The report, that the panel is supposed to submit, is expected to recommend a streamlined and sustainable operational system for the legal, fair and timely identification, detention and deportation of illegal immigrants already residing in the country
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Retired Supreme Court Justice Prakash Prabhakar Naolekar will head a high-level committee tasked with studying and submitting a report on demographic changes driven by illegal immigration and other abnormal factors within a year. Three eminent experts, former UP chief secretary Durga Shankar Mishra, retired IPS officer Balaji Srivastava, and Shamika Ravi, a member of the PM’s Economic Advisory Council, will be panel members, in addition to the Census Commissioner.The move announced by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday through a social media post is meant to execute Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s wish to have a ‘High-powered Demography Mission’. “Unnatural demographic change due to infiltration and other reasons is a major challenge for the present and future of any nation. To address this challenge, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a ‘High-Level Committee on Demographic Change’ on August 15, 2025,” he wrote on X.The Committee will submit its report within one year, with the Ministry of Home Affairs may extend its term for up to six months, if necessary.“This high-level committee will scientifically assess the demographic changes occurring in various parts of the country due to illegal immigration and other abnormal factors, analyse their causes, and recommend appropriate policy, legislative, and administrative measures,” the MHA said in a statement.To begin with, the committee, as per its terms of reference, will analyse the root causes and underlying factors driving these shifts— such as cross-border activities, economic opportunities, unusual settlement patterns, planned migration, and broader socio-environmental factors. The panel has also been mandated to study structural population changes within specific religious or social communities, particularly where those developments diverge from broader national or regional trends.The report, that the panel is supposed to submit, is expected to recommend a streamlined and sustainable operational system for the legal, fair and timely identification, detention and deportation of illegal immigrants already residing in the country, as per the MHA.“To recommend an appropriate institutional mechanism for border management , population stabilisation and strengthening of identification systems for continuous monitoring of such trends.” Also, propose a comprehensive policy framework to enhance coordination between the Central and State governments in matters relating to illegal immigration and the resulting demographic imbalance, the terms of reference stated.Shah, meanwhile, has started his tour of border States with a visit to Bikaner in Rajasthan to directly review security grids and lay the groundwork for comprehensive smart border project. In the meeting to review the border security with senior BSF officers in Bikaner, representatives from the Union Home Ministry and senior officers from the five districts that share a border with Pakistan also joined. The Home Minister will travel to Bhuj in Gujarat on May 29, where he is scheduled to visit another BSF border outpost. In June, Shah is likely to visit the nation’s eastern borders with Bangladesh, starting with a trip to Tripura on June 5, followed by a visit to West Bengal later in the month.Published on May 26, 2026
