2019年经济学人 印度追捕“非法移民”(2)（在线收听）

Indigenous Assamese have long complained that they are being swamped in their own homeland by migrants from Bengal, the densely populated region to the south (see Asia section). In colonial times, there was such an influx, since there were no borders to stop poor Bengalis moving north in search of a better life. Assamese nationalists, pointing to Bengalis’ ever higher share of the state’s population, insist the flow of migrants continues to this day, even though the Muslim part of Bengal has become a separate country, Bangladesh.

长期以来，土著阿萨姆人一直抱怨说，来自南部人口稠密地区孟加拉的移民正把他们淹没在自己的家园中。在殖民时期，由于没有边界来阻止贫穷的孟加拉人向北寻求更好的生活，移民潮就这样涌入。阿萨姆邦的民族主义者指出，孟加拉人在这个邦的人口中所占的比例越来越高。他们坚持认为，尽管孟加拉的穆斯林地区已经成为一个独立的国家——孟加拉国，但移民潮仍在继续。

Muslims make up a third of Assam’s population. The state’s shifting demography is mainly the result of a higher birth rate among Bengalis already in Assam, not migration. But that has not stopped the Bharatiya Janata Party (BIP), which dominates both the state and national governments, from vowing to collar lots of illegal immigrants. And since so few of them exist, more had to be invented.

穆斯林占阿萨姆邦人口的三分之一。邦人口结构的变化主要是由于已经在阿萨姆邦的孟加拉人出生率更高，而不是移民。但这并没有阻止控制邦和国家政府的印度人民党发誓要逮捕大量非法移民。而且由于移民本来就不多，所以要创造更多。

The law the government is eagerly enforcing requires all residents to prove that they or their forebears were in the state by March 24th 1971. That is a big hurdle for poor farmers and itinerant workers, especially women, many of them illiterate. Suspects can be denounced as non-citizens by anonymous tips, an invitation to abuse. There have been lots of mistakes, such as a decorated war hero who was declared not to be Indian. Roughly 60% of those found not to be citizens at the 100 “foreigners’ tribunals” the state government is setting up were not even present for the proceedings. Some 3.7m of the 4mpeople declared illegal immigrants are challenging their designation. There has been a spate of suicides tied to adverse rulings.

政府正在积极执行的法律要求所有居民在1971年3月24日前证明他们或他们的祖先合法生活在该州。对于贫穷的农民和流动工人来说，这是一个巨大的障碍，尤其是妇女，她们中的许多人是文盲。嫌疑人可能会被匿名举报为非公民，从而招致虐待。会造成很多错误，比如一个被授予勋章的战争英雄被宣布不是印度人。在州政府设立的100个“外国人法庭”中，约有60%的非公民甚至没有出席庭审。在被宣布为非法移民的400万人中，约有370万人正对他们的身份提出质疑。一系列的自杀事件都与不利判决有关。