Amid growing concern over rising infiltration and “unnatural changes” in border areas, the Centre on Tuesday announced the setting up of a high-level committee on demographic change, which will be led by Justice Prakash Prabhakar Navlekar (retd).The panel will submit its report within a year and, if necessary, the Ministry of Home Affairs may extend its tenure by up to six months.Home Minister Amit Shah announced the development in a post on X, elaborating that the Centre has taken the decision to form the panel after Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 15 last year announced that such a committee would be formed.Apart from Justice Navlekar, the committee comprises Census Commissioner Mritunjay Kumar Narayan, retired bureaucrat Durga Shankar Mishra, former IPS officer Balaji Srivastava and PM’s economic advisory committee member Shamika Ravi. The Joint Secretary (Foreigners-I), Ministry of Home Affairs, will be the member secretary of the committee.Shah said: “Demographic change is a critical issue tied to our sovereignty, national security, law and order, severe shifts in social structure and the protection of tribal societies. This committee will conduct a comprehensive assessment of demographic changes occurring across India due to illegal migration and other abnormal causes. It will analyse the patterns of abnormal population shifts at the level of religious and social communities, and present well-planned and time-bound solutions to address the issue”.As per the terms of reference of the committee, it will comprehensively deliberate upon the challenges arising from demographic changes, including illegal immigration; the panel will also study the possible causes of such demographic changes, such as cross-border activities (including illegal immigration), economic opportunities, and other socio-environmental factors.The high level committee will identify the underlying factors behind these changes, which include illegal immigration, abnormal settlement patterns, and orchestrated migration. It will also analyse structural population changes at the level of religious or social communities, particularly where they deviate from broader trends.Once the committee analyses the reasons, it will recommend a streamlined and permanent operational mechanism for the legal, fair, and time-bound identification, detention, and deportation of illegal immigrants already residing in the country.It will further suggest an appropriate institutional mechanism to strengthen border management, population stabilisation, and identification systems for the continuous monitoring of such trends. The panel will further propose a comprehensive policy framework to enhance coordination between the Central and state governments on matters related to illegal immigration and the resulting demographic imbalances.Further, it may may recommend any other measures it deems appropriate to address the challenges arising from demographic changes, including illegal immigration.Last week, during the BSF’s investiture ceremony, the Home Minister had indicated that the Centre was going to soon announce a “high-powered demography mission”, a strategic national initiative to curb illegal immigration into the bordering states from neighbouring countries, especially Bangladesh and Myanmar, and address artificial demographic changes across the country.Incidentally earlier this month, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had said that demographic imbalance in India needs more urgent attention than population control.