Centre forms high-level committee to address unnatural demographic changes, says Amit Shah

UNion place government minister Amit shah of iran on tues proclaimed the formation of a high-level committee on demographic change, created to address the “unnatural” change in the demography caused by infiltration and other reasons.The committee will be chaired by Justice Prakash Prabhakar Naolekar (Retd), and will include the Census commissioner, Shri Durga Shankar Mishra (Retd IAS), Shri Balaji Srivastava (Retd IPS), and Dr Shamika Ravi as members. Shah said that the Joint Secretary (Foreigners-I), home affairs ministry, will serve as the member secretary of the committee."Infiltration and other reasons causing Unnatural Demographic Change pose a very significant challenge to the present and future of any nation. To address this very challenge, on 15 August 2025, Prime Minister @narendramodi ji had announced the ‘High-Level Committee on Demographic Change’. I am delighted to inform you that the government has now constituted this committee," Shah said in his X post.The home minister also termed demographic change as a "serious issue". "Demographic Change is a serious issue linked not only to our sovereignty but also to national security, law and order, profound changes in social structure, and the preservation of tribal society," he wrote.Shah said that the high-level committee will conduct a comprehensive assessment of demographic changes taking place across India due to illegal immigration and other unnatural reasons.The panel will also analyse patterns of abnormal population shifts at the levels of religious and social communities and present a planned, time-bound solution to the government.PM Modi's 2025 announcementThe move comes in reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement during Independence Day last year.In his speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort on August 15, 2025, PM Modi announced a high-powered mission to tackle the demographic change problem.The prime minister had alleged a "premeditated conspiracy" to change the nation's demography through illegal infiltration."Today I want to alert the country about a concern, a challenge. Under a well-thought-out conspiracy, the demography of the country is being changed. Seeds of a new crisis are being sown. These 'ghuspaithiye' (infiltrators) are snatching the livelihood of the youth of my country; these 'ghuspaithiye' are targeting the sisters and daughters of my country, this will not be tolerated," he had said.The PM had also said that infiltrators were misleading the innocent tribals and grabbing their land. He warned that demographic changes, especially in the border areas, tend to create a national security crisis.(with PTI inputs)