Migration and Refugee Issue Between India and Bangladesh

In the era of globalisation, where opening of borders is being advocated all over the world, there is one issue over which no nation-state is ready to compromise with its territorial borders. The issue of migration and refugees is considered so sensitive that states have often linked it with their sovereignty, independence and even existence. The problem of migration and refugees between India and Bangladesh started as early as the formation of Pakistan as a separate state in 1947. The endless flow of migrants from erstwhile East Bengal, later East Pakistan and now Bangladesh to India has generated a range of socio-political, economic, ethnic and communal tensions in India; simultaneously it has also embittered the bilateral relations between the two countries. In such situation it becomes unpreventable to look over the issue so that a viable elucidation may emerge. The present paper is an attempt to understand the migration and refugee issue between India and Bangladesh through historical and analytical methods. In this course it will look into the emergence of the refugee problem, its causes, impacts and eventually will come up with a possible roadmap that can suggest a practicable solution to the problem.