Beyond ‘border dispute’: issues concerning land rights in the Assam-Nagaland borderlands and state responses

Scholars and policymakers commonly attribute land ownership disputes along the Assam – Nagaland border in Golaghat district, Northeast India, to the region’s prolonged inter-state conflict. This article argues that the Government of Assam’s continued classification of these lands as forestland through the Forest Department, a legacy of British colonial administration, constitutes a major legal and administrative barrier to recognising the land rights of long-term settlers. By framing the issue primarily as an inter-state border dispute, the Government of Assam has obscured the structural causes of land insecurity and diverted attention from the experiences of marginalised border communities. Consequently, governments, policymakers, and public debates have focused on territorial contestation while overlooking how forest governance continues to shape land administration. The article concludes that securing land tenure requires an integrated policy framework that reconciles forest governance with legitimate settlement claims rather than treating the issue solely as an inter-state boundary dispute.