Govt clears committee to study illegal immigration

New Delhi: The cabinet has approved a proposal to establish a high-level committee to study and suggest measures on demographic changes arising out of illegal immigration in the country, sources said.

The move comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech announced a demography mission to protect the country from the dangers posed by illegal immigrants. Modi had said that under a well-thought-out conspiracy, the country's demography was being changed, adding that these illegal infiltrators were misleading tribals and grabbing their land.

Earlier this week also, Modi again raised this issue in the bordering state of Assam and said that a demographic mission was being started in the country.


Sources said the proposal was moved in the last cabinet meeting on September 10, and it came as "on table agenda", and was approved in the meeting. Union home minister Amit Shah is also learnt to have briefed the Union Cabinet about the high-level committee.

Sources suggested the details of the composition of the high-level committee would emerge once it gets notified, but it could include officials from the security establishment and several states as well. The primary focus would be on the border states, where on several occasions security establishments have raised concerns, they said.

Last month at the Vibrant Villages programme in the national capital, Shah asserted that demographic changes in the border were part of a "deliberate design" and asked chief secretaries of states and chiefs of forces that guard the borders to pay "attention to this issue".

Sources also informed that a similar exercise is being carried out by the European Commission to study demography changes and it has devised a 'Demography Toolbox', which provides legal, policy, and financial instruments to tackle demographic transformation.

In the past conferences, state DGPs, police officers from Uttar Pradesh and Assam had submitted research papers that highlighted demographic changes in districts along the International Border with Nep al and Bangladesh.With assembly elections due in Bihar this year, and Assam and West Bengal next year - all three being bordering states - the issue of illegal immigration will gain a lot of political momentum.