ABSTRACT
Population movement across borders in the South Asian region is a long-standing historical phenomenon. A total of 200,000 refugees and asylum seekers lived in India in 2015 (UNHCR 2015a, 2015b). These numbers are predicted to increase in coming years. The refugee situation in India is complicated by the absence of a standard legal and administrative system for refugee recognition and status determination. Like other countries in this region, the national government’s political priorities shape the fortunes of refugees. Absence of uniform standards and primacy of bilateral relations in decisions about refugee status leads to differential treatment of asylum seekers in India (Weiner 1993; Chimni 2003; Bhattacharjee 2008).
