The Illegal Immigrants (Identification & Deportation) Bill, 2018:Tabled in the Rajya Sabha

Dharmananda Deb, Advocate

A private member’s bill –“The Illegal Immigrants (Identification and Deportation) Bill, 2018” has been tabled in the Upper House of the Indian Parliament on August 6, 2018 i.e. just seven days after the publication of final draft of the NRC in Assam (July 30, 2018). This Private Member’s Bill, tabled by a law maker, Narayan Lal Panchariya from the ruling BJP from Rajasthan and also the party’s chief whip in the Rajya Sabha. The apparent purpose of the Bill is to provide for an institutional mechanism for identification of illegal immigrants in the country and their deportation and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

In its Aims and Objectives, the reasoning it states- “Historically, India has attracted people from all corners of the world. Many were so smitten with the greatness of our culture that they chose to settle here permanently and over time they have been assimilated into the Indian society. However, in the recent few decades, illegal immigration into the country has increased manifold so much so that the influx of immigrants created a crisis of identity among the indigenous citizens of our country. As a result, the cultural survival of citizens is in jeopardy, their political control is weakened and their employment opportunities are undermined by such illegal migration. It is found that though the immigrants had settled in various States of our country, most of them failed to identify themselves with the mainstream.

Due to linguistic similarities between illegal migrants from Bangladesh, Myanmar and other neighbouring countries and the indigenous people, it becomes difficult to identify and deport the illegal immigrants from Indian soil. Illegal immigrants have increased pressure on resources of our country and the Government has to increase expenditure on education and health facilities. Illegal immigrants are not only adding number to our booming population but are indulging in criminal and anti-national activities. Most of the illegal immigrants have got their names enlisted in the voting list illegally, thereby claiming the rights of citizens. The NRC (National Register of Citizens) has taken initiatives for the detection of illegal migrants. However, success of such initiatives will depend on strong political will. This silent and insidious demographic invasion may result in the loss of the geo-strategic importance of several bordering districts in the States of Assam, Tripura, Jammu and Kashmir, West Bengal and other states. The influx of these illegal migrants is turning these regions into such ghettos where the original inhabitants have been reduced to a minority and are facing an identity crisis.

In view of the dangers posed by illegal immigrants, the problem is required to be dealt effectively. Illegal migration from neighbouring countries is no longer a regional problem which can be pushed under the carpet since these migrants have now settled in several States including the NCT of Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. Since we do not want our country to become world’s capital of refugees and immigrants,  it is high time to solve the problems of illegal migration to save culture and identity of our people in their own land and to save the nation from the monument threat of immigrants.”

However, Clause 10 of the Bill smacks of a design that is set to serve the very purpose of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016. Referring to the clause, the MP from Rajasthan, said: “The Central Government may, if it considers so in national interest, exempt any illegal immigrant or any class of illegal immigrants from deportation or any other provisions of this Act.”

Section 14 of the bill states that “the provisions of this Act shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any other law for the time being in force.”

With the above mentioned objectives, the Bill also seeks to achieve to:-

(i) establish a National Commission and State Commissions for Identification and Deportation of Illegal Immigrants;

(ii) provide that the State Commission shall carry out necessary exercise for identification of illegal immigrants;

(iii) provide that Appeal against inclusion of an individual’s name in the list of illegal immigrants shall lie with the National Commission;

(iv) provide that the illegal immigrants identified by the State Commission shall be deported by the National Commission;

(v) Provide that the Central Government may, if it considers so in national interest, exempt any illegal immigrants or any class of illegal immigrants from deportation or any other provision of the Bill;

(vi) confer powers of civil court upon both the National Commission and the State Commission;    and

(vii) empower the National Commission to direct the State Governments to withdraw all services provided to illegal immigrants and seize and dispose of their property to meet their liabilities.

The process of enacting a law in India is as follows. A Bill has to be first introduced in one House of Parliament (first reading). The Bill may be referred to the relevant standing committee, which has members from both Houses. This is not a mandatory step. After the committee presents its report, the Bill is taken up for consideration. At this stage, the various provisions of the Bill are discussed in detail, and each clause is voted upon. Members may move amendments to the clauses. This is the second reading. Then the Bill (with the amendments passed in the second reading) is taken up for a final vote (third reading). Once passed, the Bill is sent to the other House, which has the second and third readings. The Bill is then sent to the President for his assent.

The process needs several reforms. The first question is “who can introduce a Bill?” In theory, any MP may introduce a Bill: those introduced by the government through ministers are called government Bills, others are called private members’ Bills. In practice, only government Bills are passed into law. Only 14 private members’ Bills have been passed in India’s history, the last one in 1970. The last Private Member’s Bill passed by parliament was the Rights of Transgender Persons Bill, 2014, passed by the Rajya Sabha is the first private member’s bill to get the upper house’s approval in the past 45 years. The last Lok Sabha saw 300 such bills introduced and barely four percent of them were discussed while 96 percent lapsed without even a single debate in the house.There were 328 such bills introduced in the 14th Lok Sabha and only 14 were discussed.