From: dharma@verdix.com (Manjeri Dharmarajan)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian
Subject: Re: Politics of Infiltration: Stop Lebanonisation of Eastern India
Date: 9 Apr 92 07:37:15 GMT
Article-I.D.: verdix.4509
Reply-To: dharma@VERDIX.COM (Manjeri Dharmarajan)
Organization: Verdix Western Operations; Aloha, OR

In article <1992Apr9.054321.14428@cs.brown.edu> as@cs.brown.edu (Apratim Sarkar) writes:
>An extremely relevant and well-written article!! 
>I remember people taking trains to Calcutta and talking quite
>freely about crossing the border illegally and how they do it *everyday* - they
>cross the border from Bangladesh and come to work at Calcutta. Firstly, this
>shows the lack of immigration checkings at the Bangaon border (but then the
>entire border is like a sieve) and secondly and more importantly, how these
>people from Bangladesh are taking away the jobs from the local people in Calcutta
>and neighbourhood. 

Funny how all the people complaining about this have left India and are studying
or working in the US! What's the difference between them and the Bangladeshis,
except for a piece of paper?

>
>Back in Calcutta, working with a social service organisation in the "basti"s of
>Calcutta, I found that a majority of the people who repair umbrellas in Calcutta
>(in the rainy season you can see many new faces mending umbrellas in newly grown
>streetside shops) come from Bangladesh in the rainy season and go back when the
>lucrative season is over. The section of the illegal immigrants that I came
>across specialised in this, I am sure that other such examples can be found
>in other fields of work. This is another example of the local people losing jobs
>to foreigners staying illelaglly in the country. Considering the economic
>situation in West Bengal, we can hardly afford to neglect this!!
>

More power to these immigrants, I say! These enterprising souls have discovered
a niche market, and are exploiting it. Why don't the local chaps do likewise?

Maybe they think these jobs are beneath them? They'd much rather blame the
"foreigners" for their condition, instead of taking responsibility for it.
Cries of "Look, they're taking away our jobs" are nothing but attempts to get
society to subsidise you for your inefficiencies. Why would an employer go 
through the hassle of hiring an illegal immigrant, if they could get a legal
resident who's willing and able to do the job?

>Again, this has a question of law and security assosciated with it. 

This is a valid point. The Indian police should cooperate with the Bangladeshi
police, and work on extradition treaties, and permission to pursue offenders
across the border.

>
>There is another subtle point to note - the Hindus form a minority of the
>migrating population. To me, at least, this seems to be a covert attempt at

Oh no! Not another Muslim conspiracy! Muslims make up around 80% of Bangladesh.
Of course, a majority of the immigrants will be Muslim.

>
>Regarding the legalisation of the status of the immigrants - getting ration cards
>in the villages and towns illegally with the help of the local Panchayets is no
>big deal in West Bengal these days. 

And the USA calls itself the Mecca of capitalism! :-)

In my opinion, political boundaries are an anachronism in the global economy.
Now that there are fewer and fewer restrictions on capital, the next step is
to allow the free movement of labour. This will lead to a more effcient
economy, and uniform standard of living everywhere.

	Dharmarajan
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian