Diversion of BSF battalions from the border in Assam for other tasks, when the battle against infiltrators is on, must be scrupulously avoided. All country boats, plying in the river near the border should be registered and their registration numbers marked on them. Medium crafts for floating BOPs with adequate speed boats for the riverine sector, should be made available as early as possible. Multi-purpose photo identity cards should be provided to all our nationals. Districts bordering Bangladesh should be accorded higher priority. Effective arrangements should be made for registration of births and deaths. The National Register of Citizens should be updated and computerised. A separate register of Stateless citizens should also be maintained.

Diversion of BSF battalions from the border in Assam for other tasks, when the battle against infiltrators is on, must be scrupulously avoided. All country boats, plying in the river near the border should be registered and their registration numbers marked on them. Medium crafts for floating BOPs with adequate speed boats for the riverine sector, should be made available as early as possible. Multi-purpose photo identity cards should be provided to all our nationals. Districts bordering Bangladesh should be accorded higher priority.

Awareness should be promoted about illegal migration into Assam being not only a threat to the identity of the Assamese people but what is more, being a grave threat to our national security. Border fencing in Assam should be completed on a war footing. Observation towers and lighting should be provided on the same scale as in Punjab. BSF battalions deployed in Assam should not be given responsibility to hold unduly extended frontages. As in the case of Punjab, BSF battalions should hold a frontage of 30 kilometers. Additional BSF battalions should be provided for this purpose. Diversion of BSF battalions from the border in Assam for other tasks, when the battle against infiltrators is on, must be scrupulously avoided.

Measures to stem illegal migration can be undertaken without any controversy but any alternation of status quo in regard to detection and deportation of these migrants will result in strident assertion of conflicting viewpoints. The "secular" parties and the minorities do not see any danger from illegal migration. They believe that most of the so called illegal migrants are Bengali speaking Indian Muslims and this issue has been unnecessarily blown out of proportion. They fear that in the garb of deporting foreigners, Indian Muslims will be harassed. Thus they are for the continuance of IMDT Act in its present form. On the other hand, the majority community of Assam and the political parties dubbed as "communal" by the "secularists" have a diametrically opposite viewpoint. They are gravely concerned about the large influx of illegal migrants and want their ingress stopped. They also want that the highly discriminating IMDT Act be repealed forthwith. There appears to be no meeting groun

Measures to stem illegal migration can be undertaken without any controversy but any alternation of status quo in regard to detection and deportation of these migrants will result in strident assertion of conflicting viewpoints. The "secular" parties and the minorities do not see any danger from illegal migration. They believe that most of the so called illegal migrants are Bengali speaking Indian Muslims and this issue has been unnecessarily blown out of proportion. They fear that in the garb of deporting foreigners, Indian Muslims will be harassed. Thus they are for the continuance of IMDT Act in its present form. On the other hand, the majority community of Assam and the political parties dubbed as "communal" by the "secularists" have a diametrically opposite viewpoint. They are gravely concerned about the large influx of illegal migrants and want their ingress stopped. They also want that the highly discriminating IMDT Act be repealed forthwith. There appears to be no meeting groun

 in Bangladesh The measures recommended to arrest the influx of illegal migrants may not completely stop their ingress but will certainly go a long way in reducing it to a small trickle. A more lasting and effective solution can come about through economic development in Bangladesh. This will remove the motivation behind trans-border migration. Lately, there have been welcome developments in this regard in Bangladesh. There are signs of the economy picking up in that country through the unique experiment of Grameen Bank supported by a large amount of international funding and the efforts of the Government and other NGOs. The Grameen Bank has been targeting the women. Its membership has swelled to over 2 million, and of these, 93 per cent are women. It is providing micro-credit loans without any collateral. These run into several billions and they have a record recovery rate of 98 per cent. This is bringing about a perceptible change in the rural areas. Targeting women for economic dev

Certain other measures are also required to be taken to deal with illegal migration. These are as follows :- Our nationals in the border districts and for that matter in the whole State, should be provided multipurpose photo identity card. This task should be completely on high priority. Effective arrangements must be made for registration of births and deaths in the State. The 1950 National Register of Citizens should be updated. Computerisation will facilitate this process. A separate register for illegal migrants (Stateless citizens) should also be maintained.

Border fencing in Assam must be completed forthwith on a war footing. In terms of cost outlay, it may not now be possible to provide border fencing of the same height as in Punjab but there must be lighting arrangements for the fence. Observation towers must be provided in Cachar Sector. Additional BSF battalions should be provided in the East with each battalion having a frontage of 30 kilometres. It is understood that one reason for thin deployment of BSF in the East is the fact that 16 battalions are deployed on counter insurgency tasks. Such diversion of forces from border policing to other duties, when the battle against illegal migrants is on, cannot but have adverse effect. The shortage of BSF units must be made up on priority through new raising. The present arrangement of guarding the riverine border with some speed boats and out-broad fitted country boats, is not adequate. There is a need to have floating BOPs on medium watercraft with four to five speed boats attached to t

Border policing in both Punjab and Assam should prevent trans-border movement of smugglers, militants and infiltrators. In the case of Assam, infiltration has a much bigger and a more dangerous dimension. Despite this, the measures to counter trans-border movement in Assam appear to have been given a lower priority than in Punjab. This is evident from the following facts:- The decision to fence the border was taken in 1985 and reflected in Assam Accord but the work on fencing started seven years later in 1992. 13 years have elapsed since this Accord and fencing has not yet been completed. Whereas in Dhubri sector of Assam it is nearly complete, in the Cachar sector only a little over half has been completed. As against this, fencing in Punjab started in 1988 and was completed in 3 years by 1991. The quality of fencing in Punjab is superior. It is two feet taller. Observation towers and lighting of the fence have been provided in Punjab, all along the border. In Assam observation towe

A border fence may be a fool proof method of preventing infiltration but there is no better way of doing so. To be effective, border fencing has to be supplemented by vigorous patrolling and other measures. The motivating factors behind infiltration must be addressed. If this can be done successfully, then a permanent solution of the problem can be found.