Author:
Publication: The Assam
Tribune
Date: July 1, 2000
NEW DELHI, June 30- The
need to include the illegal immigration from across the border as one of
the factors of the burgeoning population of the country was underlined
here today at a conference of editors and media experts on the national
population policy.
There were quite a few
red faces at the conference organised by the Ministry of Health and Family
Welfare, to discuss the role of media in generation of awareness on population
related issues, when Editors including D.N.Bezboruah, Editor of The Sentinel
wondered why the population policy made no mention about the illegal immigration
as one of the factors of population explosion.
There are around 10 million
illegal immigrants from Bangladesh including three-four million from Nepal.
The impact of illegal immigrants on demographic pattern can be made out.
For instance, take the
case of Total Fertility Rate (TFR) and Assam today is among 12 States which
forms 54.97 per cent of the country's population which has a TFR of 3 per
cent. Assam has a TFR of 3.2 per cent. Assam also figures among
the handful of States having highest infant mortality rate of 78 out of
1,000 as against an all India average of 72 (1997-98).
It also emerged during
the deliberations that Assam has innumerable abandoned health sub-centres
and new health sub-centres should not be constructed. The authorities
can improve and make functional the earlier health sub-centres, primary
health centres and community health centres. The conference today
was inaugurated by the Union Health and Family Welfare Minister, Dr.
C.P.Thakur and attended by the Union Minister of State for Information
& Broadcasting, Arun Jaitley and Minister of State for Health and Family
Welfare, Rita Verma.
