Of boundary disputes and SRC: Not a dispute, an intrusion
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: April 23, 2012 -

A bridge connecting Jessami in Manipur to another village in Nagaland at the border - Pix :: TSE

Disputes over boundary or territories between two or more States within the Union of India is not something unique to Manipur, read Jessami, and Nagaland alone and at the last count, there were nearly a dozen or so inter-State disputes over boundaries.

The dispute between Karnataka and Maharastra over Belgaum or the Marathi speaking region which falls on the border areas of the two States is almost as old as the Union of India, when States were carved out or made under the Nehruvian concept of reorganising State boundaries along linguistic lines.

The positives and the negatives of such a approach is open to debate and can be pitched against administrative convenience but this is not central to this commentary. The States Reorganisation Commission set up in 1953 stuck to Nehru’s idea and hence recommended that the boundaries of the States be drawn along linguistic lines.

A small diversion may be in line here. The demand for Telengana State goes against the concept or approach of setting up States along linguistic lines for this demand has come more from a perceived or real sense of being deprived their right share in the affairs of Andhra Pradesh.

A point which underlines the thought process that creating States along linguistic lines does not necessarily reflect a logical handling of the matter at hand.

Ethnicity or language, on the other hand is central to the Gorkhaland demand and the debate is open.

And so it stands that today, despite the State Reorganisation Commission recommending that the States be set up along linguistic lines with the State Reorganisation Act following suit in 1956, nearly a dozen cases of inter-State disputes over boundary continue to cast a long shadow over some of the 28 States of the Union of India.

Apart from the dispute over Belgaum or the Marathi speaking region falling on the border areas between Maharastra and Karnataka, there is also a dispute over Kasargod district in Kerela between Karnataka and Kerela. Dispute is also on over 63 villages in Odhisa between Odhisa and Andhra Pradesh and between Odhisa and West Bengal.

Transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab had also worked up a dispute between Harayana and Punjab some years back and as things stand today, Nagaland has staked claims over 5000 square miles which fall under Assam.

The Merapani incident in which personnel of the Nagaland Armed Police were directly involved a few decades back is one case when border disputes reached the flash point, bordering on brute violence.

While it stands true that border disputes between neighbouring States in the country are not a new development, the recent incident at Jessami on the Manipur-Nagaland border in Ukhrul district is a crude reminder of how the State Government has consistently failed to respond to the situation.

This was not the first time that armed persons from the neighbouring State had entered the territory of Manipur and pounded on the hapless villagers at Jessami and it will not be the last either.

The last time such an intrusion was reported, the State Government had opened an IRB post at the border village, but for reasons which have not been spelt out at all, the IRB post has been removed, leaving the hapless villagers to fend for their own self.

A case of the State Government abdicating its obligations and duties towards its citizens, nothing less.

On the other hand it stands true that it is not the police which can and should settle the issue for there is something called the civil administration, but the logic of leaving the border literally unguarded, especially when the past tells many a significant story is inexplicable.

The dispute will continue and while the truce pact inked on April 21 is welcome, it cannot be the final solution. What is stopping the State Government from taking the matter to the Supreme Court or referring to the boundaries mapped out by the State Reorganisation Commission ?

It is not only Jessami which is under dispute with Nagaland but also Tungjoy in Senapati district in the north. There may be many who may hold that ‘dispute’ is a misnomer for it is apparent that what has been happening at these two border areas is more a case of intrusion than anything else.

One cannot change one's neighbour, that is true, but this does not mean that these cases of intrusion should be looked on benignly, like an indulgent elder brother bemused by the antics of the youngsters.