SC appointed Upamanyu Hazarika Commission submitted report on illegal migrants from Bangladesh

A one-man Commission headed by Upamanyu Hazarika on 5 October 2015 submitted its report on illegal migrants from Bangladesh into Assam.

The fact-finding commission was appointed by the Supreme Court in May 2015 while hearing the public interest litigation (PIL)-Assam Sanmilita Mahasangha Vs Union of India & Gov. of Assam.

The commission was appointed by the Supreme Court (SC) to find out and report on the ground situation along the India-Bangladesh border running through Assam.

Highlights of the report

• Migrants from Bangladesh are threatening to reduce the indigenous population of Assam to a minority by the year 2047.
• Foreigners acquired land through all means and the favourite mode being to pose as flood and erosion affected persons from other districts with the aid and assistance of a complicit and corrupt administration.
• The big influx over the years has created a huge immigration population which competes for jobs, in government institutions with Indian citizens, without verification of the antecedents of such non-Indians.

• A high-power inquiry on illegal migration should be constituted by the SC to inquire into issues concerning illegal migration from Bangladesh.
• A Sterile Zone should be created by demarcating or identifying a particular stretch from the international boundary in the riverine area and identity cards should be issued to villagers there.
• Since the primary reason for illegal migration is hunger for land, there should be a restriction in the transfer of land - whether by way of sale, purchase, gift or any other such transaction, or by way of allotment from any agency only to those who have been citizens of India in the year 1951 and their descendants.
• Statutory restrictions on transfer of land to non-tribals in existing tribal belts in Assam now be extended to non-tribal areas.

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