Topic 1: India-Myanmar border

Why in news?

The Union government will soon fence the 1,643 km border between India and Myanmar, and it will consider ending its free movement regime (FMR) agreement with Myanmar.

What is free movement regime (FMR) agreement between India and Myanmar?

1. The free movement regime (FRM), allows the residents of both countries living along the border to travel up to 16 km into each other’s territory without a visa.
2. It was in 2018 as part of the government’s Act East policy.

What is the status of states with respect to free movement regime FMR?

• Manipur wants the Myanmar border to be fenced, and the free entry of Myanmar nationals, accused of stoking the ongoing ethnic conflict, stopped.
• Mizoram and Nagaland, on the other hand, are against the dual move on the Myanmar front as the people on either side of the international border in those States belong to the same ethnic communities.

Why was free movement regime (FMR) conceptualised?

The border between India and Myanmar was demarcated by the British in 1826. The border effectively divided people of the same ethnicity and culture into two nations. People in the region have strong ethnic and familial ties across the border.

• Apart from facilitating people-to-people contact, the FMR was supposed to provide impetus to local trade and business. The region has a long history of trans-border commerce through customs and border haats.
• Given the low-income economy of north east and the neighbouring country, such exchanges are vital for the sustenance of local livelihoods. For border people in Myanmar too, Indian towns are closer for business, education, and healthcare than those in their own country.

Why is the free movement regime FMR being reconsidered?

The illegal migration of tribal Kuki-Chin peoples into India from Myanmar is one of the key issues in the ongoing Manipur conflict. Around 4,000 refugees belonging to Kuki-Chin-Zo ethnic group are said to have entered Manipur.

• The Meiteis have accused these illegal migrants and the alleged “narco-terror network” along the India-Myanmar Border (IMB) of fomenting trouble in the state, leading to alleged demographic imbalance and threat to internal security in the region.
• Amid this charged and sensitive debate in the state, questions have been raised about the FMR.

What are the current challenges with respect to free movement regime FMR?

The border runs through forested and undulating terrain, is almost entirely unfenced, and difficult to monitor. In Manipur, less than 6 km of the border is fenced.

• Since the military coup in Myanmar on February 1, 2021, the ruling junta has launched a campaign of persecution against the Kuki-Chin peoples.
• This has pushed large numbers of Myanmarese tribals across the country’s western border into India, especially into Manipur and Mizoram, where they have sought shelter.
• Mizoram, where a large section of the population has close ethnic and cultural ties with people across the border, has set up camps for more than 40,000 refugees, despite protests from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.
• The Manipur government has alleged that village chiefs have been illegally settling migrants from Myanmar in new villages in the hills, leading to deforestation. An eviction drive against these new villages became the flashpoint between Kukis in the hills and the government, leading to violence in the state.

What will happen if FMR is removed?

• The regime has been reviewed from time to time, and most experts agree that the FMR needs better regulation. As the crisis in Myanmar escalated and the influx of refugees increased, India suspended the FMR in September 2022.
• Given the interests of the local population and the geography, neither the complete removal of the FMR nor full fencing of the border is easy. Livelihoods will be impacted, and essential travel for health care and education may be hit.

Topic 2: Consanguinity and Genetic diseases

Why in News?

Studies on endogamy has found persistence of harmful genetic variants in India population.

What is consanguinity?

It is the practice of marrying close relatives, an age-old tradition that is still practised widely in several human societies worldwide. It’s also called Consanguineous marriage or cousin marriage.

• According to one estimate, approximately 15-20% of the world’s population practises inbreeding, especially in Asia and West Africa.
• Scientists have extensively studied the level of inbreeding in various populations around the world. Some of the most well-studied populations in this regard include the Ashkenazi Jews and the Amish.
• With more than 4,000 endogamous groups – i.e. people marrying within the same caste/tribe or group – India has been a fertile ground for consanguinity. Researchers at the CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, in Hyderabad, have also identified several endogamous populations in India with very high levels of genetic relatedness, and have identified many populations in India with a very high level of inbreeding – some more so than the Ashkenazi Jews.

What is inbreeding?

Consanguinity has both shaped our cultural landscapes and left an indelible mark on our genetic destiny. It is a social as well as genetic construct. In the social context, it means marriage between individuals related by blood; in the genetic context, it means marriage between genetically related individuals, otherwise called inbreeding.

How does it affect genetics?

Humans typically have two copies of each gene. When an individual has two copies of the same variant, it is called a homozygous genotype. Most genetic variants linked to major disorders are recessive in nature and exert their effect only when present in two copies. (Having different variants – i.e. being heterozygous – is usually protective.

Studies have found that a significant fraction of the global population practises consanguinity and that that has increased the mortality and the rate of recessive genetic diseases in these peoples.

• Many modern consanguineous societies, like the Amish population in the U.S., have been studied for recessive diseases. In fact, scientists have extensively used autozygosity as an approach to identify new genetic diseases in populations where consanguineous marriage practices is the norm.
• The results of these studies have helped uncover previously unknown genetic diseases as well as estimate different populations’ genetic predisposition to common diseases.

What is autozygosity?

Autozygosity occurs when two chromosomal segments that are identical from a common ancestor are inherited from each parent. This occurs at high rates in the offspring of mates who are closely related (inbreeding), but also occurs at lower levels among the offspring of distantly related mates.

What is recessive disease?

Recessive is one of several ways that a trait, disorder, or disease can be passed down through families. An autosomal recessive disorder means two copies of an abnormal gene must be present in order for the disease or trait to develop.

How can study on consangunity help scientific research in future ?

In the coming years, advances in genomics research indicate that innovative solutions can help mitigating the risks associated with genetic diseases.

This in turn could usher in a future where personalised medicine, genetic diagnostics, and genetic counselling can play a pivotal role in improving the health outcomes of affected individuals and their families.