NRC: The history of migration into Assam and the problems it now poses

Assam is among the least industrialised––and most flood-prone––states of India, yet it has been facing a unique challenge of dealing with the problem of migration. The National Register of Citizens has exposed the gravity of the situation as 40 lakh people, who claim that they have been living there since before March 24, 1971, find their names missing in it.

Though partition of India and subsequently the creation of Bangladesh in 1971 are held responsible for this influx of population from outside the origin can be traced to the mid-19th century British policy of settling population from outside. Their eyes was on the rich forest of the region which later suited the growth of tea.

As industrialisation had not started in India in mid-19th century, Assam was more precious to them in comparison to other states

They first brought lakhs of Adivasis from restive Chotanagpur region in different phases in the second half of 19th centruy. In fact when the process started there was no railways, hardly any road and river link to Assam or other parts of north-east.

The British  hit several birds with one stone––crush the rebellious tribes, many of them Santhals and use them as indentured labourers in labour-intensive plantation work of Assam.  At the same time they pitched Adivasis against original population.

Incidentally, these Adivasis do not enjoy the Scheduled Tribes status in Assam as they did in rest of east and central India from where they were taken and forcibly settled there.

If economic factor compelled people from Bihar and UP to migrate and work in the agricultural land and industries of Punjab and Haryana the Adivasis were forced to leave their homes by the British who tried to destroy their source of livelihood as they did in Africa when they needed slaves in America.

These Adivasis are frequently targeted by Bodos in Bodoland area of the state. They can not return to their homes in Chotanagpur as they have nothing left here.

The creation of East Pakistan dealt a big blow to entire North East as the region became landlocked after the ports of Dhaka and Chittagong went over to become parts of the new country. Kolkata too became a far-away port city. The economic activities further shrank. Yet it did not check the inflow of migrants from within the country and outside.

Though Assam is famous for tea gardens, most of the tea industries are located in Bengal, especially Kolkata. So with hardly any industrial activity and diminishing scope in primary sector––especially after the mechanisation of farming and plantation––this far-flung region of North-East is bound to remain restive––unless something special is done to improve the situation.

As the north-eastern states have been virtually encircled by China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar cross-border movement is a big problem as most of the borders are porous.

Though almost entire north-easten states got special category status they failed to attract investment in industrial sector as hilly states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, which are much closer to the national capital, New Delhi. These two states have no history of political turmoil as North-East. Besides, they are not  multi-ethnic and multi-religious as North-East.

Now people do not go to work in tea gardens and other related works. A large number of those who have made North-East their homes, are engaged in tertiary sector. They are teachers, bankers, transporters, traders, motor mechanics, government employees as well as families of military and security personnel have, in the last few decades, settled there.

Curiously, while the people from across the country have been settling in Assam for the last over 150 years there was very little out-migration of the original population of the Seven Sister states. It is only in the last couple of decades that one have started feeling their presence outside the ‘Chicken Neck’. In fact more Bihari and Nepalese live in Siliguri than Assamese.

While the government is grappling with the challenge posed by the NRC one can not deny that those who have actually infiltrated from across the border might have spread to other parts of India as North-East hardly provides any opportunity to them.

Now there is enough scope for the vested interest to fish in the troubled waters of Brahmaputra and various others rivers and ponds of the region.