Why India is Shying Away from Its Frontiers?

As the contemporary world is heading towards a global-village, free-market sys-tem and international cooperation, border regions are seen not as constraints but as new opportunities. However, as things stand today, it is difficult to foresee India’s enhanced economic ties with eastern neighbor China. Consequently, border areas of Arunachal Pradesh have suffered considerably. There enveloped a thick cloud of poverty, illiteracy, lack of basic amenities of life in the border areas. This is further aggravated when by a simultaneous all-round development across the borders by the Chinese government. The paper provides valuable new insights into the present nature and extent of the problems of border areas in the Arunachal borderlands.


Introduction
As the contemporary world is heading towards a global-village, free-market system and international cooperation, border regions are seen not as constraints but as new opportunities. There is also a debate going on, on the idea of a borderless world and that of the border as a space of interaction, activity and opportunities. Unfortunately, in these whole debates, the viewpoints of the borderlanders are very often gets lost. It cannot, however, be denied that it is the borderlanders who possess a large body of knowledge through their first-hand experiences. Hence, little information is in circulation about the problems faced by the borderlanders divided by the borders. In reality, the borders often shrunk the resource base used by borderlanders and jeopardized their livelihood practices.
Arunachal has the largest share in the international border in North East India; it has 1100 km border with China, 440 km border with Myanmar and 160 km long border with Bhutan. This is a huge geographical advantage of Arunachal Pradesh in becoming a gateway to South-East Asia. Though, the state government on a number of occasions pursued centre to open the state to other countries. Yet, no forward move has been undertaken in this direction by the central government. Sanjib Baruah (2004) has rightly noted: "we are the prisoner of geography" and what Jairam Ramesh once said, "Prisoners of an old mindset" (cited in Baruah, 2014). Ramesh (Ibid) even goes to argues that "the future of the Northeast lies in economic integration with Southeast Asia…it is a gateway to South East Asia…it is a geography of opportunities". Contextualize in Arunachal, Narendra Modi's new Act East Policy has generated a lot of hope among the borderlanders for a relook at the policy with a cross-border dialogue.

Arunachal as a Gateway to South East Asia
History speaks a volume that almost all the tribes of Arunachal Pradesh had trade and cultural relation with people of neighbouring areas within and across the border. Jabin (2010, p. 126) noted that "this region was once a bridge connecting people, cultures and civilizations, and were a centre of trade and commerce have now been reduced to a periphery, backward and is dependent on subsidies from the central government". Monpas of Tawang till very recently had economic, religious, political ties with Tibet. There were two trade routes from Tawang to Tibet: the Bumla route and the Zemithang route which are closed today. Nah tribe of Taksing, Upper Subansiri and Bangru tribe of Sarli, Kurung Kumey had close economic relations with Tibetan till very recently. It is said that in the past, these tribes used to go even Rima, Mipi, and Migyitun, Trade was not the only means of interaction among the people living these borderlands. Pilgrimage, inter and intra-clan social interactions, movement of people in search of better livelihood options, and the seasonal migration of pastoralists constituted other dimensions of cross-border linkages (Dhar, 2000). Despite such historical linkage, today almost all traditional passes have completely sealed officially. Though, unofficially or illegally people continue to make contacts the people living on either side.
The threat of Chinese invasion makes opening up of border roads and border trades vulnerable. Though, Indian establishment has been fully aware of strategic developments like Railways, Highways, Airports, etc. along the Chinese side of the border for quite long. India so far, unable and not seems willing to build same road and infrastructure and military logistics on its side of border as China has been done, leaving most of the border areas backward forcing people to leave their lands.
Hence, now, there is a great deal of neglect due to pervasive underdevelopment and lack of access to basic amenities. This is further aggravated when by a simultaneous all round development across the borders by the Chinese government. In the Tawang side of the border, the Chinese side has excellent paved roads and the rail line is just 40 People now started saying that their state has come into national focus and importance due to the repeated territorial claims by China on Arunachal Pradesh. According to Rehman (2014) "the local people perceive that development is taking place now because of strategic calculation and not out of considerations for the tribal people of Arunachal Pradesh". Similarly, Jabin (2010, p. 128) noted "Increasing and improving transports and communication lines between their peripheries and the rest of country are priorities for both Beijing and New Delhi. However, the primary difference between Beijing and New Delhi is that the former originated as an internal development programme targeted at the country's western region while the latter began as a foreign policy strategy to enable New Delhi to reach out to East Asia".

The Way Forwards
It is a fact that while rest of India including some northeastern state has ben- Even on a trial basis, India should open a few places in the districts of Anjaw (Kibito), Changlang (Nampong) and Tawang, where illegal trade continues to take place. Based on these trials, action plan for the entire state may be formulated. There is no doubt that the state has huge potential to export agricultural products, horticultural products, dairy products and forest products. As per the study conducted by Modi, Abo, & Gombu (2015)  Unfortunately, owing to the indecisiveness, people who live on the international border have to bear the brunt of underdevelopment with very little or no education and health care facilities available in the areas. And there is no reason why this should be prolonged any further. Honestly and genuinely, border villages along India-China border are the most backward places on the earth. No doubt, the Border Area Development Programme (BADP) has launched in the state in 1997 in order to remove the crucial disparity in physical and social infrastructure and to strengthen the economic condition of the remote border areas. Regrettably, nowhere in border areas, will you find any culverts, irrigation canals, river embankment, etc. raised or written in the name of the Border Area Development Programme.