachal Pradesh got the Union Territory status in 1972, Arunachal Pradesh raised this issue. Arunachal Pradesh said that some of our regions were transferred to the state of Assam based on the unilateral recommendations of the Bordoloi Committee. And we can see that uh in the the dispute starts there and in 1979 a tripartite committee was appointed to demarcate the boundary in this region. And between 1983 and 1984, approximately 489 km of boundary out of total 800 km was demarcated. Remaining 300 km plus was not demarcated because of the limited cooperation between the Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. And we can see that even today nearly 50 plus villages are in the disputed region. And we can see that between 1984 and 1989, that is exactly in 1987, the state of Arunachal Pradesh was formed under the Arunachal Pradesh Act. So under the Arunachal Pradesh Act, the the statehood was given to the Union Territory of Arunachal Pradesh and now the Arunachal Pradesh is a state. And Arunachal Pradesh continued to raise this issue. And we can see that in 1989, the government of Assam went to the Supreme Court seeking a solution to this Arunachal Pradesh-Assam border dispute. And in 2006, a local boundary commission was appointed under the chairmanship of a retired Supreme Court judge. And we can see that in 2014, the commission submitted its report. And this commission suggested possibility of returning certain regions back to Arunachal Pradesh and also called for a stronger cooperation between Arunachal Pradesh and Assam to sort out this issue. And in 2022, Chief Minister level negotiations were started between the Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. And until 2022, we can see that nearly 123 villages were in the disputed situation. And followed by this followed by the CM level negotiation, a declaration called Namasai Declaration was signed between Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. And the dispute related to nearly 37 villages were, I know, settled and the number of the villages in the disputed region got reduced to 86. And in the in the April month of 2023, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the Arunachal Pradesh and Assam to further to seeking to to resolve this issue. And we we can see that you know the currently the disputed villagers number number once again go to reduce to 15 you know 49. So we can see that you know now the the number of villagers in the disputed region got reduced, but even today many villagers are remaining in the disputed area and many regions are still remaining undemarcated and this Lower Siang Dhemaji region is one of them. And uh So we can see this conflict is still going on. It is still persisting. So and at the same time without the cooperation between the Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, bringing a sustained solution for this problem is not possible. But as of now, let us see what are the mechanisms that we have at present situation to deal with the such a similar crisis. So we can broadly divide the mechanism into two. First is constitutional and legal mechanism and second is political and administrative mechanism. So under the constitution, that is under the article three sorry 131 of the Indian constitution, the Supreme Court has exclusive and original jurisdiction to deal with the inter-state disputes. And the next is we have the article 263 where we have the provision for the inter-state council. So the inter-state council is a I know it's a platform for center-state dialogue and maybe the states can approach this and through the central government they can sort out this issue. And next under the act that is the State Reorganization Act of 1956, we have the zonal council. So here the inter-state disputes, administrative problems, boundary issues, all these issues can be resolved. So these are the constitutional and legal mechanisms that we have currently to resolve the inter state dispute related to boundary or any administration. And the next is the political and administrative tools. So here we can go for bilateral dialogue. For example, the CM level talks that have started in 2022. And we can see that the CM level talks was more effective because that led to, you know, Namasai declaration and also a memorandum of understanding in the followed year. So see a bilateral dialogue between the chief ministers or ministers or higher authorities can sort out this issue. And second is appointing ad hoc committees or ad hoc boundary commission to sort out this issue and with the the support of the with the assistance of experts. And the next is parliamentary legislation. So the parliament of India can demarcate the the boundary, uh, you know, for example, they granted the statehood to the Arunachal Pradesh, right? They created the state of Arunachal Pradesh from the North Eastern Frontier Agency. So such a similar actions can be taken by the parliament of India after detailed study through a legislation. So these are the mechanisms that we have in the present situation or in the present system to deal with the such a problem. So I hope you understood this topic. And if you like the video, hit the like button, give your feedback as comments and share this content with your friends. And before leaving this channel, don't forget to subscribe. Thanks for watching. We will meet you in another episode with another interesting topic. Thanks again. >> [music]