India-China: India’s relations with China have been fraught for decades; issues include disputed frontiers, as well as China’s support for Pakistan, India’s key rival, and China’s growing influence in India’s periphery, including in the Indian Ocean; in 2020, the two engaged in the worst bilateral border conflict since the Sino-Indian War of 1962; despite ongoing negotiations, including nearly 20 rounds of military-to-military talks as of 2023, tensions at the disputed border, known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC), remain high, and China holds a reported 580 square miles of territory previously patrolled by India; non-lethal clashes involving hundreds of soldiers from each side occured in December 2022; both countries maintain tens of thousands of troops and heavy weaponry at the LAC, and both continue to improve their infrastructure and military capabilities in the disputed border region
India-Pakistan: India and Pakistan have fought three wars since 1948 over the disputed former princely region of Kashmir, the most recent in 1999; the two sides are separated by a Line of Control (LoC), a provisional military control line established in 1972 that splits Kashmir into two administrative regions; both countries have maintained a fragile cease-fire since 2003, although they regularly exchange fire across the LoC; both sides accuse the other of violating the cease-fire and claim to be shooting in response to attacks; India largely cut off bilateral engagement following an early 2019 terrorist attack in Pulwama, in Indian-held Kashmir, and a subsequent Indian airstrike on a suspected militant camp inside Pakistan India’s government continues to hold Pakistan responsible for supporting cross-border anti-India militancy, while Islamabad highlights India’s alleged repression of the Kashmir Valley’s overwhelmingly Muslim populace
India-Bangladesh: boundary disputes have been arbitrated
India-Nepal: both sides claim ownership of the Kalapani-Limpiyadhura-Lipulekh tri-junction area, as well as the Susta area, located in the southern part of Nepal’s Nawalparasi district; there have also been sporadic disputes over other borders, such as in the Mechi River and Kali River regions related to issues of encroachment, land use, and cross-border crime
refugees (country of origin): 92,131 (Sri Lanka), 72,315 (Tibet/China), 10,064 (Afghanistan) (mid-year 2022); 78,731 (Burma) (refugees and asylum seekers) (2023)
IDPs: 631,000 (armed conflict and intercommunal violence) (2022)
stateless persons: 20,330 (2022)
India is a source, transit, and destination for illicit narcotics and precursor chemicals; drug abuse in India growing, facilitated by illicit narcotics and the availability of over-the-counter medicines; commonly abused substances in India include heroin, cannabis, and cocaine, with growing use of pharmaceutical drugs in recent years including tramadol, opioids, and MDMA (ecstasy) analogues; largest producer of generic drugs in the world which is also used to produce illicit synthetic drugs such as pharmaceutical opioids, methamphetamine, heroin, MDMA, and ketamine
NOTE: The information regarding India on this page is re-published from the 2024 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of India 2024 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about India 2024 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.
This page was last modified 04 May 24, Copyright © 2024 ITA all rights reserved.
