Mains Practice Questions

Approach

• Introduce your answer by describing the geographical susceptibility of North-Eastern States for drug trafficking
• List out the reasons for growth of such illegal networks
• Describe how these networks impact native population and national security
• Conclude with how persistence of this issue may harm the overall development of the region

Answer

India’s North-East shares porous, semi-mountainous and densely forested border with Myanmar, which is one of the constituent countries of the infamous “Golden Triangle”. This proximity to Myanmar’s poppy cultivation regions has led to development of drug corridors in states like Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland.

Reasons for the emergence of drug trafficking corridors in North-East

• Myanmar’s Sagaing region and the Kachin state share border with the Indian North-Eastern States where thick vegetation restricts both ground and aerial observation.
• Small villages in the border areas have tribal population, who share an affinity with population on both sides of the border. Cross-border ethnic ties have facilitated in the creation of safe havens for insurgency and drug trafficking.
• Earlier, these substances were routed through Thailand and Singapore to the markets in South East Asia but strict vigil and border restrictions have forced the criminals to look for alternative routes like one through North-East India and Bangladesh.
• Apart from these reasons, unemployment, insurgency and law enforcement deficit on the either side of the border, has also contributed significantly to the emergence of drug trafficking networks.

Effects on national security and native population

• North-East region is infested with multiple insurgent groups, planning to undermine the territorial sovereignty of India. A prospective collusion between the drug traffickers and insurgents may further complicate the situation for the security forces.
• These groups have traditionally derived their financial resources from extortion, foreign fundings and running parallel tax collection mechanisms. Government clampdown on these activities has weakened them financially but now they may take advantage of drug networks for importing arms and generating financial resources.
• Easy availability of drugs and narcotic substances has led to the prevalence of drug addiction amongst the youth. Simultaneously, it has also led to an increase in incidence of addiction related diseases.
• As per India’s National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) 2017 report, the highest prevalence of the disease has been recorded in India’s North-Eastern States, namely Manipur (1.15%), Mizoram (0.80%) and Nagaland (0.78%) which share a border with Myanmar.

India’s North-Eastern states remain socially fragile, economically underutilized, politically sensitive and strategically vulnerable. Government of India is trying to mitigate these insecurities with various policy measures. However, these may fail to yield desired results if the drug trafficking issue is not addressed properly