A presentation on the question of immigration in Assam and what are the causes and the possible ramifications.

1. IMMIGRATION IN ASSAM
-Ibu Sanjeeb Garg

4. Discussion
1. Introduction
2. Immigration myth or reality the Numbers
game
3. Why?
4. Climate Change and Bangladesh
5. The question of Chars
6. Consequences
7. What can be done

5. Introduction
 Assam has a long history of immigration
 British conquered –Tea garden workers came from Orissa ,Bihar region
 Land hungry Muslim peasants came from Mymensingh districts (again
encouraged by the British to cultivate virgin lands in Lower Assam)
 In 1941 Sir Sadullah gave a further fillip to this in the pretext of growing more
food(Lord Wavell remarked Grow More Muslims campaign)
 Post partition large number of Hindus migrated
 Post 1971 again another wave of Hindus migrated
In the light of the above history it is often argued that immigration continues
often today .

6. AASU Movement -1978

9. The reason : Long standing call
 Fear of being minorities in their own land
.Case in point -
East Bengali
Tripura Hindus
displaced the
tribal people
Sikkim Hindu Nepalis
displaced the
Buddhist Lepchas

10. Immediate reason
 Death of Mangaldoi MP(Member of
Parliament) Hiralal Patowari –reelection
declared -79000 extra voters in a spate of 2
years.
Fears of the people of Assam
came true .AASU gave call for
12 hour satyagraha and soon
the movement picked up
momentum

11.  6 years movement picked up speed
culminating in the signing of the ASSAM
ACCORD in 1985.

12. Not without faults
 Assam Accord failed –not able to solve the
problem even today
 Biggest blots Neille Massacre

14. 2. Immigration Myth or Reality The
Numbers Game

18. White Paper –truth or lie?
 Shown that overall the growth rate of Assam
(16.9%)is lower than national average(17.8%)
in the 2001-2011 decade
 But when districts like Dhubri
(24.40%),Nagaon(22.09%),Barpeta(22.09%)
,Darrang(21.07%) –all distrcits have above
national average
 Tribal distrcits like Kokrajhar(5.9%)
Chirang(12%),Nalbari(11.74%) are the ones
below national average

19.  Does this mean that tribals are any less virile ?
 The answer of course is NO …the answer lies
in the fact that there has been large scale
immigration in this areas!

20. 3. Why??
Pull factors :
 Economic
 Loose Policies in North East
 Transit point for El Dorado
 Lebensarum theory
 Porous border

21. Push Factors
 Rising population
Global economic crisis downturn
 Religious and cultural homogeneity with
previous settlers'
 Pressure on land in Bangladesh

22. 4. Climate change and
Bangladesh
 40% hit by floods(National Geographic)
 By 2050 Brahmaputra annual runoff decrease
by 14%
 High population make it more vulnerable to
disasters
 Stliting
 Erosion

24. Sea level rise and Bangladesh
1m rise in
sea level

25. 2 m rise
in sea
level

26. 3 m rise in
sea level

27. The route
for
migration

29. 5. Question of Chars

30. 6. Consequences
 Demographic change
 Future threat to national integrity and security
 Vestiges of AASU movement to be carried out
by ethnic groups. Violence in BTAD area an
example
 Pressure on Land in border areas

32. 7. Measures to be take
Political Measures
 Debate and make people aware
 Assure the older generations the benefits if
they cooperate and not become mere vote
bank
 Keeping a tab in constituencies numbers

33. Administrative Measures
 Char Development Commission
 Use of multipurpose cards like AADHAR
 Work Permits
 Monitoring of the work permit holders

34. Security Measures
 Border fencing and patrolling char area
 Floodlighting
 Decrease distance between border outposts
 No firing policy strictly implemented
 Detection and Deportation changed to
Detection and Verification

35. Long Term Measures
 India develop border areas of Bangladesh
 Help Bangladesh with climate change
 Help Bangladesh with population control