Illegal immigration in India
In terms of the relevant Indian law, any person residing in the country without an official permission is an illegal immigrant. Those who are explicitly granted refugee status do not fall under this category. See refugees in India.
Contents |
[edit] Origin of immigrants
Bangladeshis form the largest group of migrants in India. As per 2001 census there are 3,084,826 people in India who came from Bangladesh[1] No reliable numbers on illegal immigrants are currently available. Extrapolating the census data gives a figure of 2 million.[2][3] Although figures as high as 20 million are also reported in the media.[4][5] 1971's liberation war and continued political and economic turmoil in Bangladesh in the following decades forced some Bangladeshis to seek refuge in India. Most of them migrated to the border states, particularly West Bengal and Assam.[3] This issue became more visible after the 1991 census when patterns of abnormally high growth rate of Muslims were observed in the border states Assam and West Bengal. In 1991 census Muslim population growth rates in these states were found to be much higher than the growth rates of the local Hindu population even after adjusting for the usual higher growth rate of Muslims observed throughout the country.[2][3][6] See the following tables for detail.[2][3][6][7][8][9]
| Period | % Growth during 1971-1991[10] | % Growth during 1991-2001 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Groups | Hindus | Muslims | Difference | Hindus | Muslims | Difference |
| Assam | 41.89 | 77.42 | 35.53 | 14.95 | 29.3 | 14.35 |
| All India | 53.25 | 73.04 | 19.79 | 20 | 29.3 | 9.3 |
| Period | % Growth during 1981-1991 | % Growth during 1991-2001 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Groups | Hindus | Muslims | Difference | Hindus | Muslims | Difference |
| West Bengal | 21.05 | 36.67 | 15.62 | 14.26 | 26.1 | 11.84 |
| All India | 22.8 | 32.9 | 10.1 | 20 | 29.3 | 9.3 |
India faces infiltration of Kashmiri terrorist groups in Jammu and Kashmir.[11][12] There are estimated 50,000-100,000 Burmese Chin immigrants residing in India, mostly in the Indian state of Mizoram and a small number is found in Delhi.[13][14][15]
[edit] Political concerns
In Assam, agitation against immigrants started as early as 1979, led by All Assam Students Union.[16] Their demand was to put a stop on the influx of immigrants and deportation of those who have already settled.[17] It gradually took violent form and ethnic violence started between Assamese and Bengalis, mostly Muslim. It eventually led to the infamous Nellie massacre in 1983 due to a controversy over the 1983 election.[18] In 1985 Indian Government signed the Assam accord with the leaders of the agitation to stop the issue.[17][19] As per the accord India started building a fence along the Assam-Bangladesh border which is now almost complete.[20] However Assam also has a large number of genuine Indian Muslim Bengalis. It is difficult to distinguish between illegal Bangaldeshis and local Bengali speakers.[21] In some cases genuine Indian citizens have been discriminated[3][22] Allegations exist that nationalist parties such as the Bharatiya Janata Party as well as the Indian National Congress have discriminated against Bengali-speaking Muslims.[23] On the other hand in some places reports of Bangladeshis being able to secure Indian ration and voter identity cards have come out.[24][25]
After 1991 census the changing demographic patterns in border districts became more visible.[2][17] It created anxiety and tension in India throughout the nineties. Both conservatives[26] as well as moderates[2] expressed concern on this issue. The first BJP government came into power in 1998 and subsequently ordered the construction of the Indo-Bangladesh barrier to stop migrants and illegal trade along the border. It was planned to enhance the already existing barrier in Assam and to encircle West Bengal, Tripura and Mizoram as well.[27][28][29]
The other Indian state affected by this problem, West Bengal, remained mostly calm during this period. However Indian newspapers reported that "the state government has reports that illegal Bangladeshi migrants have trickled into parts of rural Bengal, including Nandigram,[30] over the years, and settled down as sharecroppers with the help of local Left leaders. Though a majority of these immigrants became tillers, they lacked documents to prove the ownership of land[30]".
The Government of Bangladesh has denied India's claims on illegal immigration.[31][32]
After 2001 census the anxiety somewhat reduced when the growth rates were found to have returned to near normal level, particularly in West Bengal, thus negating the fear that there was an unabated influx of migrants.[33][34] Although some concern remains. In 2005, a Supreme Court bench ruled Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act (IMDT) as unconstitutional while,[35] with reference to the Sinha Report,[36] maintaining that the impact of the "aggression" represented by large-scale illegal migrants from Bangladesh had made the life of the people of Assam "wholly insecure and the panic generated thereby had created fear psychosis" and other north-eastern States.[35] In August 2008, the Delhi High Court dismissed a petition by a Bangladeshi national against her deportation. The High Court ruled that the illegal Bangladeshi immigrants "pose a danger to India's internal security".[37]
Lately, Bangladeshi illegal migrants have been moving to Kerala owing to the high wages for unskilled and semi-skilled laborers in the state. The Kerala police are reportedly finding it difficult to check the influx of these Bangladeshi illegal migrants.[38] Kerala State Intelligence officials said they found that a large section of migrant laborers in the state claiming to be from West Bengal was actually from Bangladesh.[39]
[edit] Social concerns
Apart from immigrants a large numbers smugglers regularly cross the porous border along West Bengal into India.[40] They mainly engage in smuggling goods and livestock from India into Bangladesh to avoid high tariff imposed on some Indian goods by Bangladesh government.[40] Bangladeshi women and girls are also trafficked to India and via India to Middle East for forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation.[41] The Centre for Women and Children Studies estimated in 1998 that 27,000 Bangladeshis have been forced into prostitution in India.[42][43] According to CEDAW report, 1% of foreign prostitutes in India and 2.7% of prostitutes in Kolkata are from Bangladesh.[44]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Census of India 2001. Data Highlights: Migration Tables. Pg 19
- ^ a b c d e Population Explosion in West Bengal: A Survey
- ^ a b c d e Report on illegal migration into Assam
- ^ 2 cr Bangladeshis in India: Fernandes Tribune India - 27 September 2003
- ^ Illegal Bangladeshi Immigration
- ^ a b Report by Sachar Committee, Appendix tables 3.1-3.5, Page:271-278
- ^ Census Reference Tables, C-Series Population by religious communities
- ^ Manorama yearbook 1998
- ^ Manorama yearbook 2008
- ^ There was no census in Assam in 1981
- ^ Jammu and Kashmir Assessment - Year 2010
- ^ Army chief Deepak Kapoor : Infiltration in Kashmir has increased
- ^ India: Close The gap for Burmese refugees
- ^ Burmese refugees in India - Online Burma Library
- ^ Survival, Dignity, and Democracy: Burmese Refugees in India, 1997
- ^ From 1979 to 1985: The Anti-Foreigners Movement in Assam
- ^ a b c Report on illegal migration into assam
- ^ Nellie 1983: A series by TwoCircles.net
- ^ Full text of the accord
- ^ Achievements of Assam accord
- ^ Indifference, impotence, and intolerance:transnational Bangladeshis in India, Sujata Ramachandran
- ^ India Ignores Illegal Migration In Northeast India, People Continue to Suffer
- ^ Making a 'menace' of migrants, Vir Sanghvi The Nation - 6 January 2006
- ^ 22 illegal immigrants from Bangladesh held The Hindu - 9 October 2007
- ^ Anandabazar Patrika, Bengali daily, Calcutta, 8 March 1995.
- ^ India as an Ostrich
- ^ Ministry of Home Affairs, Annual Report 2009-2010, p: 28
- ^ BBC NEWS | South Asia | India's battle to seal porous borders
- ^ Villagers left in limbo by border fence, 28 January 2006
- ^ a b Left Front puts Nandigram land acquisition on hold, The Financial Express, 18 March 2007
- ^ Problem of Bangladeshi migrants
- ^ The Bengal Borderland: Beyond State and Nation in South Asia By Willem van Schendel, Published 2005, Anthem Press
- ^ Differing population growth figure in West Bengal
- ^ Sharp fall in migration from Bangladesh
- ^ a b IMDT Act is the biggest barrier to deportation, says Supreme Court, The Hindu
- ^ act arouses aggression: SC, Times of India
- ^ Illegal Bangladeshi immigrants threat to India: court
- ^ Bangladeshi migrants giving cops the jitters Times of India Nov 10, 2011, 07.45PM IST
- ^ http://www.hindu.com/2009/03/31/stories/2009033155411100.htm
- ^ a b World bank report
- ^ CIA Factbook
- ^ Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, Factbook on Global Sexual Exploitation, Donna M. Hughes, Laura Joy Sporcic, Nadine Z. Mendelsohn and Vanessa Chirgwin
- ^ Trafficking in Bangladeshi Women and Girls, by Bimal Kanti Paul; Syed Abu Hasnath, Geographical Review, p.268-276, April 2000
- ^ Third and fourth periodic reports of States parties, COMMITTEE ON THE ELIMINATION OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN, UNITED NATIONS
[edit] External links
- Bangladeshis in Assam flee anti-migrant drive, International Herald Tribune, 20 May 2005.
- Bangladesh, Factbook on Global Sexual Exploitation, Coalition Against Trafficking in Women
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
