The North-East region of India has been infested with insurgency for a very long time. Analyze the major reasons for the survival of armed insurgency in this region.
Approach · directive: “analyse”
What it asks · Analyse the causes that let armed insurgency persist in India's North-East despite decades of peace efforts.
Open with · Insurgency in the North-East began soon after independence and has survived because political, economic, ethnic and geographic factors keep feeding it.
Cover
- Identity and autonomy: many ethnic groups fear loss of land, culture and political voice, which drives demands for autonomy or separate homelands.
- Geography: a narrow land link to the rest of India, and long, porous borders with Myanmar, Bangladesh and Bhutan, allow camps, arms and movement.
- Migration and land: illegal migration and pressure on tribal land have fed anxiety, ethnic clashes and agitations, notably in Assam.
- Development gap: poor connectivity, few jobs and weak services leave young people open to recruitment; the economy of extortion and taxation funds groups.
- Governance: corruption, delays in implementing accords, slow justice and alleged excesses under special laws create resentment.
- Fragmentation: peace deals with one group often lead to splinter groups; rivalries among groups keep violence alive.
- External factors: sanctuaries and support across borders, and links with arms and drug networks, help groups regroup.
Close with · Lasting peace needs a mix of political settlements honoured in full, border management, faster development and clean local governance.
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2017, GS Paper III — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer · 236 words (UPSC limit 150) · Minimalist IAS
Insurgency in the North-East began with the Naga movement in the 1950s and survives because political, ethnic, economic and geographic factors keep feeding it.
Identity and politics
- Fear of losing land, culture and political voice drives demands for autonomy or separate homelands; even after Statehood, the Sixth Schedule and autonomous councils, new groups keep emerging.
- Migration and land: influx from Bangladesh and pressure on tribal land fed the Assam agitation and the Assam Accord (1985), and ULFA (1979) drew on the same anxiety.
Geography and external links
- The narrow Siliguri corridor is the only land link to the rest of India, while porous borders with Myanmar, Bangladesh and Bhutan offer camps, arms routes and sanctuary; NSCN-K left its ceasefire in 2015 and operates from Myanmar.
- Links with the arms and drug networks of the Golden Triangle help groups regroup and fund themselves.
Economy and governance
- Poor connectivity, few jobs and weak services leave youth open to recruitment; extortion and parallel 'taxation' turn insurgency into a livelihood.
- Corruption, slow implementation of accords, weak justice and alleged excesses under AFSPA (1958) create resentment that groups exploit.
Fragmentation
- Peace deals with one faction, such as the 1997 NSCN-IM ceasefire or the 2003 Bodo Accord, leave rivals outside, and turf wars among groups keep violence alive.
Lasting peace needs political settlements honoured in full, as the Mizo Accord (1986) showed, together with border management, faster development and clean local governance.
Written by Minimalist IAS from facts checked at source (how we verify) — a little fuller than exam length, so every part of the question is covered; in the hall, keep the structure and trim the detail. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.