Welcome and Inaugural Keynote Address

09:00 - 09:45 AM: Arunachal Pradesh at the Frontier: Sovereignty, Border Security and India’s Eastern Himalayan Strategy

Context
Arunachal Pradesh occupies one of the most sensitive positions in India’s national security architecture. Sharing borders with China, Myanmar and Bhutan, the state is both a strategic frontier and a civilisational bridge between the Himalayas, Southeast Asia and the Northeast. The Line of Actual Control, China’s repeated cartographic and nomenclature assertions, the Tawang sector, the Siang river system, border villages, trans-Himalayan connectivity and the eastern districts of Tirap, Changlang and Longding make Arunachal a state where sovereignty, security, development and local identity converge. This opening session will frame Arunachal Pradesh not merely as a border state, but as a decisive theatre for India’s territorial confidence, community resilience and forward-looking frontier governance.

Guiding questions

• How does Arunachal Pradesh’s geography make it central to India’s national security, China policy and eastern frontier strategy?

• How should India respond to cartographic aggression, psychological pressure and recurring external claims without allowing local insecurity to deepen?

• How can Arunachal’s border communities become active stakeholders in national security rather than passive inhabitants of a strategic frontier?

• What balance is required between military preparedness, border development, ecological sensitivity and protection of indigenous identity?

Speaker
TBD

10:00 - 10:45 AM: LAC Security, Tawang and Strategic Infrastructure: From Defensive Posture to Frontier Preparedness

Context
The LAC in Arunachal Pradesh demands a security approach that combines military readiness, infrastructure, intelligence, diplomacy and public confidence. Tawang, Sela, Bum La, Zemithang, Kibithoo, Tuting, Mechuka and other forward areas are no longer only remote border locations; they are critical spaces in India’s strategic signalling. Projects such as Sela Tunnel, forward roads, bridges, aviation infrastructure, telecom connectivity and logistics routes have changed the security calculus. However, infrastructure must be seen not only as a military asset but also as a tool for civilian confidence, tourism, disaster response, administrative reach and border population retention.

Guiding questions

• How has improved infrastructure changed India’s operational preparedness along the Arunachal sector of the LAC?

• What are the remaining gaps in roads, bridges, air connectivity, telecom, logistics and winter access in forward areas?

• How can military infrastructure and civilian development be integrated without creating anxiety among local communities?

• What role can border tourism, cultural diplomacy and civilian presence play in strengthening India’s sovereignty narrative?

Speakers
TBD

11:00 - 11:45 AM: Vibrant Border Villages and Frontier Governance: Security through Development, Trust and Population Retention

Context
Arunachal’s border villages are vital to India’s long-term frontier security. Migration from remote villages, lack of livelihood opportunities, poor connectivity, weak digital access and limited public services can create a security vacuum in strategically sensitive areas. The Vibrant Villages Programme provides an opportunity to treat border citizens as the first layer of national resilience. This session will examine how road connectivity, telecom, renewable energy, health access, education, tourism, local enterprise, traditional institutions and district administration can together create a development-security compact in Arunachal’s border regions.

Guiding questions

• How can the Vibrant Villages Programme be converted into a practical border security and livelihood model for Arunachal Pradesh?

• What are the major service gaps affecting border villages in terms of roads, health, education, telecom, markets and emergency response?

• How can local youth be retained through tourism, agri-value chains, handicrafts, logistics, digital services and security-linked employment?

• What monitoring mechanism is needed to ensure that border development schemes produce measurable local outcomes?

Speakers
TBD

13:00 - 13:45 PM: TCL Region, Myanmar Spillover and Insurgency Residues: Preventive Counterterrorism in Eastern Arunachal Pradesh

Context
The districts of Tirap, Changlang and Longding remain central to Arunachal’s internal security concerns. Their proximity to Myanmar, history of insurgent movement, extortion networks, armed group influence, cross-border shelters and difficult terrain require a preventive security approach. The challenge is no longer limited to conventional insurgency alone. Armed mobilisation can now overlap with narcotics, illegal taxation, recruitment, intimidation, local grievances, digital propaganda and cross-border instability from Myanmar. This session will examine how Arunachal can move from periodic operations to a long-term preventive counterterrorism and community confidence framework.

Guiding questions

• What are the current security risks emerging from Tirap, Changlang and Longding in the context of Myanmar’s instability?

• How can residual insurgent networks, extortion systems, recruitment channels and cross-border linkages be disrupted?

• What role can Assam Rifles, Arunachal Pradesh Police, intelligence agencies and civil administration play in coordinated preventive security?

• How can security operations avoid alienating communities while firmly addressing armed intimidation and criminal capture?

Speakers
TBD

14:00 - 14:45 PM: Preying the Predator: Narcotics, Opium, Synthetic Drugs and the Principles of Organised Crime

Context
Arunachal Pradesh is exposed to narcotics risks from both local vulnerability and wider Myanmar-linked trafficking routes. Opium cultivation, synthetic drugs, courier networks, addiction, informal transport corridors, inter-state movement and cross-border criminal linkages create a serious social and security challenge. Organised crime does not operate only through seizures and carriers; it depends on route control, local facilitators, financiers, protection networks, corruption risk, demand creation and youth recruitment. This session will examine how Arunachal can shift from seizure-led enforcement to network-led disruption, while also addressing addiction, rehabilitation and livelihood alternatives.

Guiding questions

• How do narcotics, opium, synthetic drugs and other contraband move through Arunachal’s eastern and inter-state routes?

• How do organised crime networks use local facilitators, terrain, transport nodes, debt, addiction and unemployment to sustain trafficking?

• What should be the right mix of intelligence, financial investigation, asset seizure, community reporting, de-addiction and livelihood substitution?

• How can agencies target financiers, handlers, recruiters, transporters and protection networks rather than only low-level carriers?

Speakers
TBD

15:00 - 15:45 PM: Identity, Mobility and Human Security: ILP, Illegal Immigration, Trafficking and Protection of Indigenous Communities

Context
Arunachal’s internal security is closely tied to lawful mobility, demographic confidence and protection of indigenous communities. The Inner Line Permit system remains an important administrative instrument, but its enforcement must be transparent, lawful and technology-enabled. Illegal immigration, forged documents, unauthorised labour movement, child trafficking, domestic servitude, inter-state trafficking networks and identity anxieties require a careful response. The challenge is to protect indigenous rights without encouraging vigilantism, unlawful checks, ethnic profiling or harassment of genuine workers and visitors. This session will examine how Arunachal can build a lawful, humane and accountable mobility-management framework.

Guiding questions

• How can Arunachal strengthen ILP enforcement while ensuring that verification remains lawful, transparent and non-discriminatory?

• What systems are needed to detect forged documents, illegal entrants, trafficking victims and organised facilitators?

• How can authorities protect indigenous tribal rights without encouraging informal policing or community-level vigilantism?

• What safeguards are required for labour regulation, child protection, victim rescue, shelter support and prosecution of traffickers?

Speakers
TBD

16:00 - 16:45 PM: Hydropower, Ecology and Security: Development, Indigenous Consent and the Siang–Brahmaputra Question

Context
Arunachal Pradesh is central to India’s hydropower, water security and renewable energy ambitions. Projects on the Siang, Subansiri, Dibang and Lohit river systems are linked to national energy needs, downstream flood management and strategic concerns over China’s upstream river projects. At the same time, large hydropower projects raise serious concerns around displacement, land rights, seismic vulnerability, ecological disruption, cultural heritage, livelihood loss and community consent. This session will examine hydropower not merely as an energy issue, but as a security-sensitive development question that must balance national strategy with indigenous trust.

Guiding questions

• How should Arunachal balance national energy security, river security and local community concerns around hydropower projects?

• What are the key anxieties around displacement, compensation, sacred landscapes, ecological risk and downstream impact?

• How can public consultation, scientific transparency and disaster-risk assessment improve trust in major infrastructure projects?

• What framework is needed to ensure that hydropower development strengthens security without creating long-term social conflict?

Speakers
TBD

16:45 - 17:30 PM: Youth, Civil Society and Community Resilience: Preventing Drugs, Recruitment and Social Fragmentation

Context
Arunachal’s youth are central to the state’s security future. Border remoteness, unemployment, drug exposure, weak access to higher education, migration pressures, identity anxieties and limited livelihood pathways can make young people vulnerable to addiction, trafficking, courier work, armed recruitment, misinformation and anti-development mobilisation. Civil society organisations, student unions, women’s groups, tribal bodies, religious institutions, village councils, schools and local leaders can play a decisive role in prevention. This session will focus on building a youth security framework rooted in dignity, livelihood, counselling, sports, education and community leadership.

Guiding questions

• What are the major insecurities affecting youth in Arunachal’s border, tribal and eastern districts?

• How can civil society organisations help prevent recruitment into narcotics networks, trafficking, extortion and armed mobilisation?

• What rehabilitation models are needed for drug-affected youth, former couriers, vulnerable students and unemployed borderland populations?

• How can education, sports, skill training, entrepreneurship, counselling and traditional institutions be integrated into a youth resilience programme?

Speakers
TBD

17:30 - 18:15 PM: Press, Public Communication and Information Warfare: Countering Rumours, External Narratives and Digital Polarisation

Context
Arunachal’s security environment is shaped not only by borders and terrain but also by narratives. Rumours around the LAC, fake maps, external propaganda, ethnic messaging, misinformation around ILP, hydropower protests, narcotics enforcement, migration and security operations can affect public order and community trust. The press can become a vital partner in responsible reporting, verification, public awareness and democratic accountability. This session will examine how journalists, editors, digital creators, public communication officers and security agencies can work together to counter information warfare while protecting press freedom and local voices.

Guiding questions

• How do rumours, fake maps, external narratives and digital propaganda affect Arunachal’s internal security?

• What role should the press play in verifying sensitive information on LAC incidents, migration, narcotics, hydropower, trafficking and ethnic tension?

• How can security agencies communicate with journalists without compromising operations or restricting legitimate reporting?

• What framework is needed for responsible crisis reporting, multilingual communication, fact-checking and public confidence?

Speakers
TBD

18:15 - 19:00 PM: Pathways to Stabilisation: Arunachal Border Peace, Security and Development Framework

Context
Arunachal Pradesh requires an integrated security framework that connects LAC preparedness, border village development, TCL stabilisation, counter-narcotics action, lawful mobility, indigenous rights, hydropower governance, youth rehabilitation and information resilience. These challenges cannot be handled as separate administrative silos. The concluding session will identify a practical 12–24 month roadmap for Arunachal Pradesh that combines national security, local trust, lawful development and community-led resilience.

Guiding questions

• What should an Arunachal Border Peace, Security and Development Framework include over the next 12–24 months?

• How can India integrate LAC preparedness, Vibrant Villages, counterinsurgency, anti-narcotics work, ILP reform and youth rehabilitation?

• What inter-agency mechanism is needed between the Army, ITBP, Assam Rifles, Arunachal Pradesh Police, NCB, DRI, Customs, intelligence agencies, BRO, district administration and civil society?

• How can Arunachal become a model for frontier governance where sovereignty, development, indigenous confidence and organised crime disruption reinforce each other?

Speakers
TBD