A significant portion of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh entering India do not arrive to seek economic opportunities independently. Instead, they move within a well-established labor supply chain, where Indian employers located far from the border use intermediaries in Bangladesh to attract cheap labor.
Intermediaries operate at every stage of the ecosystem created for 'illegal immigrant labor.' They facilitate entry, organize transportation to workplaces, and prepare forged documents before placing people in various establishments, including textile production, construction, and pharmaceuticals.
A high-ranking official from the government of Assam told TOI that an organized system exists. This system involves recruiting intermediaries from Bangladesh who, based on the needs of Indian employers for cheap labor, find unemployed Bangladeshi citizens seeking low-paid, unskilled work in India. He emphasized that every step, from illegal entry into India to reaching jobs, is meticulously planned in advance.
The official specified that infiltration guides help selected Bangladeshi citizens cross the border, primarily through the states of Meghalaya, Tripura, and West Bengal. Agents on the Indian side then organize their transit to Assam and subsequent train journeys from Guwahati to workplaces across the country.
Local intermediaries assist them in obtaining fake documents, such as Aadhaar. Subsequently, another group of agents hands them over to Indian employers willing to hire them for wages below those paid to Indians. Intelligence sources indicate that Bangladeshi labor recruiters operate based on labor requests received from agents connected with Indian employers. The network also engages in manufacturing fake Aadhaar and PAN cards at the destination, allowing illegal immigrants to register as workers and move between sites.
Assam recently uncovered one such intermediary network that transported illegal immigrants from Guwahati railway station to Tamil Nadu for work at a textile factory, leading to the arrest of 34 people. In response, the state raised this issue at an all-India conference of border district representatives, chaired by Home Minister Amit Shah, on July 9. The state demanded the creation of a legal framework to hold accountable Indian employers who exploit the illegal immigration network from Bangladesh.
One police officer told TOI that by possessing these documents, many people pretended to be Indian citizens and even registered as voters. However, a Special Intensive Review (SIR) could interrupt their plans, as it required confirmation of their parents' or relatives' presence in the 2002 lists.
India has introduced a ban on the import of goods manufactured using forced labor by issuing a corresponding notification. This step comes as the US considers imposing tariffs as part of an investigation under Section 301.
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) announced that the import of products produced wholly or partially using forced labor is prohibited. The notification dated July 13 specified that forced labor is defined as any work or service extracted from a person under the threat of punishment, where the person did not voluntarily consent, according to the International Labour Organization's (ILO) definition of forced labor.
According to an official representative of the Ministry of Commerce, this is the first instance where India sets a standard to restrict imports related to forced labor. By adopting the ILO Convention's definition verbatim, India aligns itself with international standards also applied by the United States (US) domestically, noted Agneshwar Sen, head of the trade policy department at EY India.
In recent years, international inspections have linked forced labor in China's Xinjiang province to sectors such as cotton, textiles, apparel, and polysilicon used in solar panels. This province is home to the Uyghurs, the largest ethnic group in Xinjiang, and under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, goods connected to Xinjiang are presumed to be made with forced labor unless proven otherwise.
The U.S. Trade Representative's Office (USTR) published a draft report on the forced labor investigation in June. The deadline for public comments was July 6, but Washington has not yet made a final decision on tariffs after reviewing the submitted materials. Indian Commerce Minister Rajesh Agrawal stated on Monday that the final report is expected this month.
The Section 301 investigation proposed reducing tariffs to 10 percent for certain economies, including Pakistan, Indonesia, Mexico, and Canada, among others, in recognition of their implementation of a 'partial regime' to prevent the import of goods made with forced labor. Ayari Srivastava, founder of the GTRI think tank in Delhi, emphasized that this directive establishes a legal framework, not an immediate import ban. He added that the effectiveness of this order will depend on how the government conducts investigations, what evidence is required to establish forced labor, and which products will ultimately be targeted.
