Imphal, February 23: Governor Najma Heptulla today launched a 2-day national seminar on “Migration and Ethnicity in North-East India” at Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, Regional Campus, Makhan, Kangpokpi.
Najma said there is a serious concern about illegal migration in the North Eastern states. Illegal migration has been considered as a cultural and demographic threat for the numerically smaller communities of the region. The North Eastern states share long borders with neighbouring countries and this has led to a more pronounced feeling of insecurity among the local populace in the region for illegal migration from across the borders.
“The issue of regulating the entry of people into the region through a mechanism such as ILP system has been occupying the attention of the people in the NE states”, added the governor.
Najma said the seminar will help in putting into proper context an issue which is hotly debated presently in the North-East. The migrants as human beings are an integral part of the human development in a society and country. Migration as ‘factor mobility’ and migrants as ‘factor of production’ are of paramount importance in economics. A large number of people from all over the country have migrated in search of work towards bigger cities of the country. The North-East is also not far behind in this phenomenon of social mobility and a large number of young people from this region have migrated to different cities across the country.
Recent studies on northeast migration have also delved into the alleged discrimination confronting the people of the region in other parts of the country. However, the mainstream population is gradually getting an opportunity to understand the region, and a change in perspective has been seen over a period of time.
Such a seminar is a rare forum, which will deliberate on important issues such as history and cause of outward migration from India’s North East Region, identify the socio-economic and motivational characteristics of outward migration, analyse the subjective experiences of the migrants in the host society and their employment aspirations and expectations, pattern of conflict and accommodation between migrants and members of the host society and determine the contribution of the migrant workers both in sending and receiving places, said the governor.
The seminar is organised by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, Kolkata in collaboration with the Centre for North-East Studies and Policy Research, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi and Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, Regional Campus, Manipur.
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