New Delhi

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday directed the high-level committee on demographic change to closely examine shifts in population patterns in India's border districts and assess the impact of illegal migration and other "unnatural causes".

Chairing a meeting of the panel, Shah asked the committee to undertake field visits to border regions, metropolitan cities and industrial centres to study demographic changes on the ground, officials said.

The Ministry of Home Affairs had constituted the committee last month to evaluate demographic changes across the country arising from illegal immigration and other unusual factors, and to recommend appropriate remedial measures.

The committee is headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice Prakash Prabhakar Naolekar. Its members include Census Commissioner, former IAS officer Durga Shankar Mishra, former IPS officer Balaji Srivastava and economist Shamika Ravi. The Joint Secretary (Foreigners-I) in the Home Ministry serves as the committee's member secretary.

Announcing the panel's formation, Shah had described demographic change as a serious issue linked not only to the country's sovereignty but also to national security, law and order, social cohesion and the preservation of tribal communities.

"This committee will conduct a comprehensive assessment of demographic changes occurring across India due to illegal immigration and other unnatural causes, analyse patterns of abnormal population shifts at the levels of religious and social communities, and present a planned and time-bound solution," Shah had said.

According to the committee's terms of reference, it will scientifically evaluate demographic changes taking place in different parts of the country, investigate their causes and recommend policy, legislative and administrative interventions.

The panel has been tasked with studying challenges arising from demographic changes, including illegal immigration, and examining possible contributing factors such as cross-border activities, economic opportunities and socio-environmental conditions.

It will also identify factors behind what the government terms abnormal demographic trends, including illegal immigration, unusual settlement patterns and organised migration.

Further, the committee will analyse population shifts among religious and social communities, particularly in cases where such trends significantly diverge from broader demographic patterns.

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The panel has also been asked to recommend a permanent and streamlined mechanism for the legal, fair and time-bound identification, detention and deportation of illegal immigrants residing in the country.