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it all about condition and reason why the migrant , immigrate illegally.
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CONDITION OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRAT’S AND REFUGEES IN INDIA FROM BANGLADESH INTRODUCTION An illegal immigrant in India is a person residing in the country without an official permission as prescribed by relevant Indian law. Those who are explicitly granted refugee status do not fall under this category.2001 India Census Gives information about Migrants but not exclusively Illegal Immigrants. An estimate made in the year 2000 placed the total number of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in India at 1.5 crore, with around 3 lakh entering every year. The rule of thumb for such illegal immigrants is that for each illegal person caught four get through. While many immigrants have settled in the border areas, some have moved on, even to faraway places such as Mumbai and Delhi. During the UPA government, Sriprakash Jaiswal, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, had made a statement in Parliament on 14 July 2004, that there were 12 million illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators living in India, and West Bengal topped the list with 5.7 million Bangladeshis. The trip to India from Bangladesh is one of the cheapest in the world, with a trip costing around Rs.2000 (around $30 US), which includes the fee for the "Tour Operator". As Bangladeshi are cultural similar to the Bengali people in India, they are able to pass off as Indian citizens and settle down in any part of India to establish a far better future than they could in Bangladesh, for a very small price. This false identity can be bolstered with false documentation available for as little as Rs.200 ($3 US) can even make them part of the vote bank. The Bangladesh Liberation War and continued political and economic turmoil in Bangladesh in the following decades forced some Bangladeshis to seek refuge in India. During the Bangladesh Liberation War at least 10 million Bangladeshis crossed into India illegal to seek refuge from widespread rape and genocide. Most of them migrated to the Border States, particularly West Bengal and Assam. 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. HISTORY
In 1950, it is estimated that a further one million refugees crossed into West Bengal, particularly in the aftermath of 1950 Barisal riots and Noakhali riots. The 1951 Census of India recorded that 27% of Kolkata's population was East Bengali refugees mainly Hindu Bengalis and they contributed the economic growth of Kolkata in various fields. Millions of Hindus particularly Bengali speaking from East Pakistan took refuge mainly in India's various states. A number estimated that around 3.2 lakhs Hindus from East Pakistan migrated mainly to Kolkata and various rural areas and towns of West Bengal during 1947.
Migration continued, primarily from East Pakistan to India, right up to the liberation of Bangladesh in 1971, both on an ongoing basis and with spikes during periods of particular communal unrest such as the 1964 East Pakistan riots and the 1965 India-Pakistan War, when it is estimated that 600, refugees left for India. Estimates of the number of refugees up to 1970 are over 5 million to West Bengal alone. This includes around 4.1 million coming between 1946 and 1958 and 1.2 million coming between 1959 and 1971.
Another major influx into India came in 1971 during the Bangladesh Liberation War, when Hindu refugees escaped systematic mass killings, rapes, lootings and arson. It is estimated that around 10 million East Bengali refugees entered India during the early months of the war, of which 1.5 million may have stayed back after Bangladesh became independent. The outflow of Hindus from East Bengal had a particularly negative effect on the Hindu community of East Pakistan and subsequently Bangladesh, as a significant portion of the region's educated middle class, intelligentsia and political leadership left. The heights reached by many of the East Bengali migrants and their descendants, including Amartya Sen's Nobel Prize and Megh Nad Saha's pioneering work in Astrophysics are considerable. The number of minority Hindu community in Muslim-majority Bangladesh continued to dwindle as many Hindus left the country in 1990s following widespread communal riots and Islamic fundamentalist securing power of the nation in 2001.
WEST BENGAL %GROWTH OF HINDUS %GROWTH OF MUSLIMS 1961-1971 25.75% 29.76% 1971-1981 21.37% 29.55%
1981-1991 21.09% 36.89% 1991-2001 14.23% 25.91% 1991-2011 10.81% 21.81% ASSAM %GROWTH OF HINDUS %GROWTH OF MUSLIMS 1961-1971 34.49% 29.89% 1971-1991 41.89% 77.42% 1991-2001 14.95% 29.30% 2001-2011 10.89% 29.59% ALL INDIA %GROWTH OF HINDUS %GROWTH OF MUSLIMS 1961-1971 23.67% 30.84% 1971-1981 21.29% 22.95% 1981-1991 25.08% 34.54% 1991-2001 20.35% 36.02% 2001-2011 16.76% 24.65%
detected, their names deleted from the electoral rolls, and subsequently deported under the Foreigners Act, 1946. But little headway has been made in that direction. India has taken up this issue with Bangladesh at political and diplomatic levels from time to time, to no avail. Dhaka has neither acknowledged the presence of a large number of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in India nor taken any effective measures to control the flow of its nationals into India. This would have to be followed by concerted action to detect Bangladeshi immigrants, assign them to separate categories of refugees and illegal migrants, resettle or repatriate them, and prevent any further influx. India may also consider taking assistance and advisory services from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and other concerned international agencies with experience in this kind of complex issue. EXISTING LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND POLICY Although India has traditionally been providing shelter to refugees from other countries in the region, it has yet to develop any national refugee laws. Nor is it a signatory to the United Nations 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (commonly called the 1951 Refugee Convention) and its 1967 Protocol. In the absence of any specific law dealing with refugees/illegal immigrants, all foreigners in India are covered by the Foreigners Act, 1946, which simply defines a foreigner as “a person who is not a citizen of India.” It does not distinguish between refugees and illegal immigrants, nor does it define refugees as a specific category needing humanitarian protection. This does not imply that India has no policy on refugees. In the absence of any legislation on the subject, refugee policy is based on ad hoc and undefined administrative measures. India administratively gives refugee status to asylum seekers from Tibet and Sri Lanka. Asylum seekers from other places including Afghanistan and Myanmar directly approach the UNHCR office in New Delhi. However, neither of these approaches covers Bangladeshi nationals. In fact, the genuine refugees from Bangladesh (mostly Hindus) are the worst off with no one to look after their interests. FORMULATING A NATIONAL REFUGEE LAW As per generally accepted international norms, refugees are people who leave their country of origin to take shelter in any other country because of persecution against them on religious, ethnic, political, or other grounds. Leaving a country for economic reasons, as in the case of most Bangladeshis in India, does not qualify under this definition of a refugee. Hence this category of people needs to be treated differently.
That is one reason the problem of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh requires the adoption and implementation of national legislation on refugees. To assist South Asian countries in the development of domestic refugee laws, the UNHCR set up a five-member Eminent Persons Group (EPG) in 1994, headed by P. N. Bhagwati, a former chief justice of India, and comprising Justice Dorab Patel of Pakistan; Kamal Hossain of Bangladesh, a jurist and former minister of law; Rishikesh Shah of Nepal, a human rights activist; and Bradman Weerakoon of Sri Lanka, a senior bureaucrat. 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 on January 24, 2004. In addition, in India the Asylum Bill, 2015 was introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 18, 2015, as a private member bill by 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. When domestic refugee laws are in place it will be easier to distinguish between genuine refugees and illegal immigrants. The two categories could, thereafter, be dealt with by separate sets of rules and procedures. In the case of refugees, there could be three possibilities: voluntary repatriation to the country of origin, the granting of Indian citizenship, or resettlement in a third country. Illegal immigrants— a category that would include asylum seekers whose request for refugee status is rejected after due consideration—would fall under the provisions of the 1946 Foreigners Act, which will need to be suitably amended to meet the new requirements. FORGING A BILATERAL AGREEMENT WITH BANGLADESH To deal with the problem of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, India will have to take the initiative to enter into a bilateral agreement with Bangladesh under which the two countries would agree to take back their nationals staying illegally in the other country after due verification process. India should also agree to consider giving work permits to certain specified categories and numbers of Bangladeshis living in India after their Bangladeshi nationality is established and the Bangladeshi government provides them necessary travel documents. Such an agreement is essential to tackle the problem. The key to its success would be a joint verification procedure acceptable to both countries.
The incentives could be in the form of granting refugee status and work permits, permission to stay and work during the verification period, and some monetary allowances. An added incentive could be giving priority in granting Indian citizenship or a work permit to those who declare themselves voluntarily. Similarly, disincentives could be considered in the form of penal actions under the amended Foreigners Act for harboring a foreign national, concealing the person’s presence, facilitating illegal immigration, and the like. Further, illegal immigrants could be barred from getting work permits if they do not voluntarily register themselves. When the domestic refugee law and a bilateral agreement with Bangladesh on illegal immigration are in place, the process of ascertaining immigrants’ status could commence with a designated period of, say, three to four months, during which illegal immigrants who believe they may be eligible for refugee status can apply for asylum. Otherwise, they may apply for work permits. Simultaneously, ground survey teams, preferably under a magistrate, should extensively tour their designated areas and work to identify Bangladeshi immigrants. The process of completing the National Population Register/National Register of Citizens should also be expedited and non- Indian-nationals identified. Some Kolkata-based nongovernmental organizations dealing with Bangladeshis living in India, such as Bangladesh Udbastu Kalyan Parishad, Bangladesh Udbastu Unnayan Sangsad, Nikhil Banga Nagarik Sangha, and Bangladesh Mohajir Sangha, might be able to assist in the identification and verification process. Based on this detection process, a comprehensive biometric database of Bangladeshi immigrants should be prepared, classifying them in two distinct categories: asylum seekers and illegal immigrants. After verification and due process under the new domestic refugee law, asylum seekers will also fall into two categories: refugees and illegal immigrants. Thus, ultimately, all immigrants from Bangladesh will be categorized as either refugees or illegal immigrants. Refugees should be dealt with as per the national refugee law, and those who came before a prescribed cut-off date may even be considered for Indian citizenship; the illegal immigrants will have to be managed in a different manner. As soon as the Indian authorities start preparing the list of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, the joint verification mechanism under the bilateral India-Bangladesh agreement should be activated. After the joint verification process, those who are confirmed as Bangladeshi nationals may either be repatriated or be given a permit to work in India for a certain specific period after the Bangladeshi authorities provide necessary travel documents. In cases where the joint verification team fails to reach any conclusion about the Bangladeshi nationality of an individual, the case should be referred back to the concerned Indian authority for reverification. After that, the individual would either be accepted as an Indian national or, if the reverification process confirms that the individual is a Bangladeshi immigrant, the case should again be forwarded to the joint verification mechanism. Any subsequent rejection would mean that individual would be put in the category of stateless person. The fate of such persons may subsequently be decided through bilateral negotiations
between India and Bangladesh. In the interim period, they may be given work permits to stay and work in India. Illegal immigrants who began living in India before a cut-off date may also be considered for Indian citizenship, but that should be conditional on their shifting away from the out-of-bounds areas and continuously living outside those areas for at least three to five years.
The problem of managing immigrants from Bangladesh is quite complex. While the measures discussed above will help to tackle this problem, it is equally important to ensure that no fresh influx of immigrants takes place. Of the 4,096-kilometer border that the two countries share, 1,016 kilometers are riverine and 63 kilometers maritime. It is a porous border as it runs through rivers, ponds, agricultural fields, villages, and even houses where the entrance could be in one country and the back door in the other. Bangladesh and India used to have enclaves inside each other’s country, but that was resolved with an exchange of enclaves as envisaged in the 2011 Protocol of the 1974 bilateral Land Boundary Agreement. Effective policing of such a long and complex border is difficult. India has sought to establish greater control over the border by erecting barbed-wire fencing. The plan to extend such fencing along the entire border should be implemented at the earliest possible time. A border fence may not be a fool proof method of preventing infiltration, but there is no better first step. To prevent the inflow of Bangladeshi immigrants, border fencing will have to be supplemented by vigorous patrolling and other measures including better communication, electronic surveillance, and identifying and taking effective action against agents who facilitate the movement of illegal immigrants and assist with their settlement in India. In addition, under the bilateral developmental assistance program, India should offer to provide financial and technical assistance to Bangladesh to introduce and implement a unique identity card system for its nationals, similar to the Aadhaar card in India. The process should preferably start in the border areas. India may also consider introducing a system of keeping biometric records of Bangladeshi nationals while granting them visas to visit India. As a long-term strategy, the motivating factors behind this migration must also be addressed. Because the majority of these persons are economic migrants, a more lasting and effective solution could be through fostering economic development in Bangladesh, particularly along the border with India. In addition, India and other donor countries and agencies need to work alongside Bangladesh to help foster its economic development, which will diminish the motivation for trans-border migration and assist in finding a permanent solution to the problem. India may also consider tying its economic assistance to Bangladesh to the cooperation and support it receives in tackling the migration problem.
While the problem of illegal immigration from Bangladesh 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 Bangladeshi immigration in India will get due attention and that a lasting solution will emerge are better now than ever before.
