Why in news?

• Recently, Chief Ministers of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh signed an MoU over disputed areas along the roughly 800-km shared boundary.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border dispute (about, history, bone of contention, stand of Arunachal Pradesh, Effort to demarcate the boundary, legal battle, flash points, road ahead)

Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border dispute

• Arunachal Pradesh, which was earlier a part of Assam, shares a boundary of roughly 800 km with the state.
• Dispute between the two states came to the fore after the establishment of Arunachal Pradesh as a Union Territory in 1972.
• The dispute in question is over 123 villages that stretch across 12 districts of Arunachal Pradesh and eight of Assam.
• The process of demarcation of the boundary between Assam and Arunachal started in 1972 and by 1979, 396 km of the boundary was demarcated.
  • However, a number of anomalies and disputes regarding the border surfaced during the survey.
  • As a result, the process of demarcation had to be suspended.

Background of the dispute

• The origin of this dispute dates back to colonial times, when the British in 1873 announced the inner line regulation.
  • This regulation demarcated an imaginary boundary between plains and the frontier hills.
  • This was later designated as the North East Frontier Tracts in 1915, which corresponds to the area that makes up present-day Arunachal Pradesh.
• After Independence, the Assam government assumed administrative jurisdiction over the North East Frontier Tracts.
  • Later, it became the North East Frontier Agency (NEFA) in 1954, and finally, the Union Territory (UT) of Arunachal Pradesh in 1972. It gained statehood in 1987.

Bone of contention

• Before Arunachal Pradesh was carved out of Assam, a sub-committee headed by then Assam chief minister Gopinath Bordoloi submitted a report in 1951.
  • The report made some recommendations in relation to the administration of NEFA (under Assam).
• Based on this report, around 3,648 sq km of the plain area of Balipara and Sadiya foothills was transferred from Arunachal Pradesh (then NEFA) to Assam’s then Darrang and Lakhimpur districts.
• This remains the bone of contention as Arunachal Pradesh refuses to accept this notification as the basis of demarcation.

Stand of Arunachal Pradesh

• Arunachal Pradesh has long held that the transfer was done without the consultation of its people.
  • It was arbitrary, defective, and no tribal leader from Arunachal Pradesh was consulted before the land was transferred.
• Arunachal had customary rights over these lands, considering the tribes living there would pay taxes to Ahom rulers.
  • After Arunachal Pradesh achieved statehood in 1987, a tripartite committee was appointed.
  • It recommended that certain territories be transferred from Assam to Arunachal. Assam contested this and the matter is in the Supreme Court.

Efforts at demarcation

• Between 1971 and 1974, there were multiple efforts to demarcate the boundary but it did not work out.
• In April 1979, a high-powered tripartite committee was constituted to delineate the boundary on the basis of Survey of India maps.
• By 1983-84, out of the 800 km, 489 km, mostly in the north bank of the Brahmaputra, were demarcated.
  • However, further demarcation could not commence because Arunachal Pradesh did not accept the recommendations.
• Formal talks over the issue had begun between CMs of both the states in January 2022.
• Following their second meeting in April 2022, it was resolved to set up 12 district-level committees to undertake joint surveys in the disputed areas to find the solution.

Legal Battle

• After Arunachal Pradesh did not accept the recommendations, Assam filed a case in the Supreme Court in 1989, highlighting an “encroachment” made by Arunachal Pradesh.
• 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 and it was suggested that both states should arrive at a consensus through discussions. However, nothing came of it.

News Summary

• An MoU, aimed at resolving the boundary dispute between Assam and Arunachal Pradehs, was signed by Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Arunachal Pradesh counterpart Pema Khandu in the presence of Union Home Minister.

Key highlights of the MoU

• As per this MoU, disputes over 34 of these villages stand resolved.
  • The disputes over 37 villages had been resolved through the Namsai Declaration of July 2022.
• The state governments agree that no new claim area or village will be added in future beyond these 123 villages.
• Both governments also agreed to effectively prevent any new encroachment in the border areas.