Central idea

Ahave had a long-standing border dispute over 123 villages that are located in 12 districts of Arunachal and 8 districts of Assam.
On April 21, 2022, an MoU was signed between the two states to resolve the dispute.

Genesis of the dispute

The border dispute between Arunachal Pradesh and Assam has around 1,200 points of conflict along their 804 km boundary, which began in the 1970s and intensified in the 1990s.
The issue goes back to 1873 when the British government introduced the inner-line permit, vaguely separating the plains from the frontier hills.
In 1954, the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) was formed, and 3,648 sq. km of the “plain” area of Balipara and Sadiya foothills was transferred to the Darrang and Lakhimpur districts of Assam based on the 1951 report.
Arunachal has been celebrating its statehood with an eye on China since 1987, and its people living in the transferred patches have been resentful, claiming that the transfer was done arbitrarily.
However, their counterparts in Assam say the 1951 demarcation is constitutional and legal.

Past efforts to resolve the border issue

Several efforts were made in the past to resolve the border dispute between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
In 1979, a high-powered tripartite committee was constituted to delineate the boundary, and around 489 km of the 800 km were demarcated by 1983-84.
Further demarcation could not take place because Arunachal Pradesh did not accept the recommendations.
The apex court appointed a local boundary commission in 2006 to resolve the dispute. However, nothing came of it.

Process leading up to the signing of the MoU

Assam CM and Arunachal CM commenced CM-level talks over the border issue on January 24, 2022.
In their second meeting on April 20, 2022, they made key decisions.
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.
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.
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.

Extent to which the issue has been resolved

The MoU has resolved the dispute over 34 villages.
The village boundaries of 49 of the remaining villages are unresolved.
The MoU states that in these, the Regional Committees will finalize the boundaries within a period of six months “through continuous dialogue.”

Assam- Arunachal Pradesh Border Dispute