Chicken Neck Corridor (West Bengal) – WBCS Exams – Free PDF Download

• The Siliguri Corridor is a stretch of land in Eastern South Asia, 22 kilometres (14 mi) at the narrowest section, located around the city of Siliguri in West Bengal, India.
• The countries of Nepal and Bangladesh lie on each side of the corridor and the Kingdom of Bhutan lies at the northern end of the corridor.
• The Kingdom of Sikkim formerly lay on the northern side of the corridor, until its merging with India in 1975.

• The city of Siliguri, in the state of West Bengal, is the major city in this area and the central transfer point that connects Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sikkim, Darjeeling, and Northeast India to one another.

Threats emanate from various sources, including:

• Geographical constraints,
• China’s upgradation of infrastructure in Tibet and its growing assertiveness in the region,
• Illegal immigration from Bangladesh,
• Cross-border terrorism and Islamic radicalization in Bangladesh,
• Possible spill-over effects of insurgency and ethnic conflicts in North East especially bordering Assam and transnational crimes.
• All these factors deserve particular attention because of the gravity of the present situation and its impact on national security, territorial integrity, peace, political stability, economic development, “Act East” policy and subregional cooperation in South Asia.
• The threat to the Siliguri corridor (also known as Chicken’s Neck) is perennial as China has continued its overt road and airstrip construction activities on its side of the border.
• This could allow China to rapidly mobilise and deploy troops thereby threatening the Siliguri corridor.
• Furthermore, the deployment of artillery, missiles or anti-aircraft weaponry could easily jeopardize India’s efforts to resupply the region in time of war, especially considering that there is only a single railway line through the region to NE states.
• The Siliguri Corridor is equally important in the context of the “Act East” policy as it provides connectivity to three eastern neighbors of India—Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal.
• Except Alipurduar, rest of the North Bengal districts such as Malda, South Dinajpur, North Dinajpur, Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling and Cooch Behar share international borders with Bangladesh.
• The districts of Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling are contiguous to Bhutan, while Darjeeling is adjacent to Nepal.

• The Chumbi Valley is flanked on either side by Sikkim on its west and Bhutan on the east.
• Nepal shares a common border with Sikkim and Chinese and Indian armies are face-to-face along the whole of Arunachal Pradesh.
• The geostrategic significance of the place for India is that it is able to monitor the Chinese movements in the Chumbi Valley.

• China’s railroad to Chumbi valley
• With access to Chumbi valley China gets closer to West Bengal.
• Reports say that China is working on its railway link extension to the valley by end of 2017.
• China is well-known for doing things in small steps and piecemeal, quietly, patiently, eventually bringing the pieces together when the conditions are ripe.
• Our Indian military experts view escalation of Chinese military activities all along the Line of Control.
• But, they say, India cannot afford to allow the PLA come down through the Chumbi valley to West Bengal.

Can it be acquired by China?

• China may aggressively pursue border disputes and what it perceives as border disputes, but this is an entirely different matter.
• This is not disputed land. It belongs to India and is recognized by China as part of India.
• The 21st Century is not one where aggressive military expansion can just happen unchecked. Not only will such military adventurism result in just short term gains (it will be impossible to hold the North East permanently) but these small gains will come with huge consequences internationally.
• There will be a war that will spread all across the Indo-Chinese border and may even become much more widespread.

Solutions to this geographical riddle:

• In acknowledgement of its importance to India’s national security, the state maintains a heavy patrol presence in the Siliguri region.
• The Indian Army, the Assam Rifles, the Border Security Force, and the West Bengal Police all patrol the region.
• India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) is known to closely observe Nepalese, Bhutanese, and Bangladeshi activity in the region as well.
• Among other issues, the Siliguri has been vulnerable to illegal Bangladeshi immigration into India.
• Certain analysts have also speculated that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has attempted to exploit the Siliguri via Nepal-based insurgents.

• Construction of Aizawl By-pass on Western Side – Rs 500 crore
• Gap funding for Passenger Ropeway system for Pelling to
• Sanga-Choeling in West Sikkim – Rs 64 crore
• Gap funding for Eco-friendly Ropeway (Cable Car) from
• Dhapper to Bhaleydhunga in South Sikkim – Rs 58 crore
• Pilot Project for Construction of Bamboo Link Road at
• different locations in Various Districts in the State of
• Mizoram – Rs 100 crore
• And the border village management

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