The recent disclosure by Assam’s Border Protection and Development Minister Atul Bora that nearly 83,000 hectares of Assam’s land are under the control of neighboring states once again exposes the chronic failure of proper border demarcation in the Northeast. According to the Assam Minister, Nagaland alone accounts for 59,490.21 hectares, the largest share of the so-called encroachments, highlighting how deeply unresolved these disputes remain even decades after statehood was granted.
What cannot be ignored is the glaring fact that Assam shares border disputes with every single neighboring state. If all its neighboring states are allegedly encroaching, one must ask: Were the state boundaries ever clearly and fairly defined? When Nagaland state was carved out of Assam in 1963, were these critical matters of demarcation addressed with finality, or were they conveniently left to fester, knowing well the ethnic, historical, and political sensitivities involved?
Adding further complexity is the Nagaland Legislative Assembly’s long-standing series of resolutions advocating for the integration of all “contiguous Naga-inhabited areas”—many of which lie within Assam. If Nagaland is actively seeking integration of areas it considers ancestrally Naga, how does that square with allegations of encroachment? And where does that leave the question of Assam’s territorial integrity?
The silence from the central government over the decades has only allowed these disputes to harden. The ongoing numbers game over hectares of land will serve no purpose unless there is a sincere political will to address historical grievances, review outdated agreements, and bring all stakeholders to the table.
For the people living along these disputed borders, these unresolved issues translate into daily insecurity, lack of development, and communal tensions. After 60 years of statehood for Nagaland, perhaps the time has come to question not only the neighbors but also the architects of these fragile borders.