Create ministerial div for plain land Adivasis

The Parliamentary Caucus on Indigenous Peoples yesterday demanded creation of a division under the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) affairs ministry to look after the welfare of indigenous people of plain land.

Without a ministry looking after them, they are always forgotten in budget discussions and allocations, the caucus leaders told a views exchange meeting on the national budget and Adivasi people at The Daily Star Centre in the capital.

"A division for plain land adivasis can be opened at the CHT ministry. But we'll have to be careful that the step doesn't create unnecessary divisions among the Adivasi peoples," said Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon.

He added that the caucus would meet the finance minister to press home its demand for more budgetary allocations. 

General Secretary of Bangladesh Adivasi Forum Sanjeeb Drong said about 20 lakh plain land adivasis had an allocation of Tk 16 crore in the last national budget. "So each plain land Adivasi person got 80 taka," he said.

He went on to explain that the size of the coming budget would be around three lakh crore taka. "Since Adivasis constitute over two percent of the total population, the allocation for them should be 6,000 crore taka.

"But the last budget had 755 crore for the hill tracts people and 16 crore for plain land Adivasis," he said.

Technical coordinator of the caucus Prof Mesbah Kamal said compared to the allocation for general people, shares of both hill tracts and plain land Adivasis were discriminatory.

General Secretary of Jatiya Adivasi Parishad Rabindranath Saren said about Tk 44 crore had been allocated for the development of plain land Adivasis since the country's independence.

"I'm sure people have paid the state at least three or four times more than that amount in tax," he said.

State Minister for Social Welfare Promod Mankin, lawmakers Ushatan Talukdar, Fazle Hossain Badsha, Kazi Rosy and Director (rights) of Manusher Jonno Foundation Rina Roy also spoke.