State governments are finding it difficult to address multiple questions posed by a high-level committee studying demographic shifts, as officials note that departments typically do not keep much of the requested data categorized by religion, The Hindu reported.
The High-Level Committee on Demographic Changes (HLCDC) headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice Prakash Prabhakar Naolekar, was established by the Ministry of Home Affairs on May 26 to examine demographic shifts resulting from illegal immigration and other unusual factors, and to recommend steps to address these demographic changes.
According to The Hindu, HLCDC has requested religion-specific data from the past 15 years on births and vehicle registrations, school admissions, and property deals.
It has also asked for district-level information on religious structures and on a typical surges in Aadhaar, voter ID, and ration card registrations.
It has additionally requested intelligence evaluations and commission reports concerning religious conversions within Scheduled Tribe communities, as well as information on functioning detention centres and other related matters.
The panel has also sought information on detention centres, forged identity documents, alleged links between undocumented migrants and organised crime, human trafficking and narcotics offences, besides measures taken by States to curb unauthorised migration and settlement.
The committee has so far visited the Jammu region and plans to visit Maharashtra, The Hindu reported.
State government officials informed The Hindu that responding to the committee’s 35 questions was challenging because the secular framework of the Constitution bars the collection of data based on religious categories.
Apart from birth registrations, where the newborn’s religion is recorded on the certificate, and figures on undocumented migrants who are apprehended or deported, officials said that religion-specific data for all other categories did not exist.
The States have been directed to compile data on Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Muslims, Parsis, and Buddhists across all the specified categories.
The committee has additionally requested that States detail the policy directives, executive orders, or changes to land and municipal laws implemented over the past 15 years to address unauthorised migration and settlement.
It has further asked for recommendations on whether new legislation is needed to enhance surveillance and enable measures to "reverse abnormal religious demographic change."
The questionnaire aims to gather information across five main domains: demographic trends, migration, administrative challenges, institutional mechanisms, and the studies and measures implemented by States and Union Territories.
Government officials also informed The Hindu that the Election Commission has not yet supplied the data requested by the panel regarding voters who were removed during Bihar’s Special Intensive Revision on the basis of suspected foreign nationality.
In post on X, Congress MP and general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh shared The Hindu report and said, "This panel has a 'patently diabolical agenda' and has clearly articulated pre-conceived biases. Its report has already been prepared no doubt."
