Paper I · 4 Geography of India & AP · 4.2.1 Location, extent and geological structure
4.2.1.2 India and its neighbours: land boundaries and maritime neighbours
India shares land borders with seven countries and sea borders with Sri Lanka and the Maldives, and each border has its own named line, history and trouble spots.
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Core facts
- Seven land neighbours: Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar.
- Maritime neighbours: Sri Lanka and Maldives. (Indonesia, Thailand and Myanmar are neighbours across the Andaman Sea.)
- Longest land border: with Bangladesh. Shortest: with Afghanistan.
- Land boundary lengths (MHA, total 15,106.7 km):
| Neighbour | Length (km) | Indian states/UTs touching it |
|---|---|---|
| Bangladesh | 4,096.7 | West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram |
| China | 3,488 | Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh |
| Pakistan | 3,323 | Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, J&K, Ladakh |
| Nepal | 1,751 | Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Sikkim |
| Myanmar | 1,643 | Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram |
| Bhutan | 699 | Sikkim, West Bengal, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh |
| Afghanistan | 106 | Ladakh (the PoK-Wakhan stretch, as claimed by India) |
- Named lines: Radcliffe Line (India–Pakistan, 1947), Line of Control (J&K, after the 1972 Simla Agreement), McMahon Line (eastern India–China, 1914), Line of Actual Control (India–China), Durand Line (Afghanistan–Pakistan).
- Sri Lanka is separated by the Palk Strait and Gulf of Mannar. The Maldives lies south of Lakshadweep, across the Eight Degree Channel (Minicoy–Maldives).
Explained
Pakistan and Afghanistan
- The Radcliffe Line marks the border with Pakistan along Gujarat, Rajasthan and Punjab. In J&K and Ladakh the border is the Line of Control (LoC), and the northern extreme includes the Siachen glacier region.
- India's border with Afghanistan exists only if the whole of J&K, including Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), is counted. The common border runs along the narrow Wakhan corridor. In practice there is no usable access.
- Sir Creek in the Rann of Kachchh is a long-standing boundary dispute with Pakistan over how to draw the line in the creek.
China
- Three sectors: western (Ladakh/Aksai Chin), middle (Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand), eastern (Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh, the McMahon Line).
- Doklam is the tri-junction area of India, China and Bhutan. Lipu Lekh is the tri-junction of India, Nepal and China.
Nepal and Bhutan
- Nepal: open border under the 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship; Nepal's people have free movement and work rights in India. The Kalapani–Lipu Lekh–Limpiyadhura area is disputed.
- Bhutan: the 1949 treaty was revised in 2007. The Siliguri Corridor ("Chicken's Neck"), only about 20 to 22 km wide in West Bengal, joins the North-East to the rest of India, and is hemmed in by Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh.
Bangladesh
- The 1974 Land Boundary Agreement and its 2011 Protocol were implemented by the 100th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2015. India transferred 111 enclaves to Bangladesh and received 51; the exchange took effect on 1 August 2015.
- The Tin Bigha corridor gives Bangladesh access to its Dahagram-Angarpota enclave.
Myanmar
- The border has a Free Movement Regime, letting people living near the border travel a short distance across without a visa. In February 2024 the Government of India announced that it would scrap the regime and fence the whole border; MHA guidelines of December 2024 then cut the free-movement belt from 16 km to 10 km, with QR-coded border passes issued at designated crossing points; the formal end of the regime had not been notified by early 2025.
Sri Lanka and Maldives
- Katchatheevu island in the Palk Strait was ceded to Sri Lanka under the 1974 and 1976 agreements, a continuing issue for Tamil Nadu fishers.
- The sea boundary with the Maldives was settled by a 1976 agreement.
Common traps
- ✗ "India's longest border is with China." ✓ It is with Bangladesh (about 4,097 km).
- ✗ "India shares a border with Sri Lanka by land." ✓ Sri Lanka is a maritime neighbour only.
- ✗ "The McMahon Line is the border with Pakistan." ✓ It is India–China (eastern sector). The Pakistan border is the Radcliffe Line (and the LoC in J&K).
- ✗ "Myanmar borders Sikkim." ✓ Myanmar borders Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram.
- ✗ "India shares a border with Bhutan through Manipur." ✓ Bhutan touches Sikkim, West Bengal, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
- ✗ "The Durand Line is an Indian border." ✓ It separates Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Quick revision
- Seven land neighbours: Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar.
- Longest border Bangladesh; shortest Afghanistan.
- Total land boundary 15,106.7 km (MHA).
- Radcliffe (Pakistan), McMahon (China east), LoC (J&K), Durand (Afghanistan–Pakistan).
- 100th Amendment 2015: enclave exchange with Bangladesh (111 out, 51 in).
- Palk Strait and Gulf of Mannar separate India from Sri Lanka.
- Eight Degree Channel separates Minicoy from the Maldives.
- Siliguri Corridor is about 20 to 22 km wide.
Go deeper: Deeper, Mains writing (beyond what APPSC Paper I usually asks)
Deeper Advanced
- Colonial lines and their afterlife. Many of India's disputes grow from boundaries drawn without local agreement: the McMahon Line from the 1914 Simla Convention, which China does not accept; the Johnson line in Aksai Chin; the Radcliffe award of 1947. Understanding who drew the line explains who disputes it.
- LoC versus LAC. The LoC with Pakistan is a line agreed on maps after the 1971 war (Simla Agreement 1972). The LAC with China has no agreed map, and the two sides' perception of it differs in several sectors.
- Border management structure. The Ministry of Home Affairs manages borders through the Border Security Force (Pakistan and Bangladesh), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (China), Sashastra Seema Bal (Nepal and Bhutan) and Assam Rifles (Myanmar). The Border Area Development Programme and the Vibrant Villages Programme address frontier villages.
- Neighbourhood geography. India's neighbours are bound to it by rivers (Ganga–Brahmaputra with Bangladesh, Indus with Pakistan, Kosi with Nepal), by the Himalaya, and by ocean routes. This is why water-sharing treaties (the Indus Waters Treaty 1960 and the Ganga Water Treaty 1996 with Bangladesh) sit at the centre of foreign policy.
Mains writing Mains writing
- Frame: India has one of the most complex neighbourhoods in the world. Geography gives it both opportunity (connectivity, trade) and vulnerability (disputed lines, cross-border movement).
- Analysis points:
- Bangladesh: the best-settled boundary after 2015, yet illegal migration, smuggling and river-sharing remain.
- China: unsettled boundary, military build-up on both sides, infrastructure race in the Himalaya.
- Pakistan: LoC and terrorism; the Indus Waters Treaty, long cited as stable water cooperation, was put in abeyance by India in April 2025 after the Pahalgam attack.
- Nepal and Bhutan: open borders and the Siliguri corridor vulnerability.
- Way forward: settle what can be settled (as in 2015), build border infrastructure and frontier villages, use regional frameworks (BIMSTEC, BBIN), and keep diplomatic and military channels open.
- Example: the 2015 enclave exchange shows a legal, constitutional route to resolve an old boundary.
Practise this topic. Questions on Physiography & drainage of India, with answers explained.
All Location, extent and geological structure notes · APPSC Paper I syllabus · APPSC Paper I Mock 1 with answers · Start free
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