On September 13, 2013 the UN-Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA) report said that in 2013, 3.2 million Bangladeshi migrated into India. It described the exodus from Bangladesh into India as “the single largest stock of international migrants”. Bangladesh with a population density of 1252/sq km is the most thickly populated country in the world and experts say that climate change in the coming days is likely to cause migration of huge masses of people from the country’s coastal areas. Some 20 million people are expected to migrate due to environmental disaster by 2050. Government plan specifies that settlement of environmental refugees would pose a serious problem to the country. Therefore it says that “migration (abroad) must be considered as a valid option for the country.”
Vulnerable Assam
The Indian State of Assam shares a 262 km long boundary with Bangladesh and a large part of it is wide open. Therefore, Assam becomes one of the preferred destinations for the migrants from Bangladesh. In different parts of lower Assam, especially in the border districts where immigrant Muslims constitute the overwhelming majority, indigenous people are facing the threat of demographic invasion. A close study of demography reveals that thousands of indigenous Hindus left their home because of the threat from the settler Muslims. Indigenous Hindu people are constantly declining in many parts of lower Assam. In Baghbor of Barpeta district, Hindu population was 14,112 in 1991, this number declined to 10,789 in 2011. Some 3,323 Hindus migrated or went missing from Baghbor during this period. On the contrary, Muslim population increased from 2,31,242 in 1991 to 2,94,993 in 2011. In Barpeta district of Assam, Hindus constituted 51.1 per cent of the total population in 1971. In 2001, this number declined to 6,62,066 (40.19 per cent). In 2011, it further declined to 4, 92,966 (29.11 per cent).
In South Solmara of Dhubri district, Hindu population was 5,5,57 in 1991. In 2011 this number declined to 4,589. On the contrary, Muslim population increased from 1,61,952 in 1991 to 2,44,590 in 2011. Muslim population growth rate during 1991-2011 was 51.03 and Hindu population growth rate was 17.41 per cent.
Vanishing Villages
In Bagribari, Hindu population was 32,614 in 1991. In 2001 this number declined to 31,119. In 2011 this number further declined to nearly 23,000. Where have all these Hindus gone and under what circumstances? In Chapar of Dhubri district, Hindu population was 50,255 in 1991; in 2001 this number declined to 49,165. In 2011 Hindu population in the area further declined to 43,121. There was a Hindu village near the Shiva Temple at 31 No National Highway at Chapar; now the village is not there. Some other Hindu villages also vanished from this area during this period. Both physical and psychological pressures forced these people to migrate from their birth place.
In Dhubri district, Hindu population was 4,05,065 in 2001. In 2011, this number declined to 3,88,380. In 1991 Hindus constituted 28.73 per cent of the district’s total population. In 2011 this percentage declined to 19.92 per cent. In Paschim Nalbari block of Nalbari district, Hindu population was 106,234 in 2001. This number has declined to 97,6,47. Some 8,600 people migrated from the area.
Demographic invasions, especially in the border areas, have serious security implications. The chicken neck which connects the North East with rest of the country has witnessed demographic instability. The immigrant colonies have been the epicentre of anti-social, anti-national, drug trafficking activities. Porous border with the hostile neighbours remains a serious cause of concern.
