A road trip from Nagaland to Kerala has to squeeze through one narrow strip of land. The strip lies in West Bengal. It is only about 22 km wide at its narrowest. This lesson follows the route, explains the squeeze and shows why it matters for the map, for history and for security.
Contents
Must know: the route
Which states does the shortest road route from Kohima to Kottayam cross?
Kohima is the capital of Nagaland. Kottayam is a town in Kerala. The trip starts in the far Northeast and ends in the deep South.
The shortest road route crosses seven states. They are Nagaland, Assam, West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The count includes the first state and the last one.
How does the route run?
The road leaves Nagaland through Assam. It then crosses the narrow strip of West Bengal near Siliguri. From there it runs south through West Bengal and Odisha. It follows the east coast through Andhra Pradesh. It then enters Tamil Nadu and finally Kerala.
Why not go through Bihar?
Bihar is not needed. A road from Siliguri can reach the coast through West Bengal alone. A route through Bihar would not cut the number of states.
Could another route use fewer states?
No. Every road from Nagaland must cross Assam and West Bengal. Kerala can be reached from Andhra Pradesh through Tamil Nadu or through Karnataka. Each choice needs one state between Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, so Karnataka could replace Tamil Nadu and give the same count. A route that touches Telangana would add one more.
This route, and the comparisons with Bihar, Karnataka and Telangana, are worked out from the map. No government page lists them. The UPSC answer key for 2017 gives the same count of seven.
Sources: UPSC answer key, Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2017, General Studies Paper I.
Who lives in the Northeast, and which states belong to it?
The Northeast is the region at the far eastern edge of India. The Ministry of Home Affairs says it has eight states. They are Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.
How big is the region?
The Ministry of Home Affairs says the region covers 7.97 percent of India’s area. It holds 3.78 percent of the country’s people. Census 2011 counted 4,57,72,188 people in the eight states. That is about 4.58 crore.
Is West Bengal in the Northeast?
No. West Bengal touches the region but is not one of its eight states. West Bengal matters here because the corridor lies inside it.
Good to know: the corridor
How narrow is the Siliguri Corridor?
The Siliguri Corridor is a thin strip of land in West Bengal. It joins the Northeast to the rest of India. People also call it the Chicken’s Neck.
How wide and how long is it?
It is about 22 km wide at its narrowest point. An MP-IDSA journal article by V.S. Ranade describes it as a box of about 20 by 22 km. A paper by Col (Dr) Mohinder Pal Singh of the EGROW Foundation gives its length as about 60 km.
Which countries are close to it?
Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh share borders with the corridor. The EGROW paper says only one main road, NH 27, and a single railway line pass through it.
Why does the width matter?
The EGROW paper says the plain terrain has no natural or man-made obstacle, so defending it is a real challenge. It calls the corridor the Achilles heel in the defence of the Northeast.
Sources: MP-IDSA, Slender is the Corridor; Col M P Singh, Perennially Vulnerable Siliguri Corridor.
Great to know: history and security
How did Partition make the squeeze?
At Partition in 1947, Bengal was divided. The Siliguri strip lies in the part that stayed in India.
What happened in 1947?
Two nation-states came into existence on 14-15 August 1947. They were India and Pakistan. Punjab and Bengal were divided by religious majority, at the level of districts or even smaller areas.
Who drew the line?
A British barrister, Sir Cyril Radcliffe, chaired the Boundary Commission. He had never set foot in India. He had only thirty-six days.
What changed for the Northeast?
West Bengal is the part of Bengal that stayed in India. The Siliguri strip lies inside it. The strip joins the Northeast to the rest of India.
And in 1971?
In 1971 the people of East Pakistan began a struggle to liberate Bangladesh. India took in about 80 lakh refugees during 1971. India also supported the freedom struggle in Bangladesh.
Sources: NCERT, Politics in India since Independence, Chapter 1; NCERT, Politics in India since Independence, Chapter 4.
The Daily Star, history of the Radcliffe award; Banglapedia, Radcliffe, Cyril John.
Why did Doklam matter to the corridor?
Doklam lies near a tri-junction point of the India, Bhutan and China borders. A defence paper links such border roads to risk for the Siliguri Corridor.
What happened in 2017?
The Ministry of External Affairs said that on 16 June 2017 a Chinese construction party entered Doklam. It tried to build a road. Indian personnel at Doka La then approached the party. They urged it to stop changing the status quo. India acted in coordination with Bhutan.
How did it end?
On 28 August 2017 the Ministry said expeditious disengagement at the face-off site had been agreed. The standoff ran from June to August 2017.
Why is the corridor linked to it?
A defence paper by Col M P Singh says China keeps building roads on its side of the border. The paper treats this as a lasting risk to the Siliguri Corridor.
Sources: MEA, Doklam developments, 30 June 2017; MEA, Doklam disengagement, 28 August 2017.
Can Bangladesh give the Northeast a shorter way?
A road through Bangladesh crosses an international border. So it cannot count in an all-India road question like the UPSC one.
What links already exist?
India and Bangladesh scheduled the opening of the Akhaura-Agartala cross-border rail link for 1 November 2023. It is 12.24 km long. India paid for it with a grant of Rs 392.52 crore.
What about trade and transit?
In 2019 India and Bangladesh exchanged a standard operating procedure on the use of Chattogram and Mongla ports. It permits goods to move in Bangladesh by waterway, rail, road or a mix. India said it would open eight routes to the North Eastern states.
What are border haats?
Border haats are small border markets. The first opened at Kalaichar on 23 July 2011. A 2017 Rajya Sabha reply said four were working. Two were in Meghalaya, at Kalaichar and Balat. Two were in Tripura, at Srinagar and Kamalasagar. The count may be higher today.
Does this remove the need for the corridor?
No. That road would still cross an international border. The UPSC question asked about roads within India.
Sources: Prime Minister’s Office, Akhaura-Agartala rail link; PIB, SOP on the use of Chattogram and Mongla ports, 7 October 2019.
PIB, Rajya Sabha reply on border haats, 2 August 2017; Assam Tribune, first border haat opened.
What did UPSC ask about this route?
UPSC CSP 2017, Paper I asked this exact trip. It asked: if you travel by road from Kohima to Kottayam, what is the minimum number of states within India you can pass through? The count includes the origin and the destination.
What were the options?
The options were 6, 7, 8 and 9. The answer is 7. The official key for Series A marks option (b).
What should you watch for?
The question says to include the origin and the destination. Do not forget Assam. Draw the map, and the count of seven follows.
Sources: UPSC answer key, Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2017.
Which numbers should you hold?
- 7: the states on the shortest route, counting both ends.
- About 22 km: the width of the Siliguri Corridor at its narrowest.
- About 60 km: the length of the corridor.
- 14-15 August 1947: India and Pakistan came into existence.
- 1971: the struggle to liberate Bangladesh.
- 16 June 2017: a Chinese party entered Doklam.
- 28 August 2017: disengagement was agreed.
- 12.24 km: the Akhaura-Agartala rail link.
- About 4.58 crore: people in the eight Northeast states in Census 2011.
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Questions to think through
Why is the count of seven the minimum and not just one choice?
Any route from Nagaland goes through Assam and then West Bengal. After that, the coast road gives seven states. A Karnataka or Telangana detour does not remove any state, and Telangana adds one.
Why did Partition make the corridor so important?
Bengal was divided at Partition in 1947. The Siliguri strip lies in West Bengal, the part that stayed in India. The Northeast reaches the rest of India through that strip.
Why does a narrow neck matter more than a long border?
A long border has many routes. The corridor has one main road and a single railway line. If they are blocked, the region loses its main land link.
Why does India still build the corridor even with Bangladesh rail links?
A route via Bangladesh crosses a border. So a road inside India is the one that counts in the UPSC question.
Native Practice
Apply the route, the Northeast, the Partition and the border links. Read the connected explanation after each answer.
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