NDA (I) 2024 General Ability Test · Question 149 of 146

Correct — A, Myanmar. The Free Movement Regime was an arrangement that let people living close to the India-Myanmar border cross a short distance into each other's territory without a visa. In February 2024 the Government decided to scrap this regime, citing security, insurgency and illegal-immigration concerns, and to move towards fencing the border. Because the Free Movement Regime existed only along the India-Myanmar frontier, the country in question is Myanmar.

• (b)Bhutan — India-Bhutan movement is governed by their special friendship treaty arrangements, not the Free Movement Regime, which was specific to Myanmar.
• (c)Bangladesh — The India-Bangladesh border is largely fenced and managed differently; there was no Free Movement Regime with Bangladesh.
• (d)Nepal — India and Nepal have an open border under their 1950 treaty, but that is a separate arrangement and not the Free Movement Regime being scrapped here.

The Free Movement Regime was a bilateral arrangement along the roughly 1,643 km India-Myanmar border that allowed members of border communities to travel a short distance across the boundary without documents, reflecting the shared ethnic ties of the region. In February 2024 the Government decided to end it and to fence the border, citing internal security and unchecked cross-border movement.

The four options are all land neighbours with 'open' or special border arrangements, which is the trap. The distinguishing fact is that the Free Movement Regime is the specific India-Myanmar mechanism, not the India-Nepal open border or India-Bhutan treaty movement.

• The Free Movement Regime applied only along the India-Myanmar border.
• The India-Myanmar border runs about 1,643 km along Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram.
• In February 2024 the Government decided to scrap the regime and move to fence the border.
• Border management, including such regimes, is handled by the Department of Border Management under the Ministry of Home Affairs.

• Picking Nepal because of the well-known India-Nepal open border — the FMR is a separate India-Myanmar arrangement.
• Assuming every land neighbour has a Free Movement Regime; it existed only with Myanmar.

Asked as a direct 'between India and which country' recall — attach the Free Movement Regime to Myanmar.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Free Movement Regime, decided to be scrapped in 2024, allowed people near the border to travel visa-free up to what distance into the other country?

  • (a)16 km
  • (b)50 km
  • (c)5 km
  • (d)100 km

  Answer(a) 16 km — border residents could travel up to 16 km across the India-Myanmar border without a visa.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The India-Myanmar border passes through which of the following Indian states?

  • (a)Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya and Sikkim
  • (b)Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram
  • (c)West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh
  • (d)Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana

  Answer(b) Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram — these four states share the India-Myanmar border.