OPINION: ‘Indigenous groups face extinction’

The NRC discussion has been seen only through the prism of the foreigners who have been excluded from the list. What has been forgotten and overlooked is that there is virtually no discussion on why it was necessitated. Large-scale and continuous migration through a porous border, is the primary cause. Three independent studies have estimated that by 2040 to 2051, the indigenous people in Assam will become a minority under the weight of the Bangladeshi influx. Of 525 ethnic communities in India, 240 are in the Northeast and Assam has 115. All these communities face the threat of extinction at the hands of Bangladeshi immigrants.  

—Upamanyu Hazarika, Advocate, Commissioner appointed by Supreme Court on Indo-Bangla border