Free Movement Regime

• The India-Myanmar border spans an extensive 1,643 kilometers and is a critical area for cross-border relations and movements. 

• In 2018, as part of the Act East policy by the Narendra Modi government, the Free Movement Regime (FMR) was established to facilitate migration without a visa for tribes residing along the Indo-Myanmar Border (IMB). 

• While the FMR was designed to strengthen ties and promote trade, it has also posed challenges in terms of illegal immigration, insurgent activities, and drug trafficking.

• The primary purpose of the FMR is to encourage people-to-people contact and enable tribes living along the India-Myanmar border to travel up to 16 kilometers inside each other’s territories without a visa. 

• This arrangement aimed to address historical border demarcation issues that divided people of the same ethnicity and culture without their consent.