Socio-economic perspective of the illegal foreigners problem of Assam(India)’

Title: ‘Socio-economic perspective of the  illegal foreigners problem of Assam(India)’

Abstract:   This paper aims to examine and understand the influx of ‘foreigners’ into the state of Assam(India)and its historical background. The paper has been prepared depending on the relevance of the problem even today after a prolonged 28 years.(ref. Assam accord) Despite  the changes of the Central and state  Govt. in both the  centre and the state(Assam),the issue remains an unsolved mystery  to the people of Assam because of political causes and ‘Vote Bank’ politics. The issue is a grave concern in the modern context because   Govt. is turning deaf  ears even after a historical accord. It is really a shameless for the world’s largest democracy.(i.e. India). A political will to eliminate this problem to save the identity of indigenous population of the state has not been witnessed since the later part of the last century. To showcase the entire problem regarding illegal infiltration of foreigners on the soil of Assam, this paper analyses each step with a lucid manner along with relevant statistical data. Historical perspective of this vexed imbroglio has been made to analyze the influx problem into three phases namely-

   (i)Problem of identity crisis /Social problem,

   (ii)Economic Problem,

   (iii)Change of Political Scenario.

  (iv)Problem of internal security threat.

        The remedial measures to get rid of this problem are also suggested to save the succeeding generations of the state from total decadence.

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                            ‘Socio-economic perspective of the foreigner’s problem of Assam (India)’

                                                                                                        

                                                                                                        

  Introduction:   The problem of infiltration of foreigners has already affected the Assamese race in various ways. Therefore, to focus mainly on what jeopardy the infiltration has carried to the land of Assam we can basically divide it into four main problems:

               (A) Problem of identity/Social Problem,

              (B)Economic Problem,

             (C) Political Problem,

             (D)Problem of internal security threat.

(A)    Problem of Identity/ Social Problem:

Before going into the depth of the problem, it is better to go back to the early days. At the later part of Ahom kingdom, British took over the ruler ship of Assam as a result of Yandaboo Treaty (1826) which was concluded between the British and the Burmese and British adjoined it with Bengal presidency. Due to the conspiracy of a handful of Bengali speaking clerks and bureaucrats, Assamese language was eliminated from the schools and courts of Assam in 1836. Those people convinced the British wrongly that Assamese is not an independent language but a deviated form of Bengali language .Instead of Assamese language, Bengali language was declared as official language of Assam in 1837.  It was a time of peril for the Assamese language as because no proper steps were undertaken to revive the Assamese language. At that time, the American Baptist Missionaries came to Assam with a view to propagate Christianity. They took the endeavor to revive the Assamese language as an instrument to fulfill their objective. As a result, the British Govt. restored the Assamese language in the schools and courts of Assam in 1872.Gradually, at the hands of some Assamese stalwarts the Assamese language began to grow steadily.

After independence, the political and demographic pattern of Assam began to change. The Census of 1951 shows a clear picture:

                                                Table showing the decreasing trend of Assamese speaking people in 1951

                               

District/valley/State	p.c. of Assamese speaking population	p.c. of Bengali speaking population
Goalpara	18.3	54.0
Kamrup	66.5	17.5
Darrang	32.9	17.2
Nagaon	42.2	34.4
Sibsagar	-	-
Dibrugarh+Lakhimpur	-	-
Brahmaputra Valley	42.0	23.0
Assam	35.31	29.9

(Census of Assam, 1951)

Though gradually in the later period the ratio of Assamese speaking populace began to increase, yet some serious threat to the Assamese language started cropping up. Due to the increase of population the number of Assamese speaking population increases to a some extent. But it does not mean that the language is free from any threat. Apart from language, the pure Assamese culture also began to lose its originality which is a matter of serious concern. Off an on, some sinister forces misguide the people coming from outside not to show the Assamese language as their mother tongue at the time of Census which may minimize the number of Assamese speaking population

The British took over the ruler ship Assam and adjoined it with the Bengal presidency. In 1831, in Bongodesh,(Bengal) the Bengali language was established as the State language. Hence, Assam being a part of Bongodesh (Bengal) till then, the Bengali was declared as the state language of Assam in 1837.At a time, when the Bengali language was spoken and written all over Assam, the relevance of even its mother tongue, Assamese language started declining gradually. Schools, Colleges and even in Offices instead of Assamese, the Bengali language was used. It is worth noting that till then not even a single Assamese person stood against these circumstances and in turn, welcomed it warmly. At that time, the relevance of Assamese language was thought by not the Assamese people but by the Baptist Missionaries. In the year 1846, they published ‘Arunudoi’ a monthly journal which was purely devoted to religion, science and general intelligence. Through this journal, the Baptists Missionaries tried to restore Assamese language in schools and courts of Assam. In this regard, the role of Rev. Nathan Brown and Oliver T. Katter is worth mentioning. At this crucial circumstance, some renowned missionaries’ like-Sir Moffat Mills, Cartel Hutton etc. were in favor of Assamese language. In the report published in 1853-1854, Mills stated that “A child is not taught Latin until and unless he has mastered in his mother tongue”.(i.e. English) In the same manner ,any Assamese person should not be taught a foreign language without he has mastered his own language. However, missionaries like-William  Robinson, Rev. Commander  Captain F. Jenkins ,Commissioner of Assam Valley Colonel Hopkinson, A.E. Campbell  etc. were in  favor of Bengali Language.

 In the end, this dilemma was put to an end by the Ly. Governor of Bengal, Sir George Campbell. He took a strong  endeavor to re-establish Assamese language at the schools, courts etc .On 10^th November,1896,the  chief Commissioner of Assam, Sir William E. Ward  published a circular that all the schools of the district Head Quarters will be taught Assamese from the next year, of course, only if parents and students demand so. Since the population of Bengalis in some districts of Assam were a majority in number, so the circular created a great havoc amongst the people and they objected to it. However, Mr. Ward was transferred and Sir Henry Cotton took his portfolio. His policy was alike Ward but he added some new to it. He said that in all the primary schools and Higher Secondary, Assamese should be taught as a medium of instruction, however, in colleges and courts, either English or Bengali should be carried on.

Since the Seventh decade of last century (1970), the porous border of Assam-Bangladesh increased the influx of Hindu and Muslim foreigners to the state particularly from erst while East Pakistan. Though the foreigners have not attacked the indigenous Assamese language directly, yet their increased population has minimized the number of Assamese speaking population in the state. Apart from this, the Assamese language has lost its accuracy particularly in verbal communication. A lot of unexpected words have acquired berths in the colloquial Assamese language. As a result of the age long Assamese language began to lose its sanctity and accuracy. Though the influx from Nepal is not alike with the Bangladesh influx, yet their growing tendency to popularize their language among the indigenous Nepalese of the state has given a blow to the existing Assamese language.

 (B) Political Problem:

This can be regarded as the second biggest problem created by the illegal infiltrators to Assam. The tremor of this problem mainly aroused amongst the people of Assam because they thought that Islamic majority would be increased. This had relevant logic since in the year 1881,number of Muslim population in Assam was 9% of the total population of Assam only, whereas, in 1931,it became 19% and in 1941,it swelled further to 23%.During the years 1931-1951,infiltration into Assam increased from 5,75,000 to 10,05,000(about 43% increased.

Moreover, during 1937-1945, the ‘Muslim League ’created by Sir Mohd. Sadullah formed Government about five times. This Govt. was the godfather of the infiltrators which paved the green signal to even more illegal infiltrators into the state. The abusive work and destructive politics of the Muslim League created a sense of tremor amongst the people of Assam. This fear reached its zenith when the Sadullah  Govt. tried to include Assam too along with Pakistan just before India was about to gain independence.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet Mission which came to India just before its independence (Lord Pat hick Lawrence, Sir Stafford Cripps and A.V. Alexander) decided to group some of the important states of India into three broad classifications. Namely:

Group A: To comprise of Madras (Present day Chennai), Bombay (present day Mumbai), Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa (present day Odisha)and Uttar Pradesh.

Group B: To comprise of Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan and North-West.

Group C: To comprise of Bengal (Bongodesh) and Assam.

Sensing danger that if the grouping would be successful, Assam is bound to be a part of Pakistan, Mr. Gopinath Bordoloi and his party-Assam Congress, protested against this policy. Lastly, after a lot of protests and debates, M. K. Gandhi (Gandhiji) issued a circular to both Assam Congress party and Muslim League that both the parties should be debarred from taking this decision. Ultimately, it happened and Assam was finally saved from being included with East Pakistan.

The issue has political resonance as there is a general understanding in Assam that most

of the local political parties depend on the votes of these illegal migrants for their hold on

power. This is a political paradox at its worst as it creates strong incentives (or perhaps

motivation) to do nothing on an issue that affects the society which is ironically represented

in power structures by these very political parties. Hence, there is a sense of growing helplessness and cynicism amongst the local population on the credibility of local political party discourses on tackling illegal migration from Bangladesh.

Significantly, in order to tackle the issue of illegal migration into Assam, the Centre set up

the Illegal Migration (Determination by Tribunals) Act, 1983 on December 12, 1983 under an act of Parliament. Applicable only to the state of Assam, the IMDT Act provided that anybody settled in Assam before March 25, 1971 was a legal citizen. Significantly, for the rest of India, the cut off date for acquiring Indian citizenship is July 19, 1948. The IMDT Act also laid the onus on the complainant rather than on the accused to prove the latter’s citizenship status. (The Foreigner’s Act, 1946, in contrast, lays the responsibility on the accused, and not on the complainant, to prove his/her citizenship status.) This was a killer clause as the person accused had to do nothing to prove his/her citizenship whereas the complainant had to prove that someone was illegal. The IMDT Act therefore failed to effectively identify and deport illegal migrants. Subsequently, on July 12, 2005, a three judge Bench of the Supreme Court comprising Chief Justice R. C. Lahoti, Justice G. P. Mathur and Justice P. K. Balasubramanyan ruled that the IMDT Act “created the biggest hurdle and is the main impediment or barrier in identification and deportation of illegal migrants.” The Bench also noted strongly that despite the fact that enquiries were initiated in 310,759 cases under the IMDT Act; only 10,015 persons were declared illegal migrants and out of this declared number, only 1,481 were physically expelled as of April 30, 2000. In comparison, West Bengal, which also has a huge influx of illegal Bangladeshi migrants, has deported nearly half a million till date under the Foreigners Act, 1946. The Bench held the Act unconstitutional and stated that it contravened Article 355 of the Constitution. Article 355 of the Indian Constitution entrusts upon the Union of India the duty to protect every state against “external aggression and internal disturbances”. The Supreme Court also directed the setting up of fresh tribunals under the Foreigners Act, 1946 and Foreigners (Tribunal Order) 1964. The effectiveness of these legal mechanisms to deal with the issue is however suspected. Till date, about 12 lacs Bangladeshi nationals have entered India legally with visas but have subsequently vanished without trace. This reflects the inability on the part of law enforcement agencies to perform the tasks of detecting and deporting these Bangladeshi citizens. The illegal migrants gradually began to enroll their names in the voter list with fake documents. In this respect, some sinister forces are also providing helping hands to them. In the meantime, some minority groups also came into being to rescue the illegal migrants in the pretext of communal and religious sentiments. Communal al feelings have been nourished by some forces to safeguard the minority section of the state which is basically comprised of illegal migrants. The political parties also began to take the chance to use the minority section of people as their ‘Vote Bank’. This is certainly a most stupendous and serious political problem of Assam. Apprehensions have been cropped up at the minds of the indigenous populace that within a near future the political fate of the state will be determined by illegal m migrants.

(C)  Economic Problem:

In order to analyze the economic problem created by the infiltrators into Assam, we can divide it into two phases:

(i)Pre Bangladesh formation period,

(ii)Post Bangladesh formation period.

(I)The infiltration of these categories of people into Assam started many years before India was divided. They were not termed as ‘foreigners’ before the formation of Pakistan. Therefore, these people were given their place to live in on the waste lands of Assam. In order to make assure that they don’t create any land problems to the local inhabitants of Assam, certain laws were framed. They were not allowed more than 15-20 acres of land and worked as slaves on the agricultural lands of the local inhabitants of Assam. It is worth noting that, since these people were very highly industrious and their wages were highly negligible, the rich farmers of Assam used them as workers. At that time, no serious threat was caused by the infiltrators in the social and economic aspects of the state. Yet, the gradual capture of cultivated land of Assam by the infiltrators began to start from this period which indicates the starting of problems in the economic arena of the state.

(II) Now, let us analyze the economic problems created by the infiltrators after Bangladesh was created. It is to be noted that as per ‘Nehru-Liyaqat Accord’, the people who migrated into India from newly created East Pakistan/Bangladesh, were established in Assam. As per 1931-1941 data, the amount of land Govt. offered to these people were-1,84,451 acre and in 1941-1951,it was 6,45,881 acre. Again, during the Bangladesh liberation struggle (1971), many people migrated into Assam from Bangladesh and they established themselves on the waste and uncultivated lands of Assam. The fertile land of Assam was the main source of attraction for the infiltrators. The prolonged Assam Agitation (1979-1985) carried out under the leadership of All Assam Students Union, which is regarded as the world’s largest students movement which lasted for six prolonged years to deport the foreigners from the soil of Assam, was carried out basically due to the economic problem caused by the illegal foreigners on Assam. This happened mainly due to the unsealed 268 k. m. Indo-Bangladesh border.[28 years from 1985-2013,it is still unsealed (41.4 k. m.) even after the historic Assam accord!!].Through this porous/unsealed Indo-Bangladesh border, the illegal infiltrators penetrated into Assam from Bangladesh. They occupied the waste lands/unused  lands, cleared up the  forests, and this certainly created a sense of peril into the minds of the middle class society of Assam.Moreover, it is important to note that most Bangladeshi migrants form the manual workforce in Assam: rickshaw pullers, house construction workers, house painters, gardeners, fieldworkers, road construction workers, vegetable vendors, etc. Women immigrants mostly work as maids. Significantly, these migrants are willing to work very hard, at odd hours and in the most arduous activities which local Assamese labour are unwilling to do. Hence, there is enough space in the workforce for the poorer sections of Bangladeshi society in Assam motivating them to risk coming illegally to the state to make a living. The flip side to this is that these illegal migrants manage to procure Indian citizenship by producing documents bought in the black market. Subsequently, the migrant families, being amongst the poorest section of society benefit from schemes like the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) and the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). Hence, the legal Indian citizens lose out against this illegally created citizenry in Assam. This situation is prevalent in states like Meghalaya and Nagaland as well. Moreover, the entity of the world famous Kaziranga National Park has been jeopardized due to the encroachment of lands by the suspected illegal migrants. It is also a most sensitive issue.

Therefore, though it is worth mentioned in the previous discussion that political problems was created by them, the economic problem now emerged as the most crucial one. As per statistical data of 1971, the agricultural land was 1.47 hectare, but it reduced to 1.37 hectare between 1976-1977.This clearly indicates the pressure and occupancy of infiltrators on the land of Assam.  This dangerous situation was effected mostly in the Goalpara, Kamrup, Nagaon and Darrang districts of Assam. The rural land-man ratio of Assam reduced to 26% between 1961-1971 as compared against national level of 16.7%.This fuelled up the spirits of Assam which may be termed as one of the causes of Assam Agitation.

(D) Problem of internal security threat:

The issue of illegal migration has an implication for India’s national security. It is now

established that most of the armed insurgent groups of Assam had established camps in Bangladesh and also

procured their weapons from the Cox Bazaar area near the Bangladesh-Myanmar border. With the change of government in Bangladesh and the explicit co-operation of the Awami League government led by Sheikh Hasina, Tapan Patowary, the leader of the KLO was caught in Dhaka. The chairman of ULFA, Arabinda Rajkhowa, and its Deputy Commander-in-Chief, Raju Baruah, were caught in Cox Bazaar on December 4, 2009 and later arrested by Assam Police across the Meghalaya-Bangladesh border.

 The ability to function with impunity within Bangladesh was not only due to help from within Bangladesh but also because of facilitation provided by a network of illegal migrants from within Assam to the extremist organizations. Logistical information about the areas in Bangladesh is also provided by this network in lieu of money given to them, which in turn compromises the security of Assam. The October 30,2009 attacks in Assam which killed 83 civilians and injured 30 was suspected to be the handiwork of some extremist groups and the Harkat-ul-Jihadi-e-Islami (HuJI) from Bangladesh with perhaps certain elements from the migrant population helping them in their devious tasks.  Such connections could be fostered with other outfits like the NSCN (IM) as well given the large presence of Bangladeshi migrant population in Dimapur and nearby areas. Moreover, the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in various pockets of Assam was parallel to its rise in the world. Organization like Al Qaeda also saw Assam as a new base for their designs of Islamization of the entire world. ISI grew active, and by polarizing the immigrant Muslim population, they ensured that illegal immigration which was an economic seepage became an external aggression. Intellectuals still deny its magnitude, but it is a harsh reality in many areas of Assam. Networks like HuJi have been active in Lower Assam and Barak Valley.

(detailed information in Annexure 2)

‘Who is a “foreigner” and what are the legal procedures to deport them??’(Ref. to Assam Accord, Annexure 1)

Class division of foreigners:

On 15^th August 1985, historic Assam Accord was signed by All Assam Students Union and govt. of India under the Prime Minister ship of Lt. Rajiv Gandhi. According to this historic accord, foreigners immigrating into Assam from Bangladesh were divided into three classes:

(i)Those who came to Assam prior to 1^st January, 1966,

(ii)Those who came to Assam on 1^st January 1966 and later but before 25^th March, 1971,

(iii)Those who came to Assam after 25^th March, 1971.

According to the Accord, Citizenship(Amendment)Act,1985 Sec(2) states that according to the Citizenship Act, Sec 6a(2),those infiltrators/foreigners who migrated to Assam before 1^st January,1966 will be awarded Indian Citizenship w. e .f. the above mentioned date and year.

According to Sec 2 of the Citizenship(Amendment)Act, it stated that  as per Citizenship Act of 1956 Sec 6(a)[3],those people who came to Assam on or after 1^st January,1966 but before 25^th March,1971 have to register themselves as foreigners before the Tribunal. These people would be debarred from any voting rights up to 10 years, however ,they will be availed all rights and benefits of the general Indian citizens after the expiry of the foresaid term. These people would be investigated under the Foreigners Tribunal Act.

Those people who migrated to Assam after 25^th March, 1971, would be investigated under Illegal Migrants(determination by Tribunal)Act,1983 and they would be deported from the state. According to this act, these fractions of infiltrators/immigrants are termed as ‘foreigners’ would be investigated and hence deported from the state and legal action would be taken against them.

DETECTION AND DEPORTATION

 Measures to stem illegal migration can be undertaken without any controversy but

any alternation of status quo in regard to detection and deportation of these migrants

will result in strident assertion of conflicting viewpoints. The "secular" parties and the

minorities do not see any danger from illegal migration. They believe that most of the so

called illegal migrants are Bengali speaking Indian Muslims and this issue has been

unnecessarily blown out of proportion. They fear that in the garb of deporting foreigners, Indian Muslims will be harassed. Thus they are for the continuance of IMDT Act in its present form. On the other hand, the majority community of Assam and the political parties dubbed as "communal" by the "secularists" have a diametrically opposite viewpoint. They are gravely concerned about the large influx of illegal migrants and want their ingress stopped. They also want that the highly discriminating IMDT Act be repealed forthwith. However, the controversial IMDT Act was repealed under writ petition (Civil) 131of 2000 by petitioner Sarbananda Sonowal on 12/7/2005 under the bench of the judges-R.C.Lahoti, G.P.Mathur, P.K.Balasubramanyan. Yet, no tangible results have been achieved so far. The Govt. of India with a positive mindset must have to come forward to expedite the detection procedure of foreigners to eliminate the possible threat to countries sovereignty in the days to come.

Deportation

International law does not provide for unilateral deportation in defiance of the views

of the country to which the deportation is to take place. With the stand now taken by

Bangladesh, it will not be possible for India to deport millions of illegal migrants to

Bangladesh. From 1993 to September 1998, the BSF tried to hand over 39,746 illegal

migrants to Bangladesh Rifles. The latter accepted only 9.253 and refused to accept

30.493. The acceptance figures by Bangladesh declined from 5799 in 1993 to only 55 in

1998 (up to 30 September).Moreover, the bursting population of Bangladesh creates a Malthusian nightmare and is

not conducive to that country accepting them. Further, our capability to identify and

deport over ten million such people is questionable. In these circumstances, deportation

of these illegal migrants is not now a practical proposition. It is the high time to have clear diplomatic relation between India and Bangladesh in regard to the deportation of illegal migrants from India to Bangladesh.

 The present status of Indo-Bangladesh Border and Assam Bangladesh Border:

The entire problem of influx of foreigners is the cause of the porous Indo-Bangladesh border in general and Assam Bangladesh border in particular. The Indian side of the Indo-Bangladesh border passes through West Bengal (2216.7 km), Assam (263 km), Meghalaya (443 km), Tripura (856 km) and Mizoram (318 km). Assam shares a 263 km of border with Bangladesh out of which 143.9 km is land and 119.1 km is riverine. As of November 2011, 221.56 km of fencing was completed. Still, 41.44 km border is yet to be fenced even after the independence of India since 1947. In comparison to the Indo-Pak border, the Indo-Bangladesh border is also delicate though not strategically but from other politico-sociological aspects. Indo-Pak border is well knitted and not totally porous. Now question is- Why not such attempts have been taken in regard to Indo-Bangladesh border? It is pertinent to mention that the epoch making Assam Agitation which lasted for prolonged six years(1979-1985) was only for the detection and deportation of illegal foreigners from  Assam. A historic Assam Accord was signed in 1985 with the leaders of the agitation. But in the by gone years the attempts of the govt. to seal the Indo-Bangladesh border was carried on a snail’s progress. As a result, infiltrations of foreigners have been continued till date. The non-fenced 41.44 k. m. of border area is still creating a great panic amongst the minds of the indigenous populace of the state in particular and country as a whole. The Indo-Bangladesh border is marked by a high degree of porosity and checking illegal cross border activities has been a major challenge. The main problem is of illegal migration from Bangladesh into India. In order to prevent illegal immigration and other anti-national activities from across the border, the Government of India had sanctioned the construction of border roads and fencing in two phases. The total length of Indo-Bangladesh border sanctioned to be fenced is 3436.56 km; out of which about 2735 km of fencing has so far been completed. The balance works are targeted to be completed by March, 2012. In addition, 3528 km of border roads have also been constructed out of sanctioned length of 4426 km. The phase wise progress of fencing and roads is as under:-

Fencing:

                                                                                                                       (Length in k.m.)

Name of State	PHASE I	PHASE II	TOTAL(PHASE I+II)
W.Bengal	507(Sanc),507(Comp)	1021(Sanc), 712(Comp)	1528(Sanc), 1219(Comp)
Assam	152.31(Sanc),149.29(Comp)	77.72(Sanc),72.27(Comp)	230.03(Sanc),221.56(Comp)
Meghalaya	198.06(Sanc),198.06(Comp)	272.17(Sanc),182(Comp)	470.23(Sanc),380.06(Comp)
Tripura	-          -	856(Sanc),730.50(Comp)	856(Sanc),750.50(Comp)
Mizoram	-          -	352.33(Sanc),184(Comp)	352.33(Sanc),184(Comp)
Total	857.37(Sanc),854.35(comp)	2579.22(Sanc),1880.77(comp)	3436.59(Sanc),2734.73(Comp)

Sanc-Sanctioned, Comp-Completed

Border roads:

                    

                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                                 (Length in km)

Name of State	PHASE I	PHASE II	TOTAL (PH.I + PH.II)
West Bengal	1770(Sanc), 1616.57(Comp)	0.00(Sanc), 0.00(Comp)	1770.00(Sanc), 1616.57(Comp)
Assam	186.33(Sanc), 176.50(Comp)	102.42(Sanc), 80.42(Comp)	288.75(Sanc), 256.92(Comp)
Meghalaya	211.29(Sanc), 211.29(Comp)	328(Comp), 149.00(Comp)	539.29(Sanc),
Tripura	545.37(Sanc), 480.51(Comp)	645(Sanc), 456.00(Comp)	1190.37(Sanc), 936.51(comp)
Mizoram	153.40(Sanc), 153.06(Comp)	484.30(Sanc), 205.00(Comp)	637.70(Sanc), 358.06(comp)
Total	2866.39(Sanc), 2637.93(comp)	1559.72(Sanc), 890.42(Comp)	4426.11(Sanc), 3528.35(Comp)

CONCLUSION:

Although Bangladeshi illegal migrants have come into several States of India and they are more numerous in West Bengal than in Assam, they pose a much greater threat in Assam than in any other State. If not effectively checked, they may swamp the Assamese people and may sever the North East land mass from the rest of India. This will lead to disastrous strategic and economic results. Hitherto the intrusion of illegal migrants has generally been looked upon as a local problem affecting only the people of Assam. The myopic view accounts for the more sinister and dangerous aspects being overlooked. Assam can provide the much desired lebensraum for Bangladesh. This fact coupled with Assam's geostrategic importance, Bangladesh's bursting population and

growing international Islamic fundamentalism, underscore the volatile situation created by this ongoing demographic intrusion from across the border. We must not allow any misconceived notions of secularism to blind us to these realities. A silent and invidious invasion of Assam has been taking place for several decades and successive Governments have failed to stem this demographic onslaught. It started as a purely economic movement contributing to the development of Assam's agricultural economy. As Independence approached, it acquired communal and political contours. And today, an international dimension with security overtones has got added to this population movement. Political parties have been underplaying the grave importance of this problem and have been viewing it as something affecting only the Assamese people. Thus an issue of great concern for national security has been made into a partisan affair and a matter of vote banks. It must be lifted above the mire of party politics and viewed as a national security issue of great importance. There is an imperative need to evolve a national consensus on this all important threat facing the Nation.

Remedies:

(i)From identity crisis:

(1)Before going into the depth of the problem in the present scenario, a historical analysis of this issue is relevant. In the pre-independence period, Assam faced an acute problem in regard to the status of Assamese language in Assam. Apart from this, the Assamese language has lost its accuracy particularly in verbal communication. A lot of unexpected words have acquired berths in the colloquial Assamese language .As a result, the age long Assamese language began to lose its sanctity and accuracy. Though the influx from Nepal is not alike with the Bangladesh influx, yet this growing tendency to popularize this language among the indigenous Nepalese of the state has given a threat to the existing Assamese language.

(2)Assamese society must establish a mechanism of assimilation of the existing migrant

population into their way of life so that they do not get radicalized.

(3) The literary organizations like- Assam Sahitya Sabha and Assam Sahitya Sanmilani should undertake fruitful endeavours to popularize the Assamese language and to increase the number of Assamese speaking population.

(ii)Remedy from Political Problems:

(1)     The present political scenario of Assam is even more shocking. When we speak about communal polity in Assam, we basically refer to the political party newly formed by the minority Muslims in the state. It is basically created to provide protection under the umbrella of communal politics for the illegal infiltrators. The party has created communal political scenario and some of its worse effects were observed in the communal riots which took place in the by-gone years. The Vote Bank politics played by the political parties for their own gain also vitiated the entire political scenario on the state. As alleged by the various pressure groups like All Assam Students Union(AASU),Asom  Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra  Parishad(AJYCP),the  alums cross the porous Indo-Bangladesh border and take shelter in the state at the behest of political parties and gather forged document regarding citizenship. The entry of such foreign nationals of the state is certainly a sinister attempt to demoralizing the political atmosphere. As time has passed, the role of the suspected nationals has steadily minimized the sayings of the indigenous populace. According to the historic Assam Accord, tribunals have been constituted to study the cases of detected foreign nationals. But the ignorable attitude of the party in power failed to speed up the cases of foreign national’s issue.

(2)     Vote Bank Politics must be eliminated.

      (3)National Register of Citizenship (N.R.C.) must be updated based on Census data only. A separate register of stateless citizens to be maintained.

     (4)Election Commission of India should take proper steps to monitor the Assam’s voter list by a special expert committee.

   (5)Provision of multipurpose photo identity card to all nationals of India be made available. Especially bordering districts of Bangladesh should be given higher priority.                                                                                              

 (6)Hindu illegal migrants who have infiltrated after 24 March 1971 should not be given refugee status. They should be treated as illegal migrants.

      

 Apart from this, in the dearth of any agreement between Govt. of India and Govt .of Bangladesh, the deportation process of the foreigners is still in the infant stage. The attempt to capture political power spearheaded by suspected foreign nationals in the coming years may cause a serious imbroglio. Though the matter has been realized by the conscious citizens, yet no check has been taken in the practice.

(ii) Remedy from Economic Crisis:

 (1)As we have discussed that a steep rise of population due to influx of foreigners has deteriorated the economy of the state. And since the population is  growing  rapidly, the production of edible materials has failed to cater the needs of the extra population. As a result, price rise/inflation of essential commodities has taken place.

(2) Again, due to illegal occupation of land by the suspected foreigners, the Govt. Of Assam is losing a sizeable amount of land revenue.

(3)Attempts should be taken to ensure that the illegal migrants may get no chance at all to procure any Govt. and semi-govt. jobs.

(4) No chances should be given to the illegal migrants to earn their livelihood through Govt. schemes like NREGA, NREGS, etc.

(5) The concept of work permit to the illegal migrants as raised by some sections should be totally discouraged.

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BIBLOGRAPHY:

1. ‘SWADESH-SWAMAAT’- Dr. Sibanath Barman

2. REPORT ON

ILLEGAL MIGRATION INTO ASSAM by S.K. Sinha 

3. Govt. of Assam, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, 1985.

4. Asom Andolan Pratishruti aru Falashruti-Edited by Dr.Hiren Gohain and Dr.Dilip Kumar Dutta

5. All Assam Students Union (www.aasu.org)

6. Various vernacular and English news papers and journals published in the bygone days.

7. Assam in the days of Company- Dr. Amalendu Guha.

8. Asomiya Sahityar Samu Buranji (Brief history of Assamese literature) by Jatindranath Goswami.

9. Research paper by Namrata Goswami.

10. Political history of Assam published by the Govt. of Assam

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                                                                  ANNEXURE

1.        ASSAM ACCORD, 1985.

2.       ‘ISI ACTIVITIES IN ASSAM ’ BY SHRI PRAFULLA KUMAR MAHANTA

3.       IMDT ACT,1983

4.       IMDT JUDGEMENT, 12/7/2005.

5.       HISTORY OF FAILURE OF CENTRAL GOVT. AND STATE GOVT. TO IMPLEMENT ASSAM ACCORD (www.aasu.org)

      6.     BROKEN PROMISES OF GOVT. OF INDIA AND GOVT.OF ASSAM (www.aasu.org)

7.       BIPARTITE TALK BETWEEN GOVERNMENT OF ASSAM AND AASU, Date : 02.05.2005(www.aasu.org)