Bangladesh's global warming risks put NE in danger

Guwahati, Aug 10 (UNI) At least 10 to 12 per cent of Bangladesh would be submerged by rising sea level, leaving almost 30 million people refugees in their own land, with India, especially its North Eastern states poised to bear the maximum burnt of sheltering these dislodged population.

Global warming, once dismissed as a problem of the future, is ready to command its preys across the world, with Bangladesh, several smaller islands in the Pacific and the Netherlands, predicted to be inundated by rising ocean water.

In Bangladesh, the next two decades would witness the submergence of at least 10 to 12 per cent of its land. With almost 30 million of its people rendered landless and looking for high land, at least 10 per cent of them, translating into 30 lakh people, would sneak into Assam.

This huge flood of people would bring about serious changes in the demographic pattern of the entire NE region, especially as NE is home to several small indigenous tribes whose identity has already been threatened by continuing influx from Bangladesh.

India's NE states are already fighting infiltration, with Assam having witnessed a mass movement against it and the issue still continues to burn the state.

The Muslim growth rate in Assam from 1991-2001 was a staggering 29.30 per cent compared to a Hindu growth rate of 14.95 per cent.This fast growth in the Muslim population is blamed on the unabated infiltration from Bangladesh. But the next flood of infiltration due to global warming could prove far more worse for NE.

A United Nations report said that global warming, fuelled by human activities, could lift temperatures by 8 degrees and the ocean's surface by 58 cm by 2100.

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