Published Paper Details:

Abstract: "Illegal Migrants" the term is used as a code to mean 'Bangladeshi' in Assam and the words are used interchangeably. The influx of illegal migrants from Bangladesh into Assam is so high that changes demographic pattern of the State, which threatens to reduce the Assamese people to a minority in our own State, as happened in Tripura and Sikkim. Illegal migration from Bangladesh into Assam should be viewed against the backdrop of past history, present realities and future designs. Migration into Assam has been taking place from the dawn of history. Numbers of causes are there which are responsible for the migration of Assam. In this paper an attempt has been made to examine various aspects of illegal migration into Assam from various countries especially from Bangladesh. In this study we find that mainly environmental crisis caused by population pressure in Bangladesh and relatively greater economic opportunities in terms of higher lifetime income, acquisition of land and assets in Assam, have been the primary motivations behind large scale migration. There are some beneficial effects, such as the immigrants have contributed to the rise of agricultural productivity by introducing better techniques, crop diversity, and multiple cropping and also the immigrants causes the supply of cheap labor in the informal labor market have benefitted the consumers and producers alike. However, they have put tremendous pressure on land, creating socio-political and environmental problems that have indirect adverse effects on the economy. Finally, the immigrants hardly contribute to the government revenue while the government spends a substantial amount to maintain this significantly large fraction of the population.