India shares a land boundary with Myanmar. The numbers given are false - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 18, 2019
An image of a map is being shared on social media with a claim that Rohingya people need to travel 1,769 Km to enter India whereas they need to travel just 2 Km to enter China. It is also being claimed that Rohingya people still prefer India to China, in spite of the 1,769 Km long journey to enter India. Let’s try to analyze the claim made in the post.
Rohingya people want to travel 1,769 Km to enter India. But don’t want to travel 2 Km to enter China.
Fact: Myanmar shares borders with both India and China. The map in the post ignores North-Eastern India. Also, the Rohingya people in Myanmar are majorly concentrated in the Rakhine State, which is closer to India than China. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
In the map given in the post, it can be observed that North-Eastern India has been ignored. India shares a boundary of 1,643 Km with Myanmar. North-Eastern Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, and Mizoram share the borders with Myanmar.
The distance required to travel to enter India from Myanmar depends on the locations of origin and destination. The distance given in the post to enter India is 1,769 Km. On looking at the possible combinations for that distance, one combination for that distance was to travel from Mandalay (a prominent city in Myanmar and its geographical location is nearly at the center of Myanmar) to Nagpur (India). But, even in this combination, the Rohingya people will enter India much before they reach Nagpur.
If Mandalay city is taken as a reference point (as it is centrally located), it can be seen that the nearest Indian border is at a distance of around 280 Km and the nearest Chinese border is around 260 Km.
In the above maps, the geographical concentration of the Rohingya people in Myanmar is not considered. According to reports by UN and media agencies, the Rohingya people are majorly concentrated in the Rakhine State of Myanmar. Even in the Lok Sabha, in an answer to a question on Rohingya people, the government has said that the ‘Government of India has taken up the issue of the exodus of people from Rakhine State of Myanmar both with Government of Myanmar and Government of Bangladesh”. The Aljazeera infographic regarding the spatial concentration of Rohingya people in Myanmar can be seen below.
From the infographic, it can be observed that the Rohingya dominated areas are much closer to India than China. Also, from another Aljazeera infographic, it can be seen that the Rohingya people are mostly migrating to the countries to the west of Myanmar (not just migrating to India).
To sum it up, India shares a land boundary with Myanmar. The numbersgiven are false.
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