Internally Dispersed Persons India

Political sensitivities prevent the government from releasing data on displacement

• Regular monitoring is not possible without a central authority responsible for coordinating data from central and state governments
• At least 600,000 are internally displaced in India as of January 2006

IDMC comment April 2007: The figure of 600,000 comprises groups residing in camps. The number of 600,000 does not include thousands of displaced in the Karbi-Anglong area of Assam and in Manipur where fighting between ethnic groups and counter-insurgency operation have displaced whole villages during the past few years. Many are displaced temporarily and can return after some weeks or months in displacement while an undetermined number is still displaced and receive no assistance. In Tripura, as many as 100-300,000 people of Bengali origin are estimated to have been displaced for the same reasons during the past decade, but no information exists about the return or continued displacement of this group (AHRC, January 2007, “Tripura”). In the state of Chhattisgarh, it is assumed that thousands have escaped the conflict between the authorities and Maoist groups by crossing over to neighbouring states, and they too are not part of the statistics. Nor does the figure comprise the flight of migrant workers, as for example in Assam in January 2007 when Biharis were forced to leave Assam in a matter of days due to threats and killings by local insurgents. The current estimate should therefore be seen as representing the camp-population only and not the internally displaced who largely live unassisted with friends, relatives or blend with other slum residents in the outskirts of the urban areas. It is therefore fair to estimate that the total number of displaced is far higher than the number of 600,000, although it is not possible to give a global estimate. Baruah 2003, Refugee Survey, p. 46: "In recent years, internal displacements caused by violent ethno-national conflicts between tribals and denizens in many parts of northeast India have attracted the attention of refugee advocates. While most agree that there is substantial internal displacement in the region, calculating the precise number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) has not been easy. Jawaharlal Nehru University professor Mahendra Lama describes the nature of the problem in India as a whole. Political sensitivities prevent the government from releasing data on displacement, he says. But without "a central authority responsible for coordinating data from central and state governments, regular monitoring is not possible in such a huge country". The "nature, frequency and extent of the causes of internal displacement" in India are so varied that it would be a "Herculean task to monitor and record them"." NNHR, 19 February 2007: "There are over 6,00,000 conflict induced IDPs in India. Majority of them are indigenous/tribal people including 33,362 displaced persons in Kokrajhar district and 74,123 in Gosaigaon district[…] of Assam; 55,476 Kashmir Pandit families who were displaced due to the conflicts in Jammu and Kashmir since 1990;[…] and about 35,000 Brus (also known as Reangs) from Mizoram who were displaced in October 1997 and took shelter in Tripura. As of 31st December 2006, there were 43,740 displaced persons in the Salwa Judum camps in Chhattisgarh." AHRC, January 2007, pp.vi-vii: "About 55,476 Kashmiri Pandit families remained displaced in Jammu and Delhi since 1990s. The government of India and the State government of Jammu and Kashmir regularly announced various schemes to encourage their return but most of the Kashmiri Pandits remained skeptic due to security concerns. About 200,000 Adivasis, Bodos and Muslims remained displaced in Bodoland areas of Assam since 1994. The killings and displacement started following the signing of the Bodoland Accord in February 1993 and creation of the Bodoland Autonomous Council. Another Accord was signed with the Bodoland Liberation Tigers Force in February 2003 and Bodoland Territorial Council under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India was created. But these displaced persons were not rehabilitated so far. About 35,000 Brus/Reangs were displaced from Mizoram and sought shelter in Tripura in October 1997. The National Human Rights Commission after hearing all the parties issued directions to the State government of Mizoram to take back the Reangs in November 1999. The Election Commission of India also ensured the right to franchise of eligible Brus in the assembly and parliamentary elections held in Mizoram. Most importantly, on 26 April 2005, Mizoram government signed a 10-point Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Bru National Liberation Front (BNLF). Pursuant to the MoU, the BNLF formally surrendered their arms to the Mizoram police at Tuipuibari Transit Camp in western Mizoram on 25 July 2005. Yet, not a single Bru was taken back by the end of 2005. Thousands of others who had been displaced because of conflicts were not provided shelter or housed in camps. Over 45,000 border migrants living along the Line of Actual Control and displaced following the war in Kargil in 1999 had been virtually disowned by the government Jammu and Kashmir and government of India, and were not provided any assistance. […] the Chhattisgarh government extended official support to the Salwa Judum campaign - an anti-Naxalite movement - started in June 2005 and forcibly displaced thousands of people, mainly Adivasis, into the government managed camps in South Baster. With more than half of the States of India being afflicted by low intensity armed conflicts, the population of the conflict induced IDPs will only grow."