While our government is busy trying to tackle bilateral issues with China and Pakistan, there have been renewed reports of several domestic territorial clashes. Either the residents or governments of the concerned states are at loggerheads.A recent clash between residents of Assam and Nagaland left 1dead and 21 injured. However, lest we think this is an isolated incident, here is a list of inter-state clashes in India with their historical contexts. Let the inter-state games begin.

1.    Assam – Nagaland

These two states share a 434 kilometre boundary, but Nagaland has behaved aggressively towards Assam ever since its inception in 1963 and has in fact encroached on vast tracts of land in upper-Assam districts of Sivasagar, Jorhat and Golaghat.

The first clash between the two states took place at Assam’s Kakodonga Reserve Forest in 1965. Naga militants, allegedly with the support of Nagaland police, killed more than 100 people in Golaghat district (including Assam Police personnel).More clashes took place in 1979 and 1985.
The latest clash between civilians and police on August 20 resulted in the death of at least three people and many were injured.

The Centre had tried to resolve the turmoil by forming the Sundaram Commission in 1971 and Shastri Commission in 1985, and though both commissions ruled in favour of Assam, no solution was implemented, as Nagaland refused to accept the recommendations. Assam currently has a pending lawsuit with Supreme Court on these border issues: a verdict is still awaited.

2.    Maharashtra-Karnataka

Five decades ago, under the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, some parts of Bombay, Hyderabad, Madras and Coorg were joined with the erstwhile state of Mysore to form Karnataka. In the process, 865 Marathi-speaking villages in Belgaum, Karwar, Gulbarga and Bidar were merged with Karnataka. This is the primary cause of dispute between the two states.

In October 1966, Mehr Chand Mahajan, the third Chief Justice of India was appointed to make recommendations to solve the dispute. This was after a freedom fighter Senapati Bapat and three other leaders went on a fast unto death in Maharashtra, demanding resolution of the dispute.

The Mahajan commission submitted its report in August 1967 and recommended the transfer of 264 villages out of the 865 claimed by Maharashtra (which did not include Belgaum). The commission also recommended the transfer of 247 villages from Maharashtra out of the 516 claimed by Karnataka.

The latest clash between Marathi people and Karnataka authorities was over the removal of a board saying “Maharashtra Rajya” on July 29, 2014. This clash resulted in the police lathi-charging those involved.

In March 2004, the Congress and NCP-led coalition government of Maharashtra filed a suit in Supreme Court where the matter currently lies. The Shiv Sena has now demanded PM Narendra Modi’s intervention in the matter, though given the BJP’s current relationship with Shiv Sena, they probably shouldn’t be expecting favours from Modi any time soon.

3.    Gujarat – Rajasthan

The dispute between Gujarat and Rajasthan relates to Mangadh Hill, located on the border of the two states. Gujarat claims half of the hill, while Rajasthan claims the entire hill is theirs. The dispute is 40 years old, though the Rajasthan Government presently has control over the hill.

According to folklore, hundreds of tribals were killed in the hills while protesting against British rule in 1911. Their relatives gather there every year in the month of January to pay their respects to the dead. The Panchmahal district administration of Gujarat recently started constructing a road to reach hill, along with forest huts and hand pumps for the pilgrims. The Rajasthan government raised strong objections to this.

Many land owners have filed complaints for illegal encroachment on their land, alleging that Rajasthanis owning the adjacent pieces of land indulge in illegal activities on their lands. So far, no development from both sides has taken place to resolve the issue.

4.    Karnataka- Kerala

In 1956, the Reorganisation Committee decreed that the district of Kasaragod, comprising mainly of Kannada- speaking people, be made part of Kerala. Since then, people in the district have complained of “step-motherly” treatment from Kerala Government.

In 1967, a committee headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court, Justice M. Mahajan, was constituted to look into the matter. The committee recommended that Kasargod Taluk, north of Chandragiri and Payaswini rivers should be given to erstwhile Mysore – which later became Karnataka.

5.    Odisha – West Bengal

The dispute between these states has been going on for more than 30 years. This is a fierce territorial dispute between the states at all levels – points of skirmish are farmers disputing land at the border, land grabbing by both states to build government institutions and people living at the border holding dual voter ID cards to achieve political motives.

More recently, the government of Odisha and the government of West Bengal were at loggerheads over an island called Kanika Sands in the Bay of Bengal, with both governments laying claim to the island.

In 2010, the Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) published a tender notice in several newspapers that said KoPT had extended the port limits to include Kanika Sands. The Odisha government opposed the notification saying that the island was located off the Odisha coast and they should be allowed to exclusively grant tenders for work on Kanika Sands.

The Shipping Ministry eventually intervened in 2013, ruling in favour of Odisha – they extended the port limit of Paradip Port Trust (PPT) to cover Kanika Sands.

 6.    Assam – Meghalaya

These states have been embroiled in a border dispute for decades now. It first started when Meghalaya challenged the Assam Reorganisation Act of 1971, which gave Part 1 and Part 2 of Mikir Hills to Assam and those, according to Meghalaya, are part of United Khasi and Jaintia Hills.

Recently, tension between both states erupted in 2008, when the Assam government attempted to build a primary health sub-centre at Langpih.

The Meghalaya government objected to these developments and Assam’s Chief Minister was invited to Meghalaya by his counterpart to resolve the issue but declined the offer.

Seeing no attempts at reconciliation from the Assam government, Meghalaya threated to either ask the Centre to intervene or go to the Supreme Court. Sometime later, Assam agreed to talks. Both CMs met and came to a conclusion to set up a high level co-ordination committee.

However, there are regular clashes between both states over 12 places along the border. Clashes between Garo and Rabha communities in Darakona have taken place several times. An estimated 10 people have died, nearly a 100 injured, 50,000 displaced and more than 300 houses demolished in these clashes.

7.    Assam – Arunachal Pradesh

The Union Territory of Arunachal Pradesh was formed on January 20, 1972. Later when Arunachal Pradeshwas carved out of Assam in 1987 as a state under the North East Reorganization Act, 1971, the people of Arunachal Pradesh accepted their notified borders with Assam. However, subsequent to this, there has been the issue of alleged Assamese encroachment.

Violence was first reported in 1992 when the Arunachal Pradesh government made allegations that the Assamese were building houses, markets and even police stations on their territory. Since then, clashes have taken place resulting in deaths of villagers on the border.

In 2005, for example, during an eviction drive, Assam forest officials and police allegedly set ablaze more than 100 houses in East Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh. Again in 2007, tensions mounted when villagers fired at each other during a peace meeting in Assam, injuring eight people.

The Assam government took this matter to the Supreme Court. In September 2006, the Supreme Court appointed a Local Commission to identify the boundaries between Nagaland, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.The matter is currently subjudice with the Supreme Court, awaiting the commission’s recommendations.