New Delhi, May 27 -- The Centre has constituted a "high-level committee" under a retired Supreme Court judge to study demographic changes across the country due to "illegal immigration and other unnatural causes", and to suggest measures to tackle the issue, Union home minister Amit Shah announced on Tuesday. The move comes months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Independence Day speech from the Red Fort last year had announced a high-powered demographic panel, saying that there was a "pre-meditated conspiracy" to change the country's demography through illegal infiltration. The committee was approved by the Union Cabinet on September 11, 2025. "Illegal infiltration and other reasons leading to Unnatural Demographic Change is a very big challenge for the present and future of any nation. To address this very challenge, on August 15, 2025, Prime Minister @narendramodi ji had announced the 'high-level committee on demographic change'. I am delighted to inform you that the government has now constituted this committee," Shah said in a post in Hindi on X. The committee, Shah said, will be chaired by Justice Prabhakar Naolekar (retired) and will also include the census commissioner (currently Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan), retired IAS officer Durga Shankar Mishra, retired IPS officer Balaji Srivastava and economist Dr Shamika Ravi as members. The joint secretary (foreigners-l unit) of the ministry of home affairs (MHA) will serve as the member secretary of this committee, he added. The MHA in a statement said the committee will submit its report within one year. "If necessary, the MHA may extend the tenure of the committee by up to six months," it added. Shah emphasised that demographic change is a serious issue linked not only to the country's sovereignty but also to national security, law and order, profound changes in social structure and the preservation of tribal society. "This committee will conduct a comprehensive assessment of demographic changes occurring across India due to illegal immigration and other unnatural causes, analyse patterns of abnormal reasons," Shah said in the post. "It will analyse the patterns of population changes at the levels of religious and social communities, and will present a well-planned and time-bound solution to address the issue." In his August 15, 2025 speech, PM Modi had announced a high-powered "demographic mission" to tackle what he described as a massive crisis....