Importance Of Siliguri Corridor

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Siliguri Corridor: The Insecurity Within.
A passage or a corridor is a term that represents a connection between two or more spaces. It is this very feature (of connecting two places) of a tract of land that makes it so incredible in physical geography. In international relations, a corridor becomes significant not just because of the places it links but also because of the region that it is. Hence corridors demand and deserve a lot more attention than just those places that it attempts to unite. However, very often instead of focussing on the significance of the corridor, value is given to those two or more regions which are linked with the help of the former.
Concepts like security and insecurity are often associated with corridors. A corridor is never considered to be fully secure since most of the times it is surrounded by two or more external powers. This makes them vulnerable. Such is the case with the Siliguri Corridor in the North Eastern Region (NER) of India. It is a narrow strip of land in West Bengal which connects North East India to the rest of the country. The corridor is squeezed between two of India’s neighbours, namely, Nepal and Bangladesh and has a width of 13 to 25 miles.
The Siliguri Corridor, commonly known as the Chicken’s Neck (because of it’s shape), is a geographical deformity. It is often referred to as the ‘cartographic relic of the British decolonisation process. In trying to maintain the contiguity between Bengal and Assam after partition, the British demarcated the borders in such a manner that even today it is difficult to communicate between India’s North East and the rest of the country.
This unnatural barrier and distance has created a communication gap, both physical as well as psychologica...

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...g. It is because of this opportunity that is given to every individual of a democratic state that people all over the world demand a government that will take care of the demands placed by them. The demand is thus for democracy as well as citizenship. It is also because of this reason that there are an increasing number of security concerns placed by each group before the government. However there are certain issues that are regarded to be of national concern by a government. In a country like India there is a lot of debate over what a national concern might constitute. This is mainly because of the existing diversity in the country and the corresponding claims made by every group of individual living in the country. Nevertheless it is perhaps in such diverse countries like India that some issues need national protection and the Siligur corridor is one such place.

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