India News | Land Rights of B'desh Indigenous People Must Be Secured for Their Devp: Former Govt Official
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. Indigenous people of Bangladesh, including Chakmas, Garos and Santhals, who lost part of their land to settlers and property grabbers, need to have rights on their resources secured for their proper conservation and development, former information commissioner of Bangladesh Sadeka Halim said.
Kolkata, Jun 2 (PTI) Indigenous people of Bangladesh, including Chakmas, Garos and Santhals, who lost part of their land to settlers and property grabbers, need to have rights on their resources secured for their proper conservation and development, former information commissioner of Bangladesh Sadeka Halim said.
Speaking at a seminar at Institute of Development Studies, Kolkata, she said that there are around 27 indigenous communities in Bangladesh officially, comprising 1.8 per cent of the country's population, who live mainly in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), Tangail, Sylhet, Mymensingh, Rajsahi and a few other districts.
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Halem, the former dean of faculty of social sciences at Dhaka University, noted "they have got recognition as small ethnic minorities" as per Article 23A of the country's Constitution, terming it a “positive development for the indigenous communities”.
Article 23A, inserted in the Constitution in 2011, says "The State shall take steps to protect and develop the unique local culture and tradition of the tribes, minor races, ethnic sects and communities."
Halem, however, pointed out that the said Article or the Cultural Institutions Act, 2010 "do not address the rights of indigenous people on land, territories and resources."
She said that though there is provision for preventing transfer of aboriginal land to non-aboriginals, there is no provision of taking control over lost land.
"These issues need to be addressed and the rights of the indigenous people over their land and natural resources have to be secured," she said on Wednesday.
The professor said that a study, in which she was a gender expert of ten 'adibashi' communities in the plains, found that they lost 2,00,164 acres of land.
She said that land grabbing by non-state actors for rubber and tobacco plantations, trans-migration of Bengali settlers, tourism projects that violate their customary hold over the land and other development work have led to the indigenous people losing their hold on their property.
Halim maintained that advantage has been taken of the their practice of keeping account of personal land holdings, without any official entry of such information
She said that after the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, a demographic shift was witnessed in the indigenous people-dominated areas between 1979 and 1984 and about four lakh people Bengali population settled in CHT.
"Indigenous people are essentially agriculturists and vulnerable to loss of land rights and settlement," she said.
A two-decade long political and armed conflict from 1977 between the Bangladesh government and the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (United People's Party of the Chittagong Hill Tracts) over the issue of autonomy and land rights ended with the signing of a peace accord in December 1997 between the agitators and the Sheikh Hasina government.
Maintaining that they have special bonding with natural resources, Halem said that the pressures of switching to modern modes of farming from the traditional Jhum cultivation method – under which crops are grown on a land once a year and then left fallow for about five years -- were also growing with the rise in population in the hills region, where non-indigenous people have settled in large numbers.
She said that the indigenous communities have been facing problems in selling their products in the markets which are now dominated by the settlers.
The professor asserted that said that she has faith in the current Sheikh Hasina government in Bangladesh for further strengthening the rights of the indigenous people since it is under this dispensation that there have been several positive changes for their protection.
"That diversity is strength has to be admitted by all, whether it is Bangladesh or the Indian government," she insisted.
The former information commissioner contended that cross trans-migration was a reality with a section of indigenous people moving to urban areas for working in garment factories, which are thriving in Bangladesh and providing maximum employment opportunities.
Halem added that the Bangla government has also started introducing quota system to ensure the indigenous people come forward for education, much like the way the Indian government is providing free education to all till the age of 14 years.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)