India Issues - 2023

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Disputes - international

India-China: since China and India launched a security and foreign policy dialogue in 2005, consolidated discussions related to the dispute over most of their rugged, militarized boundary, regional nuclear proliferation, Indian claims that China transferred missiles to Pakistan, and other matters continue; Kashmir remains the site of the world's largest and most militarized territorial dispute with portions under the de facto administration of China (Aksai Chin), India (Jammu and Kashmir), and Pakistan (Azad Kashmir and Northern Areas)

India-Pakistan: India and Pakistan resumed bilateral dialogue in February 2011 after a two-year hiatus, have maintained the 2003 cease-fire in Kashmir, and continue to have disputes over water sharing of the Indus River and its tributaries; UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan has maintained a small group of peacekeepers since 1949; India does not recognize Pakistan's ceding historic Kashmir lands to China in 1964; to defuse tensions and prepare for discussions on a maritime boundary, India and Pakistan seek technical resolution of the disputed boundary in Sir Creek estuary at the mouth of the Rann of Kutch in the Arabian Sea; Pakistani maps continue to show its Junagadh claim in Indian Gujarat State

India-Bangladesh: Prime Minister SINGH's September 2011 visit to Bangladesh resulted in the signing of a Protocol to the 1974 Land Boundary Agreement between India and Bangladesh, which had called for the settlement of longstanding boundary disputes over un-demarcated areas and the exchange of territorial enclaves, but which had never been implemented; Bangladesh referred its maritime boundary claims with Burma and India to the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea

India-Nepal: the Joint Border Committee with Nepal continues to examine contested boundary sections, including the 400 sq km dispute over the source of the Kalapani River; India maintains a strict border regime to keep out Maoist insurgents and control illegal cross-border activities from Nepal

Refugees and internally displaced persons

refugees (country of origin): 92,131 (Sri Lanka), 72,315 (Tibet/China), 74,607 (Burma) (refugees and asylum seekers), 10,064 (Afghanistan) (mid-year 2022)

IDPs: 506,000 (armed conflict and intercommunal violence) (2021)

stateless persons: 20,330 (2022)

Illicit drugs

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 2023 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of India 2023 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about India 2023 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.