Professor S. Irudaya Rajan, Chairman of the International Institute of Migration and Development, says we in India “only have guesstimates of illegal immigration” and they are done by “non-demographers”. According to Rajan, the quantum of illegal immigration in India may be in lakhs or millions. "What we don’t have are accurate estimates given by demographers that are reliable and trustworthy," he says.

In a 30-minute interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire, to discuss and analyse the prime minister’s proposal to set up a high-powered demography mission to work within a fixed timeframe, Rajan was asked how serious a problem is illegal immigration from Bangladesh. Rajan said “demographically it may not be very serious.” However, he added, “if the illegal immigrants are criminals, even a hundred can be a problem. But if they are only coming to look for better economic prospects then it’s not a serious problem.

Rajan pointed out that we should not forget that millions of Indians travel to Europe, America and, particularly, West Asia, in search of better economic prospects.

Watch the full interview.

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