The Himalaya, which is a great natural frontier for India, symbolises India’s spiritual and national consciousness. The Himalayan region displays wide diversity of cultural patterns, languages, ethnic identities and religious practices. Along the Himalayas converge the boundaries of South and Central Asian countries, which lend a unique geopolitical and geo-strategic importance to this region. This book provides a comprehensive analysis of historical, geo-political and strategic perspectives on the Himalayan Frontiers of India. Drawing on detailed analyses by academics and area specialists, it explains the developments in and across the Himalayas and their implications for India. Topics such as religious extremism, international and cross border terrorism, insurgency, drugs and arms trafficking are discussed by experts in their respective field. Himalayan Frontiers of India will be of interest to scholars in South and Central Asian studies, International Relations and Security Studies.

This book provides a comprehensive analysis of historical, geo-political and strategic perspectives on the Himalayan Frontiers of India. It explains the developments in and across the Himalayas and their implications for India. Topics such as religious extremism, international and cross border terrorism, insurgency, drugs and arms trafficking are discussed.

Drawing from extensive archival work and long-term ethnographic research, this book focuses on the so-called Bhotiyas, former trans-Himalayan traders and a Scheduled Tribe of India who reside in several high valleys of the Kumaon Himalaya. The area is located in the border triangle between India, the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR, People’s Republic of China), and Nepal, where contestations over political boundaries have created multiple challenges as well as opportunities for local mountain communities. Based on an analytical framework that is grounded in and contributes to recent advances in the field of border studies, the author explores how the Bhotiyas have used their agency to develop a flourishing trans-Himalayan trade under British colonial influence; to assert an identity and win legal recognition as a tribal community in the political setup of independent India; and to innovate their pastoral mobility in the context of ongoing state and market reforms. By examining the Bhotiyas’ trade, identity and mobility this book shows how and why the Himalayan border region has evolved as an agentive site of political action for a variety of different actors.

This book looks at the historical and political dynamics of the Sino-Indian border dispute in India's Himalayan Frontiers. Going back into Tibetan history the author examines the making of the McMahon Line at Simla Conference of 1913-14. It also takes a look at some of the neighbouring areas that had interaction with Tibet as well as the border areas of Assam and Burma, both of which were British Indian provinces. By using new archival materials, this study further goes to consider the events during the years following the defining of the McMahon Line, which, verily, did not have a sound juridical basis even if it has been regarded by scholars as a suitable boundary. It further explores different aspects of the northern frontiers of India and Sino-Indian border dispute and relations. This volume will interest scholars and researchers of history, political science and area studies specially those interested in the geopolitics of India, China and the Himalayan region.