The national committee on demographic changes has an onerous task in hand to take people on board at a national level and listen to the grievances, complaints and suggestions of the people
FRAGRANCE OF IDEAS
ASHWANI KUMAR CHRUNGOO
Finally, the government of India recently decided to appoint a high-level national committee on demographic changes in the country. It is a well-timed decision that has historic dimensions and value and will determine the civilizational path, in future, for India to take. The decision is aimed at scientifically assessing and addressing unnatural demographic shifts caused by illegal immigration and other abnormal factors.
The Committee will be headed by Justice Prakash Prabhakar Naolekar (Retired Supreme Court Judge) as its chairman. The full composition of the national committee membership is as follows: The Census Commissioner of India, Durga Shanker Mishra (IAS Retd.), Balaji Srivastava (IPS Retd.), & Dr. Shamika Ravi (Member of the PM’s Economic Advisory Council). The Joint Secretary (Foreigners-I) of the Ministry of Home Affairs will be the Member Secretary of the national committee. The five-member national committee will be tasked with submitting its comprehensive report within one year, with an optional six-month extension if required by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The high-level committee plans to analyse abnormal population changes across religious and social communities, particularly in border states, and recommend actionable policy, legislative, and administrative measures. It is a decision that will take care of many demographic challenges towards which the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, NSA Ajit Dobal and the General Secretary (Org.) of the BJP, B.L. Santosh, referred to various times during the last year, particularly during the election time.
India has been severely affected by demographic changes post the 1971 war and the liberation of Bangladesh. The illegal infiltration from Bangladesh and of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar both have created havoc throughout the country. This illegal population has social, cultural, economic and security dimensions for the nation, and an early resolution of the issue is on the agenda of the present government, which is quite reassuring. The main challenge for the government was initially to convert this to a functional & working agenda, which it has done.
There are a number of Pakistani infiltrators also living in various parts of the country who are always a standing security threat to the nation. These infiltrators have different denominations, and these go on changing them perpetually. In Jammu and Kashmir, wives and children of the so-called surrendered terrorists, besides some others who were born in Pakistan, are also living illegally in various parts of the state.
Moreover, these illegal infiltrators were/are being provided shelter, safety and other facilities by the political leaders, and even the state governments ruled by opposition parties, considering them their vote-bank. The Supreme Court’s recent judgement upholding the SIR done by the ECI, paving the way for deletion of these infiltrators from the electoral rolls, has opened gates for their detection, deletion and deportation. The Home Minister of India has repeatedly said that the infiltrators will ultimately be deported to their respective nations.
Generally speaking, the common citizens throughout the country and also the nationalist populace in Jammu and Kashmir feel very happy and satisfied with the formation of the national committee. It is expected that the representatives of the people will make their presentations before the committee when it starts working in the near future. It will be incumbent upon the political parties, social organisations and the other NGOs to present their point of view in this regard before the committee.
The challenges are seen as the civilizational challenges by the nationalist populace of the country. Recent elections in West Bengal have given a soulful push to the debate of infiltration in the country. The challenges in this regard can be seen and observed besides West Bengal in Assam, UP, Kerala, Maharashtra and even in the states like Uttarakhand, Delhi, Haryana and HP. The alarming bells in relation to the illegal infiltration by Bangladeshis and Rohingyas of Myanmar have added dangerous dimensions to the already existing grave scenario. In case the issue remains unaddressed, there are all possibilities of a civil-strife in an eventual unseen future.
The past history of six decades from 1947 onwards saw most of the political parties and players, so-called human rights activists and intellectuals, and also writers cum activists openly supporting the demographic imbalance for their political and vested interests. In particular, their support for the illegal infiltrations were motivated by their appeasement policies and vote-bank politics, and they even didn’t miss to involve the courts also in this imbroglio. A battery of senior lawyers keep on fighting the cases of these illegal infiltrators as they are paid heavily by certain agencies to fight these cases.
There is another dimension to the issue of demographic imbalance. Besides the uneven growth of population in various religious and caste denominations over the last seven decades, the Hindu population in the country has seen a worrisome negative downward trend. While the current birth-rate among Hindus per couple is 1.90, the Muslims have the birth rate of 2.50. The Sikh community, along with the communities like Christians, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and non-religious denominations, have assumed a highly negative growth in their numbers, ranging from 1.10 to 1.80. While the national growth rate in this context at present is approximately 2.00, the Muslim community growth rate stands at 0.50 more than the national growth rate.
Several southern states have raised this issue a number of times. Their strict adherence and follow-up of the national family planning policy has brought their numbers down as compared to the northern states. This demographic challenge has its different dimensions in different ways in different states. The common thing is that these challenges are poised to create social, cultural and economic disparity and tensions leading to an unhealthy political situation in the country.
Consequent upon the genocide and ethnic cleansing of Hindus in Kashmir, four decades ago and afterwards, the forced mass exodus of the community opened the gates for demographic invasion at the local level. Most of the houses, mohallas, colonies, businesses and the land and properties of Hindus in Kashmir were either burnt, razed to the ground, destroyed, usurped -both legally and illegally, occupied with or without the connivance of the government and the administration and turned into a hundred per cent non-Hindu territories in the valley of Kashmir within a period of ten years during the 1990s.
The government jobs, private jobs and also small and medium businesses of the Kashmiri Pandit community were appropriated by various organs of the society and the administration. There are at least two lakh local people of the Muslim community in Kashmir that are currently inhabiting the abandoned Hindu houses, mohallas and colonies in the valley. When Mufti Syeed was the Home Minister in the government of India, he ensured that the government jobs, particularly in the Banks and other such institutions in the valley pertaining to the displaced community members are passed on to the members of the local Muslim community.
They didn’t stop here and further made all attempts to block the way of any possibility of the return of the exiled community back to the valley. How their hundreds of places of worship were destroyed in the valley without any remorse is another tragic story of the dark period for the community of the indigenous people of Kashmir -the Kashmiri Pandits. Most of the people in the valley, barring a few, chose to remain silent on these grave human rights violations against the minority Kashmiri Pandit community, affecting the demographic composition in Kashmir.
The government of India owes responsibility to provide every citizen the right to live wherever he or she desires to live and settle. The Kashmir valley as on date is Hinduless and its indigenous population has also been out for the last four decades. A coordinated effort needs to be undertaken to reverse the hard ground realities without wasting time in the best interests of the national, constitutional and civilizational goals. It is time to take the positive initiative in this regard to make the Kashmir valley actually liveable for all Indians irrespective of their religion, caste, creed, colour and political ideology.
The national committee on demographic changes has an onerous task in hand to take people on board at a national level and listen to the grievances, complaints and suggestions of the people. It is expected that the representatives of the people will be suggesting certain measures to tackle the existing challenges. The committee is required in this context to take these suggestions and measures seriously and examine them sincerely and seriously.
The constituted committee will be visiting various states and UTs to listen to the people at the grassroots level. There can be no denying the fact that demographic imbalance is a serious civilizational challenge for the country. The nation can wait in this connection, but only at its peril. The highly appropriate timing of its constitution speaks volumes about the intent and seriousness of the political and administrative leadership of the country. ‘Well begun is half done’ is an old saying……!
(The author is a senior BJP and KP leader, Human Rights Defender & columnist and can be reached at: ashwanikc2012@gmail.com)