The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said on Monday (December 30, 2024) that demographic data along the Myanmar border, especially in Nagaland, Mizoram, and Manipur, should be mapped to help in fencing of the international border and stopping infiltration.
In its year-end review for 2024, MHA reiterated that the Ministry has decided to scrap the Free Movement Regime (FMR) between India and Myanmar to ensure the internal security of the country and maintain the demographic structure of India’s Northeastern States bordering Myanmar.
Though MHA said that the FMR was being suspended, on December 6 it finalised fresh protocol to regulate the movement of people living within 10 km, reduced from earlier 16 km territorial limit, on either side of the largely unfenced international border, indicating that FMR continues.
The Hindu reported on December 25 that the notification ending the FMR, which involves a bilateral agreement with Myanmar, is yet to be notified by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the nodal Ministry. Myanmar shares 1,643 km of largely unfenced border with Arunachal Pradesh (520 km), Nagaland (215 km), Manipur (398 km) and Mizoram (510 km).
The year-end report by MHA said that “the Modi government has taken the path of building bridges of unity in the Northeast in a bid to usher in an era of peace with unprecedented success” and “the Northeast is walking on the path of peace and prosperity.”
It said there is a need for extensive mapping for mineral, oil and coal reserves in the Northeastern States, which will financially benefit from the royalty received for these minerals.
It added that in 2024, the security forces achieved exemplary success in curbing left-wing extremism, “eliminating 287 Naxalites and arresting as many as 992.”
Among those killed, at least 14 belonged to the highest decision-making body of the Communist Party of India-Maoists. It said that Home Minister Amit Shah has resolved to end the menace of left-wing extremism before March 31, 2026, adding, that in three months, the Union government and Chhattisgarh government will bring a comprehensive scheme for the overall development of people affected by LWE.
The MHA is heading with a whole-of-the-government approach in its mission to weed out the menace of drugs and the perpetrators of the crime, the report said.
In a joint operation carried out by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), the Indian Navy, and the Gujarat Police, a consignment of 3,132 kg of drugs was seized. Security agencies busted an international drug trafficking cartel and seized over 700 kg of contraband methamphetamine in Gujarat. NCB confiscated 82.53 kg of high-grade cocaine in New Delhi. The massive drug consignment worth approximately ₹900 crore was tracked down by a bottom-to-top approach after drugs were seized from a courier center in Delhi.
“The agencies also seized 4,134 kg narcotics in the year 2024 from the deep seas,” MHA said.
The MHA has set the target to dispose of seized drugs as a stern message to the narcotics cartel. In 2024, the agencies under MHA destroyed 1,17,284 kg of narcotics.
Published – December 30, 2024 10:25 pm IST
