Illegal immigration

Hello members,

Originally posted by: Chitrashi

Guilty as charged, but somehow when a general remark is twisted out of context and personal abusive epithets are cast at one, I tend to kick back HARD. Not one of the types who would roll over or offer the other cheek. Hit me, I break the hand that offered violence. Not the types who would seek sympathy or cry like a hapless maiden.


Coming to the topic you have raised there are two sides to it. Illegal immigration has been the bane of the North Eastern states for quite a while now. Perhaps you might not know this, But Asom Gana Parishad came to power on the platform of Illegal Immigration. The 70's and 80's saw a kind of violence that cannot even be imagined now. What was the result - the same student leaders who shouted slogans against immigration, joined politics, became the ruling party and continued the age old practices.

There is a humanitarian ground attached to the issue of immigration. How can one turn back hordes of people who are starving and dying and seek asylum?

How could we in all honesty turn back the Tibetans or the Burmese? They also form a huge chunk of immigrant population in India, not just the Bangladeshis.

And there is another facet - in quite a few villages the borders are so arbitrary that half the village or at times even half a house falls under Indian territory and the other half in Bangladeshi territory. How does one distinguish such borders?

Then there is the issue of forest cover. Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland have rich forest cover. In order to identify and maintain precise borders one would need to denude the mountains of that forest cover, otherwise the territories are at best amorphous.

Having identified the issues around immigration, one can only see what are the best possible solutions available in the current scenario.

One is the lack or scarcity of resources, job opportunities and development. When there is a lack of infrastructure and development, people would hit out at those sections of society that they perceive as outsiders. This is the same scenario that is being played out in Australia against the Indians, in USA against the Mexicans, etc. Yet can one call a person who is born in India and spent all his life in this country an illegal immigrant only because his grandparents or parents were illegal immigrants? The children are natural born citizens of India.

The second issue is that of acceptance and assimilation in the mainstream India. It is only after being treated as virtual foreigners in their own country for so long that the north-eastern states have received some amount of attention in the last decade. there is still a long way to go before the Seven Sisters join the mainstream.

One last word, it would be wrong to blame a single political party for the situation in the North East. In the last 20 years almost all political parties and regional parties have been at the helm of affairs but the ground reality has not changed.

Whatever the solution to illegal immigration should be let's not add ethnic cleansing to the mix like the Burmese have decided. The situation in Burma is appalling.

Originally posted by: Chitrashi

One is the lack or scarcity of resources, job opportunities and development. When there is a lack of infrastructure and development, people would hit out at those sections of society that they perceive as outsiders. This is the same scenario that is being played out in Australia against the Indians, in USA against the Mexicans, etc. Yet can one call a person who is born in India and spent all his life in this country an illegal immigrant only because his grandparents or parents were illegal immigrants? The children are natural born citizens of India.

Illegal immgration is a very sad reality , especially in N-E states where the locals are still struggling to mix with the mainstream,Assam in particular saw violence, with Nellie massacre, it has been widely speculated that both the nationalist parties have been discriminating between the locals and the immigrants. many have used the refugees for vote bank politics.

It is very different to demarcate the borders, in this partcular region, I guess it was only in 1998 that clear barriers were placed on the Bangladesh-Indian border.

There are many social repurcussions,female immigrants are trafficked across India and then there is also a possibilty of militancy.

There has to be a differentiation and proper policy for people getting asylum and borders should not be porous enough.Overall, I feel besides taking concrete steps to stop illegal migration, we need to work towards assimilating N_E states with the mainland.

Originally posted by: bewafa

In all honesty, the violence against Indians was not due to Indians taking over jobs. It was mostly in Melbourne where some pathetic red-neck types created trouble...and some others joined in. Racist, ignorant red-necks. Also, what amazed me was the Indian media's reporting. There were various cases where it was Indian students killing other Indian students...but when I turned the Indian news channel on...the deaths were reported but no culprit was named...but it was all bunched together to give more impact I suppose. Situation WAS bad...but certainly not in the way it was represented.

I'm not saying there wasn't an issue. There most certainly was but, it was majorly blown out of proportion...and it was not because of jobs. Some racist pricks being racist pricks.

Australia is by no means perfect. We have mandatory detention for godssake for people that come by boat seeking asylum. I'm telling you, most citizens are too lazy to read up on things themselves. This applies to practically every country in this world.
Boat people are NOT illegal...but, people in power will twist things and use it to their advantage.

Anyway, just thought I should point that bit out. Not due to jobs, more to do with certain breeds of human bacteria.


About this issue in India, I have no technical knowledge about it. However, every country is facing that problem. The numbers of people seeking asylum has risen over the past couple of years.

*edited to include*

Also, according to Internal Law, every person of this world has a right to seek asylum if they fear they are not safe in their home country. You are NOT illegal. Asylum seeker DOES NOT mean illegal immigrant. I wish people would stop using the wrong terms.

You're an illegal immigrant if say, you overstay your visa. NOT if you're seeking asylum!

Thank you for correcting me on that one. I was kind of unable to reconcile the fact that on one Australian Universities were offering so many sops to entice Indian students and on the other hand, there was so much resentment against Indians in general. It is difficult in India to find unbiased news reporting and avoid propaganda to arrive at the real ground picture.

Yes, you are right bigots will remain bigots no matter what color, creed or nationality they are.

*edited to include*
Prime example of illegal immigrant - the Indo-Russian domestic help.

Originally posted by: bewafa

@Chitrashi

You crack me up.

@Chitrashi= That is a low blow but it is STILL gonna sail clear over the head of the one you edited to include!

@bewafa=Your "human bacteria" was VERY crack up worthy too!! Loved the term-going to shamelessly plagiarizer THAT one when the occasion demands-which is pretty often here in apna desh when discussion turns to the appalling behavior of men

PS=Thank you for your kind and very generous assessment on another thread. (I didn't realize quite how much information I had let slip! TMI,you think? My daughter thinks I talk too much & too freely...feel free to agree!!)

Originally posted by: znursingh

@Chitrashi= That is a low blow but it is STILL gonna sail clear over the head of the one you edited to include!

@bewafa=Your "human bacteria" was VERY crack up worthy too!! Loved the term-going to shamelessly plagiarizer THAT one when the occasion demands-which is pretty often here in apna desh when discussion turns to the appalling behavior of men

PS=Thank you for your kind and very generous assessment on another thread. (I didn't realize quite how much information I had let slip! TMI,you think? My daughter thinks I talk too much & too freely...feel free to agree!!)