{"id":19801,"date":"2025-03-28T02:05:42","date_gmt":"2025-03-27T20:35:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=19801"},"modified":"2025-04-05T20:00:04","modified_gmt":"2025-04-05T14:30:04","slug":"what-is-the-free-movement-regime-fmr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/what-is-the-free-movement-regime-fmr\/","title":{"rendered":"Free Movement Regime (FMR)"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Free Movement Regime Latest News<\/h2>\n<p>Should the free movement regime between India and Myanmar remain?<\/p>\n<h2>Why in the News?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>In <strong>February 2024<\/strong>, <strong>Union Home Minister Amit Shah<\/strong> announced that the <strong>Free Movement Regime (FMR)<\/strong> along the <strong>India-Myanmar border<\/strong> would be <strong>scrapped<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The decision was reportedly influenced by <strong>former Manipur CM N. Biren Singh<\/strong>, who blamed <strong>unregulated cross-border movement<\/strong> for fueling <strong>ethnic conflict in Manipur<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>However, <strong>Mizoram and Nagaland opposed the decision<\/strong>, and no official notification or bilateral agreement has been made yet.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>FMR was introduced in 1968<\/strong> and initially allowed movement up to <strong>40 km<\/strong>, later <strong>reduced to 16 km in 2004<\/strong>, with additional <strong>regulations enforced in 2016<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>About Free Movement Regime (FMR)<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The FMR is a bilateral arrangement<\/strong> between <strong>India and Myanmar<\/strong> that permits unrestricted movement <strong>within 16 km<\/strong> on either side of the <strong>1,643 km Indo-Myanmar border (IMB)<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Eligibility<\/strong>: Any member of the <strong>hill tribes<\/strong> (whether an <strong>Indian or Myanmar citizen<\/strong>) can cross the border <strong>with a border pass valid for one year<\/strong> and <strong>stay for up to two weeks per visit<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Objective<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li>To maintain <strong>historical, cultural, and social ties<\/strong> between the trans-border communities.<\/li>\n<li>To <strong>boost local trade<\/strong> and facilitate <strong>familial visits<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>To serve as a <strong>unique case of cross-border cooperation<\/strong> under <strong>India\u2019s Act East Policy<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Implementation<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li>Introduced formally in <strong>2018<\/strong>, although movement existed <strong>informally for centuries<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Inspired by <strong>India&#8217;s Act East Policy<\/strong>, which aims to <strong>strengthen ties<\/strong> with Southeast Asian nations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Free Movement Regime FAQs<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Q1. <\/strong>What is the Free Movement Regime (FMR)?<br \/>\n<strong>Ans.<\/strong> FMR is an agreement between India and Myanmar that allows border residents to travel visa-free within a specified range for social and economic interactions.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q2. <\/strong>What is the distance limit for movement under FMR?<br \/>\n<strong>Ans.<\/strong> Indian and Myanmar residents living within 16 km of the border can cross freely with a border pass for up to two weeks.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q3.<\/strong> Why is the FMR important for India-Myanmar relations?<br \/>\n<strong>Ans. <\/strong>FMR facilitates people-to-people connectivity, trade, and cultural exchanges while addressing security concerns like insurgency and illegal activities.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q4.<\/strong> Which Indian states benefit from the FMR?<br \/>\n<strong>Ans: <\/strong>The FMR applies to Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, and Mizoram, which share a border with Myanmar.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/opinion\/op-ed\/should-the-free-movement-regime-between-india-and-myanmar-remain\/article69383147.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">TH<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The FMR is a bilateral arrangement between India and Myanmar that permits unrestricted movement within 16 km on either side of the 1,643 km Indo-Myanmar border (IMB).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":19802,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-19801","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}