High Level Committee On Demographic Change To Visit States And UTs
The committee has prepared a detailed questionnaire to receive relevant information from concerned authorities.
Published : July 1, 2026 at 6:44 PM IST
New Delhi: Weeks after the Centre formed a high-level committee to undertake a nationwide scientific study of demographic changes, including those arising from illegal immigration, the committee, headed by retired Supreme Court judge Prakash Prabhakar Naolekar, on Wednesday called on Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi and informed him about its strategy to visit various States and UTs to get first-hand ground-level details.
The committee members informed Shah about their action plan to interact with various Ministries of the Centre to receive feedback on subjects related to demographic changes. The committee also informed that a detailed questionnaire has been prepared to receive relevant information from States and UTs in advance to ensure their visit is more meaningful and interactive.
Shah, while appreciating the strategy formed by the high-level committee, directed Home Secretary Govind Mohan to provide all possible assistance to the committee in its day-to-day work and also during their visits. Shah also suggested that the committee should provide its recommendation at the earliest.
It was in May that the Centre constituted the committee to study the demographic changes arising from illegal immigration and other abnormal reasons, and to suggest measures to deal with these demographic changes.
Justice Prakash Prabhakar Navlekar (Retired) is the Chairman of the Committee. In addition to the Census Commissioner, three distinguished persons, including Durga Shankar Mishra (Retired IAS), Balaji Srivastava (Retired IPS), and Dr Shamika Ravi (member of PMEAC), are its members.
This high-level committee will scientifically assess the demographic changes occurring in various parts of the country due to illegal immigration and other abnormal reasons, analyse their causes, and recommend appropriate policy, legislative, and administrative measures.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, last year, had announced that such a committee would be formed to look into the illegal demographic invasion. During his speech at the Independence Day event in 2025, Modi warned of “well-planned conspiracies” by infiltrators to alter India’s demographic balance, saying such actions threaten national security and undermine livelihoods for the country’s youth.
The committee will propose a comprehensive policy framework to improve coordination between the Centre and states on issues related to illegal immigration and demographic imbalance. One of the key mandates of the committee is to recommend a “well-organised and permanent operational system” for the legal, fair and time-bound identification, detention and deportation of illegal immigrants residing in the country.
The terms of reference assigned to the committee include studying the causes of demographic changes such as fertility variations, cross-border movement, illegal immigration, economic migration and socio-environmental factors.
The committee will also examine structural changes in population composition among religious and social communities, especially where trends diverge sharply from broader national patterns.
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