LINE OF ACTUAL CONTROL (Syllabus: GS Paper 3 – Security)

Context: India and China recently held their 20th round of military talks, reaffirming their commitment to peace in the border areas through ongoing dialogue.

Line of Actual Control (LAC)

• About: The LAC is the demarcation that separates Indian-controlled territory from Chinese-controlled territory.
• Three Areas: Western (Ladakh, Kashmir),

oMiddle (Uttarakhand, Himachal) and

oEastern (Sikkim, Arunachal).

• As LAC is not fully and officially demarcated, it has led to differing perceptions regarding the alignment, with China making territorial claims in the following areas.
• The countries disagree on the exact location of the LAC in various areas, so much so that India claims that the LAC is 3,488 km long while the Chinese believe it to be around 2,000 km long.
• The two armies try to dominate by patrolling the areas up to their respective perceptions of the LAC, often bringing them into conflict.

Ladakh

• Ladakh was granted Union Territory status in 2019, following the bifurcation of the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two separate Union Territories.
• The administration of Ladakh is currently governed by the Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh and an elected Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC).