‘Arunachal’s border dispute with Assam to be resolved’
DEOMALI (ARUNACHAL PRADESH): After 60 per cent of Assam’s border problems with Meghalaya were resolved amicably, the same dispute between Arunachal and Assam is likely to be settled by this year, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Saturday.
The governments of Arunachal and Assam are working for an amicable and permanent resolution of the border issue, Shah said while addressing the golden jubilee celebration of the Ramakrishna Mission School at Narottam Nagar in Tirap district.
Arunachal, which was carved out of Assam, was initially a Union territory. It became a full-fledged state in 1987. The two states share an 804.1 km long border. The boundary issue which originated during re-organisation of North-eastern states is now pending in Supreme Court.
“Almost 60 per cent border dispute between Assam and Meghalaya was resolved amicably and I am confident that the dispute between Arunachal and Assam will be settled before 2023,” said Shah who is on a two-day visit to Arunachal Pradesh from Saturday.
Assam and Meghalaya in March decided to end their five-decade-old border dispute in six of the 12 contested locations that often raised tensions between the two states.
Asserting that efforts are underway to make Northeast insurgency-free, he claimed that 9,000 militants of the region have surrendered during the last eight years of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre.
“The Centre is committed to bringing peace and development to the region. Youths of the Northeast no longer carry guns and petrol bombs. They are now carrying laptops and are launching start-ups. This is the path of development that the Centre has envisaged for the region,” he said.
“Manipur, which was earlier known for bandhs and blockades for more than 200 days a year, is now witnessing a sea of change without any bandh during the last five years of BJP rule in the state,” he said.
Shah said that the insurgency in the Bodoland region of Assam was resolved through the signing of the Bodo Peace Accord. “Surrender of militant groups in Tripura and resolving of the Bru refugee issue was undertaken by the Modi government. The Union Home Ministry has taken initiatives to bring peace to Assam’s Karbi Anglong (district),” he said.
The Union home minister said that a three-pronged agenda has been prepared for the development of the Northeast.
On the National Education Policy (NEP), he said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced it on the occasion of 75 years of Independence based on human values and education, along with a scientific approach and artificial intelligence. The NEP 2020 has incorporated observations of Swami Vivekananda, who founded the Ramakrishna Mission (RKM) 125 years ago, he said.