South Asia State of Minorities Report 2019
week. That is why we search for jobs,’ says one refugee.25
While there are no reported camps of Afghans, there are pockets
within Delhi where the community has established an extensive
presence. As of August 2019, there were 15,559 refugees and asylumseekers from Afghanistan registered with UNHCR in India.26 Those
registered are able to find work in the informal economy, and also
access the government healthcare and education system. Many are
engaged in small businesses, running Afghan stores and eateries
in partnership with local Indians. While the Indian government
does extensive development work in Afghanistan, there are few
significant government measures for Afghan nationals in India,
apart from the announcement of scholarships for 1,000 Afghan
students to study in Indian universities.27 The Afghan student
population forms a vital part of the Afghan community in India,
which helps the new arrivals as they attempt to rebuild their lives
in the country.
The Rohingya were in the news recently for having been forced
by Indian authorities to return to Myanmar, without any guarantee
of improved conditions for them there. For Rohingya Muslims
who arrived in India from camps in Bangladesh, the conditions
are not much better than those they were seeking to leave behind.
Some 20,833 Rohingya had been registered with the UNHCR in
India as of August 2019.28 Unofficial estimates put the total number
at around 40,000.29 Inhabitants in refugee camps speak of food
25 Piyumi Fonseka, ‘Desperate Lives inside Refugee Camps,’ Daily Mirror,
May 2, 2017, http://www.dailymirror.lk/article/Desperate-lives-inside-refugeecamps-128128.html.
26 Refugees and asylum seekers registered under the UNHCR’s mandate,
as of August 2019. See: ‘Figures at a glance,’ About Us, United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees—India, accessed 11 February 2020, https://www.
unhcr.org/en-in/india-factsheets.html.
27 ‘India Pledges 1000 More Scholarships for the Afghan Students,’ The
Khaama Press, June 11, 2019, https://www.khaama.com/india-pledges-1000-morescholarships-for-the-afghan-students-03589/.
28 Refugees and asylum seekers registered under the UNHCR’s mandate,
as of August 2019. See: ‘Figures at a glance,’ About Us, United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees—India, accessed 11 February 2020, https://www.
unhcr.org/en-in/india-factsheets.html.
29 Vindu Goel and Shaikh Azizur Rahman, ‘When Rohingya Refugees Fled to
India, Hate on Facebook Followed,’ The New York Times, June 14, 2019, https://
www.nytimes.com/2019/06/14/technology/facebook-hate-speech-rohingya-india.
html.
50
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