NEW DELHI: Demographic changes caused by illegal migration are not limited to border areas, but its impact has extended “to urban centres, industrial corridors, tribal areas and other socio-economically sensitive areas,” a government notification said.
The notification issued by the Union Home Ministry regarding the formation of a high-level committee on demographic changes headed by Justice Prakash Prabhakar Nolikar, a retired Supreme Court judge, said “widespread challenges” have arisen from demographic changes due to illegal migration.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah had announced the formation of a committee to assess demographic changes across India due to “illegal migration and other unnatural causes.”
Headquartered in New Delhi, the committee will also include Census Commissioner, along with retired IAS officer Durga Shankar Mishra, former IPS officer Balaji Srivastava and Dr Shamika Ravi as members and will submit its report within a year.
“Joint Secretary, Home Ministry will be member secretary of this committee,” Shah said on Tuesday.
Demographic changes have been observed in certain areas of the country, which are “not attributable to natural fertility or mortality trends” but instead appear due to unnatural external factors such as “illegal migration, irregular population movement, and administrative laxity,” the notification said.
“Although these changes are clearly concentrated in border areas, their impact has extended beyond those areas, now affecting urban centres, industrial corridors, tribal areas and other socially and economically sensitive areas, severely impacting the delivery of public services, local governance, resource distribution and social cohesion,” the report said.
The current institutional framework was not adequately equipped to undertake a coordinated, evidence-based and time-bound assessment and response to such demographic shifts, the notification said.
“…Therefore, the Government of India has decided to constitute a High Level Committee on Demographic Changes under the Ministry of Home Affairs to undertake a scientific study of the nature, causes and consequences of these demographic changes taking place across the country and recommend appropriate policies, administrative and legal measures.”
The committee is tasked with submitting its report within a year after conducting a comprehensive study of the challenges arising from demographic changes, including illegal immigration.
The commission will examine potential causes of these demographic changes, such as differences in fertility, cross-border movement, economic opportunities, and other social and environmental factors and the underlying factors behind the changes, including illegal immigration, abnormal settlement patterns, and planned migration.
It will analyze demographic structural changes at the level of religious or social communities, especially those that move away from uniform trends, and recommend a well-organized and permanent operational system for “the legal, fair and time-bound identification, detention and deportation of illegal immigrants already residing in the country.”
The committee will also recommend an institutional mechanism to strengthen border management, population stabilization and identification systems for continuous monitoring of these trends, besides proposing a comprehensive policy framework to enhance coordination between the Center and state governments on such matters, she added.
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