DHARMASHASTRA NATIONAL

LAW UNIVERSITY
(Session 2020-2021)
Topic
Should illegal immigrants be made legal citizens? A
sociological review

SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY:

Dr. Deeplaxmi Chile Sanskrati Jain

(Assistant Professor of Sociology) Section B

BALLB/116/20
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Acknowledgement

The completion of this project required counseling and assistance from many people and I’m
really thankful towards them for their counseling in my project.

I would like to express my deep gratitude towards my teacher asst. professor Deeplaxmi
Chile Ma’am, who took acute interest in my project and guided me all along. I’m feeling
extremely privilege to have her as my instructor in the project. I owe my deep gratitude to the
vice-chancellor Prof. Balraj Chauhan for his valuable support throughout the project.

I would like to extend my gratefulness to my parents and friends for their valuable support
and advice.

Sanskrati Jain
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Abstract

Since time immemorial, Illegal immigration has been a problem. The project tries to
articulate the reasons behind the trigger of this illegal immigration. It enumerates various
reasons and categorically analyses them. Various articles have been gone through and
thorough have been done. In order to better understand the cause and effect of illegal
immigration one of the world’s major migration and displacement of people from East
Pakistan into the territory of India, Assam are also elaborated with genuine data
representations and effects of the illegal immigration has been dealt with in a separate chapter
This project also enumerates various legal provisions and frameworks present in India related
to illegal immigration and citizenship disputes. A chapter also mentions and briefly discusses
various instances of immigration in world, namely Rohingyan refugee crisis, Syrian refugee
crisis, Venezuelan refugee crisis, Iraq refugee crisis. . Moreover, the question how this type
of immigration can be minimized has also been tried to discuss up.

Table of Content

S.No. Name of the Topic Page

no.
Introduction
1 5
 Understanding Refugee, Asylum seekers and Migrants

2 Research Problem 7

3 Research Objective 7

4 Research Methodology 8

5 Scope of the Project 8

6 Literature Review 8

Causes of Illegal Immigration

7  Push factors 8
 Pull factors
4

Migration in Assam: Nature, Trend, Magnitude

 Contributory factors
 Consequences
8  Crisis of identity 10
 Environmental degradation
 Community Tesions
 Multiculuturism
9 Major Illegal immigrations around the world in recent past 15
 Rohingya Crisis
 Syrian Crisis
 Venezulan Crisis
 Iraq Crisis
10 Legal Frame Work in India 16
 Article 51
 Foreigners Act,1946
 UN Convention,1951 & 1967 protocol
 NRC in Assam
 Foreigners Tribunals, 1964
 Multipurpose ID cards
 Amendment in Citizenship Act
11 Suggestions to minimize it 17
 Forging Bilateral Agreements With Neighbouring Nations
 Formulating A National Refugee Law
 Stepping Up Detection, Verification, And Repatriation
 India Specific Suggestions
12 Conclusion 19

13 Bibliography 20
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Introduction

Literacy rate across districts in Assam for the period 1951-2001

District 1951 1961 1971 1991 2001

I II III IV V VI
Goalpara 14.7 21.1 22.2 42.78 54.28
Kamrup 19.8 27.4 28.86 56.09 67.88
Darrang 16.1 22.9 22.82 45.21 58.22
Nowgong 16.3 27.3 24.65 53.03 61.57
Sibsagar 22.2 34.3 36.56 62.93 74.63
Lakhimpur 16.4 28.7 30.80 55.41 67.61
K. Anglong 5.9 17.4 19.17 45.57 58.83
N.C.Hills N.A. N.A. 27.25 57.76 68.59
ASSAM 18.53 32.95 28.14 52.89 64.28
INDIA 18.3 28.3 34.5 52.2 65.4
Note: (a) In Assam census could not be held in 1981.
(b) For 1971, 1991 and 2001 literacy rate for the undivided districts have been computed by taking weighted
average, where the weights are the population of the respective divided districts.
Source: Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Govt. of Assam.
To analyze the improvements in the literacy rate across districts, another table has been
constructed on the basis of the above table.

Improvement of Literacy Rate across districts in Assam

Improvement in Literacy Rate

Districts
1951-1961 1961-1971 1971-1991 1991-2001
I II III IV V
Goatpara 43.5 5.21 92.70 26.88
Kamrup 38.4 5.33 94.35 21.02
Darrang 42.2 0.35 98.12 28.78
Nowgong 67.5 9.71 115.13 16.10
Cachar 28.8 6.96 84.96 17.46
Sibsagar 54.5 6 .59 72.13 18.59
Lakhimpur 75.0 7.32 79.90 22.02
K. Angtong 194.92 10.17 137.72 29.10
N.C.Hills N.A. N.A. 111.96 18.75
ASSAM 77.8 -14.6 87.95 21.29
INDIA 54.64 21.91 51.30 25.29
6

Note: Columns II, III, IV and V have been estimated on the basis of the district-wise literacy rates of 1951,1961,
1971,1991 and 2001.

Source: Basic data has been taken from Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Govt. of Assam.

Some observations from the above two tables are as follows:

• In 1951, 1961 and 1991 census the overall literacy rate of Assam was higher than India.

• For the period 1951-2001 the literacy rate of all the districts depict an increasing trend (except Darrang and
Nowgong district during 1961- 1971).

• Sibsagar district had the highest rate of literacy throughout the post independence period.

• Among the plain districts the literacy rate of Goalpara district was the lowest in all the censuses (1951-2001).

• During the decade 1961-1971, all the districts show very low improvement in the literacy rate compared to the
other decades. Moreover, Assam as a whole and Darrang and Nowgong districts depicted fall in the literacy
rate.

• Compared to the other decades the literacy rate improved much more in all the districts of Assam during
1971-1991.

The quality of population can be assessed properly from the level of literacy attained by it.
An educated and skilled workforce contributes to higher economic growth. These illustration
make one infer that how illegal immigrants affects society and societal environment.

The project is going to describe the causes, effects and some major illegal and mass
immigration so as to provide answer to the questions that why and how people are being
compelled to migrate and its effects on host nation.

According to Merriam Webster dictionary, illegal migrants mean ‘a foreign person who is
living in a country without having official permission to live there’. To understand its
meaning and differentiating it from words related to it following paragraph describes its in
detail.

Understanding Refugee, Asylum – Seeker and Migrant

Refugee

Refugees are persons who are outside their country of origin for reasons of feared
persecution, conflict, generalized violence, or other circumstances that have seriously
 7

disturbed public order and, as a result, require international protection. The refugee
definition can be found in the 1951 Convention and regional refugee instruments, as well as
UNHCR’s Statute.

Migrant

While there is no formal legal definition of an international migrant, most experts agree that
an international migrant is someone who changes his or her country of usual residence,
irrespective of the reason for migration or legal status. Generally, a distinction is made
between short-term or temporary migration, covering movements with a duration between
three and 12 months, and long-term or permanent migration, referring to a change of country
of residence for a duration of one year or more.

Asylum-seeker

An asylum-seeker is a person who has left their country and is seeking protection from
persecution and serious human rights violations in another country, but who hasn’t yet been
legally recognized as a refugee and is waiting to receive a decision on their asylum claim.
Seeking asylum is a human right. This means everyone should be allowed to enter another
country to seek asylum.

Research Problem

Migration affects the host country’s interest in social and other aspects whether it’s in terms
of economic burden, social harmony, cultural diversity or international or geological politics.

Research Objectives

1. To understand the reasons for illegal immigration.

2. To understand the effects of illegal immigration on host country and the migrants.
3. To briefly discuss upon how to minimize this illegal migration.
4. To evaluate a major and mass illegal migration.
5. To analyze the impact or pressure of migration on the indicators of development and
deprivation.
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Research Methodology

Doctrinal research has been done to shape the project. The research was done mainly
by e-resources. A lot of researches have already been conducted on the same topic so
some research papers have also been gone through.

Scope of the Project

There are several definitions of the word ‘Illegal immigrant’. Some of the definitions
also include the territorial identity and some include cultural identity. However, in the
project Illegal immigrant is restricted to the meaning as provided in the Merriam
Webster dictionary that “A foreign person who is living in a country without
having official permission to live there”
The scope of the project is restricted to India’s problem of illegal
immigration from erstwhile East Pakistan. However, the causes of Illegal immigration
does not change in other countries too so there is no need to describe them country
wise and so they are described in general.

Literature Review
A research paper namely “Negotiating Citizenship” was studied. It was published in Tata
Institute of Social Sciences and was authored by Das Kaberi

This paper talked about causes of Illegal immigration and legality of granting them
citizenship. It also thoroughly discussed the problems that emerged in 90’s in Assam due to
mass migration from erstwhile East Pakistan now known as Bangladesh. Migration as an area
of study can be approached in multidisciplinary ways in social sciences. To understand the
issue of migration, the study have tried to approach it through history, social demography,
geography and political science but keeping sociological viewpoint as the predominant one.
The study also through some light on plight of the illegal migrants and problems of their day
to day life. It also said that if people of different races (as from different culture and
countries) live in different areas then also racial unrest follows. The reason which they
attributed to this phenomenon is that a systemic cultural and ethnical mixing and extinction
take place which create dissatisfaction among natives.

Causes of Illegal Immigration

“Push-Pull" Theory:-
Migration may occur as a search for an opportunity to improve one’s tot in life. In
this case the community of destination exerts a “pull” on the migrant. 19
Migration can also occur as a flight from undesired social' or economic situations.
These situations constitute an expulsive “push” by the community. This “push-
pull" theory is an abstraction that is made in order to classify the specific forces at
9

work. In each case of migration, several variables of both types may be operating
and interacting, so that the move cannot be attributed wholly either to "push" or
"pull" factors alone. Moreover, the particular “mix” of push and pull factors that
leads to migration in one person may be very different from that which leads to
the migration of another. By examining data for large number of persons the
common stimulants to movement may be established.

“Push” factors:-
1) Decline in a national resource or in the prices paid for it; decreased demand
for a particular product or the services of a particular industry; exhaustion of
mines, timbers or agricultural resources.

2) Loss of employment resulting from being discharged for inefficiency, from a

decline in a need for a particular activity, or from mechanization and
automation of tasks previously performed by more labour-intensive
procedures.

3) Oppressive or repressive discriminatory treatment because of political,

religious or ethnic origins or membership.

4) Alienation from a community because one no longer subscribes to prevailing

beliefs, customs or mode of behavior - either within one’s family or within
the community.

5) Retreat from a community because it offers few or no opportunities for

personal development, e.g. employment or marriage.

6) Flight from natural calamity like flood, fire, drought, earthquake or epidemic.

“Pull” factors:-
1) Superior opportunities for employment in one’s occupation or opportunities to
enter a preferred occupation.

2) Opportunities to earn larger income.

3) Opportunities to obtain desired specialized education or training.

4) Preferable environment and living conditions- climate, housing, schools, other

community facilities.
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5) Dependency- movement of other persons to whom one is related, such as the

movements of dependents with a breadwinner or migration of a bride to join her
husband.

6) Lure of new or different activities, environments, or people, such as the

cultural, intellectual or recreational activities of a large metropolis for rural
and small-town residents.

Migration in Assam: Nature, Trend and Magnitude

The census estimate of 2001 shows the total population of Assam as 26.6 million
(26,638,407). The density of population has gone from 286 per square kilometre in
1991 to 340 per square kilometre in 2001. Assam is experiencing the influx of
population from time to time and from different directions. Thus, migration is not a
new phenomenon for Assam, but what is new is its massive nature since the beginning
of the 20th century. The extent of migration and its impact on population growth and
the socio economic condition in Assam has been a matter of controversy especially in
the last two, three decades. Migration is regarded as the centre of many social and
ethnic tensions in the Northeast region in general, and Assam in particular. Present-day
Assam is only a small portion of what was termed Assam a few decades ago. The
backwardness of Assam may be due to a number of causes, but it seems that rapid
growth of population is an important, contributing factor. It has been accepted that the
rapid growth of population in Assam is the result of (1) Natural increase in population
and (2) Interregional or International migration. The illegal migrants are often accused
of endangering the cultural identity of indigenous ethnic groups and also held
responsible for political unrest and various economic problems of the region.

Illegal migration into Assam from Bangladesh has been posing a serious security threat
to the identity of Assamese people. It adversely affects the social, economic and
political environment of Assam, creating law and order problems where immigrants are
present in large number. The flow of immigrants started during the rule of British and
continued tills today due to the pull and push factors. The deportation of illegal
migrants become difficult due to the lack of strong law and political will, as illegal
migrants are used as a vote bank by different political parties. The data provided in the
study indicates that if necessary steps are not taken immediately, Assam, the elder sister
of North-East India would lose its identity from the map of India very soon. The illegal
migration is one of the major reasons for social and ethnic violence in Assam.
11

Therefore it is high time that India takes stringent measures against the illegal migrants
who have become a real threat to the security of the country.

Contributory factors of illegal migration

 Increasing pressure on land and mounting unemployment in Bangladesh due to

uncontrolled steep rise in population and high density of population (964 per sq. km,
according to 2011 estimate).

 The large scale migration from Bangladesh to India has been possible mainly due to
the porous India-Bangladesh border of 4,096 kilometres, the fencing of which has not
been completed so far.

 Better economic opportunities across the border.

 Competitive politics of vote-bank and the patronage extended to them by political

parties/vested political groups in India.

 Presence of strong pro-Bangladesh lobby in India often creates myths and confuses
Indians about the gravity of the problem.

 Large segments of population in Bangladesh uprooted severe floods and cyclones.

Consequences of illegal migration in Assam

 Crisis of identity: Identity and underdevelopment are the two basic issues that
kept have Assam on the boil for long. The issue of immigration has long been
a bone of contention in Assam, fuelling a six-year-long agitation by students of
the state from the late 1970s. The 1971 Bangladesh liberation war saw a flow of
refugees into Assam that added to the flow of migrants/refugees that had
continued since 1948 It triggered successive waves of violence over the next
few decades, which led to a flight of capital from the state, and eroded growth.
The inter-ethnic relations based on religion and language and the cleavage
structures developed.The influx of immigrants created a crisis of identity among
the indigenous Assamese. Their culture, their Language, their ethnic traditions
and customs were declining day- by-day. Their Assam, most of them failed to
identify themselves with the mainstream. Multi-ethnic social base of Assam was
further widened with the inclusion of ‘excluded” and “partially excluded” hilly
12

areas inhabited by the tribes. Bangladeshi nationals who entered India before
25th March 1971, as a cut-off date for Bangladeshi nationals allowed to stay in
India, while those who came after, to be expelled, under a govt. Circular of
1972. Even after the mention of cut off date the illegal immigrants stayed there
to threaten the native identity and the Assamese people were not concurring on
the cut off date set by the government. This created a further agitation and a
long war was fought for saving the very precious Assamese identity. In 1985,
Assam Agitation called off. Agreement on 25th March 1971 as the cut-off date,
whereby foreigners who came to Assam after this date will be detected and
expelled. Government assured fencing of border to prevent infiltration. Even
after this accord many steps were taken to safeguard this Assamese identity
such as insertion of section 6A in citizenship act, striking down the IMDT act,
1983 and the latest one that is updating the NRC in Assam. But the problem still
persists, the seeds of the current conflict lie in the lack of a coherent refugee
policy since independence. A clear-cut policy on refugees might have nipped
the immigration problem in the bud, but the due actions were not taken and the
problem was allowed to grow bigger and bigger.

 Environmental degradation: Large areas of forest land were encroached upon

by the immigrants for settlement and cultivation. With the increasing
immigrant population in the border districts of Assam, West Bengal and
Tripura, understandably there is a mounting pressure on the requirements of
fuel wood, timber and land in the forest areas to meet the demand. Even
marginal forest lands are cleared to put it to the plough. Forest resources from
which various minor products, including fuel wood, are derived are needed in
incremental quantities. This has led to substantial environmental impact in the
region. Availability of land for habitation and cultivation depends on the land-
man ratio. Similarly, environmental study includes many factors but much
emphasis has been given on land -man ratio or density of population in all
relevant studies done so far. In a study to assess the prevailing situation of
Assam by analyzing the various available data on this respect in the post-
independence period. The state experienced declining percent of land area
under forest from 39% in 1951-52 to about 30% now. The post-independence
13

period, the density of population in Assam had increased from 102 per sq. km
in 1951 to 340 per sq. km in 2001, whereas in India it increased from 117 per
sq. km in 1951 to 324 per sq. km in 2001. The percentage of increase during
1951^2001 was 233 for Assam and 177 for the country as a whole.

 Community tension: The commission on integration and Cohesion found that

tension usually exist with the presence of high levels of migration combine
with other forms of social exclusion like poverty, poor housing etc. The influx
of Bangladeshi migrants and resulting local conflicts with the local native
tribes has led to severe social strain and consequent law and order problems in
states like Assam. The Assam Agitation in the late 1970s is the case in point,
particularly, the violence in 1983 when native tribes mass murdered over 1700
Bangladeshi Muslim migrants in Nellie village in the more than two decades
old secessionist movements in Assam (Mander, 2012). Similarly, the 2012
violence between Bodos and Muslims, allegedly Bengali-speaking
Bangladeshis migrants at Kokrajhar districts (Hazarika, 2014) that resulted in
the demand for an independent Bodoland is another case of law and order
crisis that state faces as a consequence of illegal migration. Furthermore,
illegal immigration is essentially an issue of violation of the law of land. As a
sovereign country, it is the right of the state to regulate who it can legally enter
into the country, but when someone enters illegally it violates the national law.
Lt General S.K Sinha, then governor of Assam, said that the massive influx of
illegal Bangladeshi is a “demographic invasion of Assam may result in loss of
geo-strategically vital districts of lower Assam. It will be only a matter of time
when a demand for their merger with Bangladesh may be made... International
Islamic fundamentalism may provide the driving force” (The Hindu, 2001). In
Tripura too, the rise of secessionist outfits like All Tripura Tribal Force
(ATTF) and National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) is indirectly
connected to the issue of illegal migration of Bangladeshis. Reportedly, of
late, even some districts like Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri and Siliguri of West
Bengal have witnessed local social discord between the locals and
Bangladeshi settlers.
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 Multi-culturism: The history of illegal migration in Assam dates back to pre

independence era. Due to this constant problem of illegal immigration in the
state, Assam is home to a multitude of communities. The state has witnessed
violent ethnic clashes and long-drawn movements, but unlike other states, it
has not been a highly communally divided society. The issue here is who is a
foreigner. The concern about demographic change and cultural pressure has
been there for many years. In fact, extensive migration from East Bengal was
an election issue for the Congress in the 1946 provincial polls. So there’s a
long history to this and a lot of frustration among the people that nothing has
happened to address their sense of needing to protect their culture and identity.
The proud traditions and history of each and every tribal and ethnic group
needs to be respected. With repeated migration into the state, the culture and
traditions of the native people got mixed with migrants’ cultures and
traditions, which somehow create a sense of insecurity and dissatisfaction
among the natives. Every time a illegal migrants of new culture came to
Assam, s/he came with a different and a unique ideology which later on
expanded and the difference became the bone of contention between natives
and illegal migrants. At this time the role of govt. was very crucial it should
have arbitrated and mediated, but was not played well and was neglected. This
neglect has adversely impacted the interests of local populations in the areas
seeing large-scale influxes of illegal immigrants as well as India’s national
security interests. Further, the absence of national refugee laws has blurred the
distinction between refugees and economic migrants, leading to the denial of
any assistance to even genuine asylum seekers. It now poses an enormous
problem for India and the millions of affected people. Further delay in
addressing the problem will only make matters worse.

There are many other consequences as well that are prima facie visible on the economic
and political conditions of the Assam. If we see it from economic point of view illegal
immigration increased financial burden, displaced many native workers and increase in
the population due to illegal immigration led to decrease in the wage level. From
15

political point of view the illegal immigration has left the Assam with political
instability and increase in the agitation in Assam, many illegal migrants occupied
themselves with fake voter ids which makes it difficult to distinguish between legal and
illegal citizens, with illegal migrants there comes a threat to national security and it is
visible in Assam as well.

Major Illegal Immigrations Around the World in Recent Past

Rohingya Crisis
Over a million Rohingya fled violence in Myanmar in successive waves of
displacement since the early 1990s. The largest exodus took place in 2017, when over
742,000 crossed over to Bangladesh as violence broke out in Myanmar’s Rakhine
State. Most sought shelter in and around the refugee settlements in Bangladesh’s
Cox’s Bazar district. The vast majority that reached Bangladesh was women and
children and more than 40 percent were under the age of 12.
While the UN described the offensive in Rakhine as a ‘textbook example of ethnic
cleansing’ in one of its reports, Myanmar's military says it is fighting militants and
denies targeting civilians.
The Muslim Rohingya minority has faced decades of discrimination and repression in
Myanmar. They were denied citizenship under the 1982 Citizenship Law, making
them one of the largest stateless populations in the world.

Syrian Refugee Crisis

After the civil war broke out in March 2011, over 5.6 million Syrian people fled their
country and sought refuge in Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Europe. Meanwhile,
millions more are displaced inside Syria.
Turkey hosts the largest number of registered Syrian refugees, roughly over 3.3
million.
UNHCR says it requires 4.4 billion dollars to support over 5 million Syrian refugees
in neighboring countries and some four million people in the communities hosting
them.

Iraq Situation
16

Decades of conflict and violence have forced millions of Iraqis to abandon their
homes. Since 2014, more than 3 million people have been displaced within Iraq and
over 260,000 are living as refugees in other countries. It is estimated that over 11
million Iraqis are currently in need of humanitarian assistance within the country and
outside.

Venezuela Crisis

Violence, political insecurity, threats as well as lack of food, medicine and essential
services, have prompted over 4 million Venezuelans to seek refuge in Latin America
and the Caribbean. Host countries and communities in Argentina, Brazil, Chile,
Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru and the Caribbean have been
welcoming them, but are increasingly overstretched.
The socioeconomic and political crisis in Venezuela began in President Hugo
Chavez’s tenure and has worsened during the presidency of Nicolas Maduro. Their
supporters attribute the problems to the “economic war” waged against Venezuela,
falling oil prices and international sanctions while the critics say the causes include
economic mismanagement and corruption.

Legal Framework in India

1. Article 51 states that the state shall endeavour to foster respect for international law
and treaty obligations in the dealings of organized people with one another. As
the Citizenship Act 1955, an illegal immigrant can be:
 Foreign national who enters India on valid travel documents and stays beyond their
validity, or
 Foreign national who enters without valid travel documents.
2. The Foreigners Act, 1946, gives the central government the right to deport a
foreign national.
3. India is not a signatory to the 1951 United Nations Convention and 1967
Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees and it does not currently have a national
law on refugees.
4. While law and order is a State subject under the Indian Constitution, international
relations and international borders are under the exclusive purview of the Union
17

government. This has resulted in a variety of agencies, both of the Central as well as
the State governments, having to deal with refugee matters connected with law
enforcement.
5. In 2011, the Union government circulated to all states and Union Territories a
Standard Operating Procedure to deal with foreign nationals who claimed to be
refugees. So, India does not have on its statute book a specific and separate law to
govern refugees.
6. NRC in Assam: A National Register of Citizens (NRC), containing information for
each individual such as the father’s name or husband’s name, nationality, sex, age,
means of livelihood, was prepared by the Assam government in 1951. The NRC
was aimed to help identify and verify genuine Indian citizens and repatriate
foreigners. Now, the Assam government has recently released the updated version
of NRC.
7. The Foreigner’s Tribunals of 1964: These tribunals had the power to take up
cases to decide whether a person is foreigner or not, as specified in the Foreigners
Act of 1946.
8. Multipurpose Identity Card: In 2010, Aadhaar Project was launched to provide a
unique identity number to each resident of India and the Unique Identification.
9. Amendment to Citizenship Act: The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 aims to
provide citizenship to those who had been forced to seek shelter in India because of
religious persecution or fear of persecution in their home countries. They are primarily
Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Pakistan and
Bangladesh.

Suggestions to Minimise it

1. FORGING BILATERAL AGREEMENTS WITH NEIGHBOURING

NATIONS: To deal with the problem of illegal immigrants, India will have to take
the initiative to enter into bilateral agreements with neighbouring countries under
which the two countries would agree to take back their nationals staying illegally in
the other country after due verification process. The key to its success would be a
joint verification procedure acceptable to both countries.
2. FORMULATING A NATIONAL REFUGEE LAW: To assist South Asian
countries in the development of domestic refugee laws, the UNHCR set up a five-
18

member Eminent Persons Group (EPG) in 1994, headed by P. N. Bhagwati, a former

chief justice of India. The EPG proposed model refugee laws in 1997 and
subsequently came out with the South Asia Declaration on Refugees, which also
incorporated the model refugee laws, at its meeting in Islamabad in 2004. In addition,
in India the Asylum Bill, 2015 was introduced in the Lok Sabha in 2015, as a private
member bill by Dr. Shashi Tharoor, who had earlier also worked in the UNHCR
office in Geneva. The model refugee laws suggested by the EPG, together with the
asylum bill proposed in India’s parliament, could form the basis for the enactment of
a national refugee law.A sticking point, though, is that these draft laws seem to have
been formulated from an activist’s point of view, where the focus is more on the
rights and privileges of refugees and asylum seekers than on a country’s national
security or the interests of local populations. When domestic refugee laws are in
place it will be easier to distinguish between genuine refugees and illegal immigrants.
And treat them accordingly.
 STEPPING UP DETECTION, VERIFICATION, AND REPATRIATION:
Detecting illegal immigrants is a daunting task. The subtle differences in the accents,
dialect, and features between Indian and illegal immigrants are not easily discernible.
The fact that most illegal migrants already hold ration cards, voter identity cards, or
even the unique-identity Aadhaar cards further compounds the difficulty. Ironically, an
illegal immigrant is more likely to be equipped with an Indian identity document than
an Indian who may take his or her Indian citizenship for granted. Taking into account
the enormity and complexity of the problem and to facilitate the process, India should
consider regularizing the stay of all those who migrated and granting them, along with
their natural descendants, Indian nationality.

4. INDIA SPECIFIC SUGGESTIONS:

 The Central Government should appoint a National Immigration Commission to frame

a National Migration Policy and a National Refugee Policy. The Commission should
examine ways of strengthening the Foreigners Act 1946, as well as feasibility of
Identity Cards for both citizens and non-citizens and Work Permits for migrants.
 Border fencing in Assam must be completed forthwith on a war footing. The existing
Border Security Force posts and the BSF water wing should be strengthened.
19

 Our nationals in the border districts and for that matter in the whole State should be
provided with multipurpose photo identity card.
 The ongoing NRC updating should be completed without delay and proper arrangement
for the deportation of illegal migrants should be done.
 The Illegal Migrants Determination by Tribunal (IMDT) Act of b1983 should be
repealed.

Conclusion

A Problem which has its historical roots so deep cannot be solved overnight. The dangerous
consequences of large scale illegal migration from Bangladesh, both for the people of Assam
and more for the Nation as a whole, need to be emphatically stressed. No misconceived and
mistaken notions of secularism should be allowed to come in the way of doing so. Illegal
migration from Bangladesh is no longer a regional problem which can be pushed under the
carpet. These migrants are now spread in several states and distant places such as Rajasthan,
Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra and so on. This silent and invidious demographic
invasion of Assam may result in the loss of the geo strategically vital districts of Lower
Assam. The influx of these illegal migrants is turning these districts into a Muslim majority
region. It will then only be a matter of time when a demand for their merger with Bangladesh
may be made. Thus it is high time to solve the problems of illegal migration to save
Assamese people in their own land and to save the nation from the threat of immigrants.

While the problem of illegal immigration has existed for decades, it is generally expected that
the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in India will soon initiate concrete
steps to tackle the problem in a holistic and transparent manner. This was one of the issues
that the NDA vowed to resolve in its 2014 parliamentary election campaign.

And in its recent state assembly election campaign in Assam and West Bengal, the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP), which leads the NDA coalition, acknowledged this problem as an
important issue. Its resounding victory in Assam has raised the hope that this issue will at last
become a priority. The prospects that illegal immigration in India will get due attention and
that a lasting solution will emerge are better now than ever before.

It is obligation for state to work for the rights of humans in general especially citizens of its
state. India has also voted affirmatively to adopt the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
which affirms rights for all persons, citizens and non-citizens alike. Thus, it is important to
20

tackle issue of illegal migration very carefully in order to work towards human rights. Even
though India is not a signatory to the 1951 Convention on refugees and also the 1967
Protocol, it is a signatory to a number of United Nations and World Conventions on Human
Rights, refugee issues and related matters. Hence its obligations in regard to refugees arise
out of the latter. India has also voted affirmatively to adopt the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, which affirms rights for all persons, citizens and non- citizens alike.

Bibliography
1. scholarworks.gvsu.edu

2. Scribd.com

3. carnegieindia.org

4. E-shodhganga [http://hdl.handle.net/10603/69503]

5. Newspapers- The Hindu, Indian Express, The Wire,

The Print.