Influx main cause of population rise ; NCM

NEW DELHI, April 30 – The National Commission for Minorities finding may again send alarm bells ringing as it said that growth rate of Muslims in 10 districts of Assam was among the highest in the country. The National Commission for Minorities which convened a meeting with Muslim intellectuals today to discuss the findings of the report of critical analyses of the 2001 Census by an Expert Committee of demographers said that out of the 593 districts studied by the Committee there were 49 district in four States which showed high growth rates. The States included Assam, West Bengal, UP and Bihar.Expert demographer and chairman of the Committee Prof Ashish Bose said that high growth rates in the 10 districts in Assam and five districts in West Bengal was due to the unabated influx from Bangladesh.The 10 districts have recorded over 51 percent growth rate which above the national average. The districts were Dhubri, Bongaigaon, Barpeta, Darrang, Morigaon, Nagaon, Cachar, Karimganj, Karbi Anglong and Goalpara.In UP, out of its 70 districts, 10 districts have recorded Substantial Muslim Population and in Bihar five. While elsewhere higher fertility rate was prime cause for SMP, in the districts bordering Bangladesh infiltration was the main for such high growth rate, Prof Bose claimed.Chairman of the NCM Tarlochan Singh further added that the Census Commission could not furnish the data on illegal infiltration to the NCM when it was asked.He also said that concern expressed by few political parties in States like Assam about the high growth rate of Muslim could not be brushed aside. The Expert Committee mentioned that the inter censal growth of Muslim population (29.5) during 1991-2001 was higher than overall growth (21.5 percent) of the country’s population during the same decade.