High-level demographic committee launches website seeking relevant inputs

New Delhi, October 14 (IANS): The High-Level Committee on Demographic Changes (HLCDC) has launched a website to facilitate ministries and departments of Union, States, and Union Territory governments, various other bodies, and individuals to provide relevant inputs.  Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the constitution of the committee on Independence Day last year, with the Union Cabinet giving approval to the proposal on September 11, 2025.Retired Justice of the Supreme Court Prakash Prabhakar Naolekar is the Chairperson of the body, with Mritunjay Kumar Narayan (retired IAS), Durga Shanker Mishra (retired IAS), Balaji Srivastava (retired IPS) and Shamika Ravi (member, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister) as its members. Prashant Sitaram Lokhande, IAS, is Member Secretary.HLCDC was constituted by the Ministry of Home Affairs to study demographic changes usually related to variations in fertility, cross-border movement, including illegal immigration, economic opportunities and other socio-environmental factors. The committee will identify the underlying factors behind these changes, analyse structural population changes at the level of religious or social communities, especially those diverging from uniform trends and recommend a well-organised and permanent operational system for the legal, fair, and time-bound identification, detention and deportation of illegal immigrants.The terms of reference also include recommending an appropriate institutional mechanism to strengthen border management, population stabilisation and identification systems for sustained monitoring of such trends. It will further propose a comprehensive policy framework to enhance coordination between Central and State governments in matters related to illegal immigration and resultant demographic imbalance, and also recommend any other measure it deems appropriate to address the challenges.The website (demography.mha.gov.in) seeks all concerned to share inputs by completing an online questionnaire and, where appropriate, upload supporting documents, research materials, photographs, and videos. All submissions received will be examined by the committee and may be considered, as appropriate, while formulating its recommendations.