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[edit] A backgrounder

[edit] As in 2022

Nov 24, 2022: The Indian Express

What is the border dispute?

Assam and Meghalaya have a longstanding dispute in 12 stretches of their 884-km shared border. The two states had signed a pact in March resolving the dispute in six out of 12 areas. In August, they decided to form regional committees. The second round of discussions for the remaining six phases was to commence by the end of this month..

The Assam-Meghalaya pact was seen as a major achievement, as Assam’s border disputes with other states in the Northeast have remained unresolved despite multiple rounds of talks. Now, the firing threatens to derail the upcoming talks.

During the British rule, undivided Assam included present-day Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Mizoram. Meghalaya was carved out in 1972, its boundaries demarcated as per the Assam Reorganisation (Meghalaya) Act of 1969, but has held a different interpretation of the border since.

In 2011, the Meghalaya government had identified 12 areas of difference with Assam, spread over approximately 2,700 sq km.

As reported earlier by The Indian Express, some of these disputes stem from recommendations made by a 1951 committee headed by then Assam chief minister Gopinath Bordoloi.

For example, a 2008 research paper from the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses refers to the Bordoloi Committee’s recommendation that Blocks I and II of Jaintia Hills (Meghalaya) be transferred to the Mikir Hill (Karbi Anglong) district of Assam, besides some areas from Meghalaya’s Garo Hills to Goalpara district of Assam. The 1969 Act is based on these recommendations, which Meghalaya rejects, claiming these areas originally belong to the Khasi–Jaintia Hills. On the other hand, Assam says Meghalaya does not have the requisite documents to prove these areas historically belonged to Meghalaya.

A number of attempts had been made in the past to resolve the boundary dispute. In 1985, under then Assam chief minister Hiteswar Saikia and Meghalaya chief minister Captain W A Sangma, an official committee was constituted under the former Chief Justice of India Y V Chandrachud. However, a solution was not found.

From July 2021, Sangma and his Assam counterpart, Himanta Biswa Sarma, held several round of talks to make some headway.

Both state governments identified six out of 12 disputed areas for resolution in the first phase: three areas contested between West Khasi Hills district in Meghalaya and Kamrup in Assam, two between RiBhoi in Meghalaya and Kamrup-Metro, and one between East Jaintia Hills in Meghalaya and Cachar in Assam.

After a series of meetings and visits by teams to the disputed areas, both sides submitted reports based on five mutually agreed principles: historical perspective, ethnicity of local population, contiguity with boundary, peoples’ will and administrative convenience.

A final set of recommendations were made jointly: out of 36.79 sq km of disputed area taken up for settlement in the first phase, Assam would get full control of 18.46 sq km and Meghalaya of 18.33 sq km. In March, an MoU was signed based on these recommendations.

[edit] YEAR-WISE DEVELOPMENTS

[edit] 2021

[edit] Assam cattle Act

Manosh Das, Sep 15, 2021: The Times of India

Meghalaya legislators voiced their concern in the assembly over the Assam Preservation of Cattle Act, which has put restrictions on the movement of cattle to the state, where beef is staple diet and a cheap source of protein.

However, chief minister Conrad K Sangma told the House that the Meghalaya government had taken up the matter relating to transport of cattle to the state through Assam and that his counterpart has assured that all documents required by traders would be from Meghalaya.

Sangma said during his recent meeting with Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma regarding the interstate boundary issue, the matter relating to transport of cattle had also come up and that there was “in principle agreement that all papers will be done from the Meghalaya side, but there is a bit of nonclarity”, which, he said was being be sorted out.

The Assam government has been requested to ensure hassle-free passage for cattle to Meghalaya, he said, adding that the department of animal husbandry and veterinary is in the process of creating an administrative system to ensure legitimate import of cattle from outside the state and also check smuggling.

[edit] 2022

[edit] 2022: Assam, Meghalaya sign pact to end 50-year dispute

March 30, 2022: The Times of India

New Delhi/Guwahati: Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Meghalaya counterpart Conrad K Sangma signed an agreement in the presence of Union home minister Amit Shah in New Delhi, settling six of the 12 areas of differences in the 50-year-old inter-state boundary dispute.


Shah described the accord that saw Assam making concessions it had refused so far as “another milestone in the fulfilment of PM Modi’s vision of a peaceful and prosperous northeast”. He praised Assam’s “large heartedness” for facilitating the pact.

According to the settlement formula, both states will divide the disputed area of about 36 sq km, covering the six points of differences, in almost equal parts between them.

[edit] People will get to pick state of choice

Prabin Kalita, March 30, 2022: The Times of India

Guwahati:The partial resolution of the five-decade-old Assam-Meghalaya border dispute on Tuesday was the culmination of a unique exercise that gave people living in the six disputed areas with dual voter cards the freedom to choose which state they wanted to be part of. 
Although Meghalaya was carved out of Assam in 1972, the demarcation of the boundary between the neighbours has remained vague all these years, perpetuating the tussle for territory, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said after inking the agreement with his counterpart Conrad Sangma. 
Many voters in Boko assembly constituency of Assam are also registered as voters in Meghalaya’s Rambrai Jyrngam assembly constituency. Similarly, a large chunk of voters in Jirang constituency of Meghalaya are also voters in Assam’s Palasbari and West Guwahati assembly seats. 
As the border dispute dragged on, both states built infrastructure on the disputed land, benefiting people living there not just in terms of voting rights but also welfare schemes offered by either state.

The two state governments have long been asking these people to pick the state of their choice and surrender one voter card, albeit without success. A key feature of the agreement to end the dispute at Tarabari, Gizang, Hahim, Baklapara, Khanapara (Pilingkata) and Ratacherra, which straddle Cachar, Kamrup and Kamrup Metropolitan districts of Assam, and the corresponding Meghalaya districts of West Khasi Hills, Ri-Bhoi and East Jaintia Hills, is to have the residents of these areas choose one of either state.

“The will of the people was given priority, besides historical facts and maps,” Sangma said.

His Assam counterpart said the unclear demarcation of the boundary meant that asking the people where they wanted to be was the only way out. He said the agreement was finalised “with the spirit of accommodation”.

“There is now hope that we can resolve border disputes and live together. The signing of the agreement will send a strong message to our other neighbours that border disputes can be resolved,” Sarma said.