While the rest of India debates borders and satellite imagery, the people living closest to those very borders can’t even send a WhatsApp message.
Taksing and Limeking circles in Upper Subansiri district have been making headlines lately — but only for Chinese intrusion. What the cameras miss, and what the headlines rarely mention, is the quiet, grinding struggle of everyday life in these two remote circles, perched more than 200 kilometres away from the district headquarters of Daporijo. The roads are a nightmare. The phone towers are a joke. And the people? They are exhausted.
“There are a few mobile towers in the area, but they do not work most of the time. They are present only for namesake. If we send a message on WhatsApp, it takes three days to deliver. Sometimes, we have to wait the whole day to send one message,” said Tania Chader, a local resident of Taksing circle. Three days. For a WhatsApp message. In 2026.
The frustration runs even deeper when you consider the Frontier Highway — a project that many locals once saw as a lifeline. Initially, residents were told the highway would be constructed just 20 km from the Line of Actual Control. But when it was finally approved, the route shifted dramatically. It is now being built 130 km away from Taksing. Chader didn’t mince words about what that means. “Sometimes, I feel the Indian government does not think of Taksing as part of India,” he said. That line stings — and it should.
The road connecting Daporijo to Taksing, especially the stretch between Nacho and Taksing, is in a condition that would embarrass any functioning administration. Panchayat leader Prakash Hari described it bluntly: two vehicles cannot pass each other. The Army, which is supposed to be defending this very territory, struggles to move its own equipment along this track. Think about that for a moment.
“We have repeatedly raised this issue, but there has been no initiative from the government,” Hari said. He added that even Army officials posted in the area cannot speak to their families on the phone. Soldiers guarding India’s border, unable to call home. That is not a small problem.
Tai Mra, the gaon bura of Galemo village — a settlement sitting just a few kilometres from the McMahon Line in Limeking circle — echoed the call for a proper two-lane highway on an urgent basis. He also pointed to the near-total absence of healthcare and education. Most families are forced to send their children all the way to Daporijo or Itanagar for schooling. When there’s a medical emergency, people depend on Army doctors. That’s not a backup plan — that’s the only plan.
The young people feel it most sharply. “We cannot even apply for jobs and have to go to Daporijo to apply for government jobs. Today, everything is done online. We feel neglected by the government,” said Tali Chader, a young villager who, like many others, is watching opportunities pass by simply because he can’t get a stable internet connection.
The strategic importance of Taksing and Limeking is talked about in Parliament, in think tanks, and in television studios. But strategy means nothing to a mother who can’t reach a doctor, or a student who can’t apply for a job. These villages don’t need sympathy — they need roads, signals, and the basic dignity of being treated like they belong to the country they’re being asked to defend.
