The June 2026 Assam–Nagaland tripartite MoU on mineral exploration and the concurrent AFSPA withdrawal signal a new paradigm in India's Northeast policy. Discuss.

Q. The June 2026 Assam–Nagaland tripartite MoU on mineral exploration and the concurrent AFSPA withdrawal signal a new paradigm in India's Northeast policy. (15 marks, 250-350 words)

AFSPA, 1958 lets the government notify "disturbed areas" and gives armed forces sweeping powers of arrest and search [1]. Its retreat alongside the June 2026 Assam–Nagaland mineral-oil MoU [2] marks a shift from coercive containment to development-led, negotiated engagement.

From security-first to development-led policy - The tripartite MoU (Centre–Assam–Nagaland) facilitates mineral oil operations in the disputed boundary belt, with extraction potential projected to rise more than tenfold from current levels [2]. - Resource development, not garrisoning, becomes the stabilising instrument — dovetailing with the Act East Policy, which treats the region as India's gateway to ASEAN.

Normalisation of the legal order - Disturbed-area coverage has been pruned incrementally: from April 2023 AFSPA applied to only eight districts of Assam, and notification stood withdrawn from 19 police stations across seven Manipur districts [3]. - This continues full withdrawal from Tripura (2015) and Meghalaya (2018) [4], shrinking reliance on the Section 6 bar on prosecution without central sanction — AFSPA's core accountability criticism [1].

A cooperative-federal method - The Centre acted as facilitator, not adjudicator, converting a decades-old inter-State boundary dispute into a revenue-sharing arrangement [2]. - It builds on sustained peace-accord diplomacy with insurgent and ethnic groups in the region [5], substituting negotiation for suppression.

Where the paradigm is still untested - Manipur's ethnic violence shows security gains are reversible; the Naga political settlement remains incomplete. - Rollback demands state police and intelligence capacity-building, plus redressal for past excesses, or a vacuum may follow.

The MoU and AFSPA's retreat together reframe the Northeast from a security frontier to a development frontier, with cooperative federalism as the method. Sustaining it requires sequencing withdrawal with institutional capacity and inclusive resource-sharing, so that peace rests on consent rather than exception — realising the Article 355 duty in its protective, not punitive, spirit.

(~305 words)

Sources: 1. The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 — Ministry of Home Affairs — disturbed-area notification, powers of the armed forces, Section 6 prosecution bar 2. Tripartite MoU between Government of India, Assam and Nagaland for mineral oil operations in Assam–Nagaland boundary areas — PIB, June 2026 — MoU details, tenfold extraction potential, boundary-dispute resolution 3. Government reduces disturbed areas under AFSPA in Nagaland, Assam and Manipur — PIB, 2023 — eight Assam districts; 19 police stations in seven Manipur districts 4. Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), 1958 in Northeastern States — PIB — full withdrawal from Tripura (2015) and Meghalaya (2018) 5. Major Initiatives and Peace Process in North Eastern Region — Ministry of Home Affairs — peace accords with insurgent and ethnic groups