The Gauhati High Court’s order of December 9, 2019, asking the Government of Assam to evict encroachers from land under the various tribal belts and blocks situated in different districts of the state. The above-mentioned order is not a fresh one. In fact it comes in continuation of a series of orders that the High Court has been issuing to the Government of Assam since December 2012. But then, this order has assumed significance because it has come at a time when the state is witnessing massive protests against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019. The protests are on because the Government has opened up the scope and facility for all non-Muslim infiltrators from India’s three neighbouring countries – particularly from Bangladesh in the case of Assam – to acquire Indian citizenship, which in turn stands to create a situation in which the indigenous communities of Assam and the Northeast will be reduced to a minority in their own homes. Going through the Gauhati High Court’s order of December 9, 2019, one finds that though the Government of Assam has taken steps to remove ‘non-protected’ encroachers from tribal belts and blocks in the past few years, huge tracts of such land are still in the grip of such encroachers. The Government of Assam, through an affidavit submitted to the High Court has admitted that over 56,116 bighas of land under Tribal Belts and Blocks across the state are currently under encroachment of ‘non-protected’ encroachers – meaning of non-tribal encroachers. It is an open secret that these ‘non-protected’ encroachers are none but persons suspected to be illegal migrants from erstwhile East Pakistan and present-day Bangladesh. There are of course also a number of ‘protected class’ encroachers – meaning people of tribal communities – in various Tribal Belts and Blocks. In the Bijni Tribal Block in Bongaigaon district, for instance, over 3,000 bighas of government land is under encroachment; of this 145 bighas of government land are under encroachment by people of ‘protected’ category, while 677 bighas are under encroachment of the ‘non-protected’ category of people. Alarmingly, over 1,476 bighas of patta land are also under encroachment by ‘non-protected’ category of people. Any elderly citizen of Bijni will be able to tell how government land as well as patta land has been systematically encroached upon by these ‘non-protected’ category of people, who are largely of doubtful origin and citizenship, and how they have rapidly caused a dangerous demographic change in the Bijni sub-division. Similarly, in the South Kamrup Tribal belt that extends over both Kamrup and Kamrup (Metro) districts, over 4,250 bighas of land has been under encroachment of ‘unprotected’ category of people. The Government affidavit also shows that in Murkongselek Tribal Belt, such ‘unprotected’ encroachers have occupied over 7,600 bighas of land; close to 40,000 bighas are under encroachment by ‘unprotected’ category of people in one Tribal Belt and the six Tribal Blocks in Lakhimpur district. In Morigaon district – a district where the demographic change has been the fastest in comparison to anywhere else in the country – close to 5,900 bighas of land under Tetelia, Ghagua, Palahguri, Bagariguri, Gobha, Bahakajari, Baranga and Jamadari Tribal Blocks have been under encroachment of such ‘unprotected’ category of people. Even when one takes a close look at the four districts of BTAD that are supposed to be under protection of the Sixth Schedule, close to 55,000 bighas of land under ten Tribal Blocks and eight Tribal Belts are currently under occupation of ‘unprotected’ category of encroachers. A thorough reading of the Government affidavit will reveal more about the ground scenario, where people belonging to the ‘unprotected’ category – who are suspected to be illegal migrants of East Pakistan/Bangladesh origin – have been systematically encroaching upon land under various Tribal Belts and Blocks, as also on other government and patta land. These keeping an eye on the kind of questions being asked from time to time in the Assam Legislative Assembly will probably discover that there is a typical inquisitiveness among certain members to extract information about which district has how much Government land. There is every reason to suspect that there is a link somewhere between such inquisitiveness, encroachment of land and rapid change in the demography of Assam. This issue calls for serious discussion, especially at a time even protests are on against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 in Assam and the Northeast.