Project Report on PROBLEMS OF BORDER AREAS IN NORTH EAST INDIA : IMPLICATIONS FOR THE THIRTEENTH FINANCE COMMISSION Sponsored by : THE THIRTEENTH FINANCE COMMISSION Government of India, New Delhi Compiled & Submitted by : Prof. J.K. Gogoi Prof. H. Goswami Prof. K. C. Borah DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS DIBRUGARH UNIVERSITY DIBRUGARH 786 004 ASSAM 2009 CONTENTS Page 1. Acknowledgement 2. Consolidated Report ..... .... 3. Detailed Reports of the States (a)Arunachal Pradesh Part I ..... .... 23 Part II ..... .... 65 (b)Assam Part I ..... .... 81 Part II ..... .... 115 Part III ..... .... 151 (c)Manipur ..... .... 161 (d)Meghalaya ..... .... 197 (e)Mizoram ..... .... 247 (f) Nagaland ..... .... 289 (g)Sikkim ..... .... 313 (h)Tripura ..... .... 347 2 ` Acknowledgement We are thankful to the Thirteenth Finance Commission, Government of India, New Delhi for sponsoring the research project on the Problems of Border Areas in North East India: Implications for Thirteenth Finance Commission, and entrusting the Department of Economics, Dibrugarh University the responsibility of consolidating the reports sepa- rately prepared for different segments of border areas of the North East India by 10 uni- versities of the region including the IIT Guwahati. Professor Atul Sarma, the honourable member of the TFC has taken extraordinary care for timely comletion of the project. We are extremely grateful to him. We are also thankful to the various research teams from other Universities, includ- ing the IITG, of the North East for timely submission of the reports to us for consolidation and submission to the TFC, the sponsor. J.K.Gogoi Department of Economics Dibrugarh University 3 Consolidated Report Contents Page Introduction 5 Objectives of the Study & Methodology 6 Arunachal Pradesh 7 Assam 10 Manipur 13 Meghalaya 16 Mizoram 17 Nagaland 19 Sikkim 20 Tripura 23 PROBLEMS OF BORDER AREAS IN NORTH EAST INDIA: IMPLICATIONS FOR THIRTEENTH FINANCE COMMISSION (CONSOLIDATED REPORT) Introduction: Border areas have their own problems and peculiarities. Such areas are in general less accessible, making provision of basic facilities more difficult and costly. Such areas are often more vulnerable to illegal infiltration of population, which adds pressure on their economic and environmental resources. Moreover, porous nature of the border enables easy cross border passage for insurgents and criminals including drug traffickers. Thus, governments of the states with international border are required to bear heavier burden for not only providing basic facilities to the people living in such areas but also for the broader national goal of securing the border. The Northeast region with 99 per cent of its boundary being international border, the problems and peculiarities are even more accentuated. The region consists of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim. The region is located between latitudes 290 and 220 North and longitudes about 89.46 and 97.5/ East. The region is covering an area of 262185 sq. km, which is nearly 8 per cent of the total geographical area of the country. The region has a population of 389.84 lakh that is 3.79 per cent of the total population of India. The region has a vast coverage of forest nearly 55 per cent of the total geographical area. The States of the region are surrounded by China, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Bhutan. In fact, the region has a long international border of (5182 km), which is more than 99 percent of its total geographical boundary. These States have international border with China (1395 km), Bhutan (455 km), Myanmar (1640 km), Bangladesh (1596 km) and Nepal (97 km). On the other hand the region is connected with the mainland India through a very narrow strip of land with the width of about 22 km called ‘chicken neck’. The region is best known for its picturesque topography, cultural heritage, ethnic beauty and rich natural resources. The region has rich bio diversity, oil and natural gas, coal, limestone, hydro potential and forest wealth. Given the peculiar geo-political location, the region can develop cross-border markets, which are likely to be more cost effective for North East India’s surplus production than the distant national markets. The region is famous for its exotic flora and fauna. It is ideally situated to produce spices, fruit & vegetables, flowers and herbs. Therefore, the North East India can emerge as an exporter of orchids, flowers, apple, orange, pineapples, spices, herbs, etc. to the South East Asian Region. The vast array of aromatic plants of the region can be used in aromatic industry for the manufacture of perfumes, incenses, etc. Rich bio-diversity, heritage sites & ethnic beauty can make it a destination for the tourists. Several big & small rivers flowing across this region are suitable to construct hydro projects to generate electricity. Moreover, owing to climatic advantage the region can also be a major producer and exporter of tea. In spite of resourcefulness the entire region is regarded as underdeveloped. The remoteness, difficult terrain, infrastructural bottlenecks and unfriendly neighbors are the serious impediments of the development of the region. Being a border area, the region is suffering from specific problems like illegal cross-border movements, law and order, security, insurgency, smuggling etc. In this age of globalization and increased international cooperation, however, border areas also signify some new opportunities. Such opportunities are believed to be immense for Northeast 1 India due to its geographical proximity to the prosperous East and Southeast Asian economies. However preparing the region to exploit such opportunities also first requires investment in the necessary infrastructure. While the need for additional resources for states with international border may be easily understood, the fixation of quantum of such additional resource flows needs further investigation and estimation. Accordingly a comprehensive study of the border areas of the country falling in the Northeast region is made under the sponsorship of the Thirteenth Finance Commission (TFC) of Government of India. The topography, accessibility, climate, altitude, population density, ethnicity, levels of development, the relationships with the border countries etc. of the entire border region of the North East widely vary. Therefore, the development strategy for different border segments will be different. For example, the development strategy of border areas of Arunachal Pradesh with China will be different from Assam’s border with Bangladesh. Besides the problems of development, different border segments have different social problems such as incursion, infiltration, migration, smuggling, drug trafficking, AIDS etc. Therefore, different segments of border have been studied by different research teams, which have been presented in this report in consolidated form. Objectives of the Study: The specific objectives of the study are- 1. To find out whether the border districts face any disadvantages compared to other districts of a particular border state in terms of status of infrastructure, both physical and social which may lead to higher unit cost of service provisioning. 2. If such disadvantages exist then- (a) What are the problems in tackling these disadvantages under the existing State/ Central Government schemes, (b) To find out whether there is need for special dispensation for overcoming these disadvantages of border districts, if they exist. Methodology: The study is based primarily on secondary data collected from District Headquarters, Census Reports and other relevant documents. These data are supplemented by primary data collected through village schedule surveys and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs). FGDs were organised by involving persons like prominent local residents, politicians, academic, administrators, various development and social activists, Panchyat representatives, security personnel, traders, contractors, businessmen, village heads, women organisation, NGOs etc. In selecting the border blocks for the collection of primary data both random and purposive sampling techniques are followed. Out of 136 Border Blocks in the eight States of the region 15 Blocks (11 per cent) were purposively selected for field investigations. Because of the vastness of the border area, the research work was distributed among 10 Research Teams from 10 higher educational institutions of the region. Each Research Team has selected the sample border Blocks from the area convenient to it. The number of sample Blocks of different border areas selected by different Teams has been presented in Table – 1. 2 Table – 1 Allocation of Sample Blocks among Institute and Universities of North East India Research Team/Institute/ Universities Gauhati Border Dibrugarh Rajib University Manipur Mizoram Sikkim Tripura Assam Countries University Gandhi NEHU Total and IIT, University University University University University University Guwahati China 1 - 3 ------ 4 Bangladesh - 1 - 1 --- 2 1 4 Bhutan - 1 ---- 1 -- 2 Myanmar 1 --- 2 1 --- 4 Nepal ------ 1 -- 1 For maintaining uniformity in the research methodology and design, a central workshop was arranged at IIT, Guwahati on 13th September 2008, which was attended by all members of different Research Teams including representatives from the Thirteenth Finance Commission, New Delhi. ARUNACHAL PRADESH: Two Research Teams, one from the Rajiv Gandhi University and the other from the Dibrugarh University have studied the problems