Inclusion of Rajbongshis as ethnic group sought

There are a total of 47 small ethnic groups in Bangladesh, and 27 of them were included in the government gazette, the state minister for social welfare said yesterday. 

Promod Mankin said the process to include the rest was underway.

The state minister gave the information while addressing a discussion at Jatiya Press Club in the capital on the demand for inclusion of the Rajbongshi community in the list.

He assured that he would try to have the group included in the list.

However, the minister urged the Rajbongshi people to get educated. "Without qualifications, their inclusion in the list of small ethnic groups would be meaningless," he said.

The name of Rajbongshi, a plain land underprivileged ethnic group, was dropped from the list during the enactment of the Small Ethnic Group Cultural Institutions Act 2010, the community leaders said, blaming indifference of the bureaucracy for this.

Before enactment of the law, Rajbongshis were treated as an ethnic group, even in the 1991 population census, and they got all benefits meant for indigenous people, they added.

The south-western region of unit of Rajsbongshi Society organised the discussion with assistance of the Research and Development Collective (RDC), which works on the country's ethnic groups.

In his speech, RDC Chairperson Prof Meshbah Kamal said Rajbongshis were an ancient ethnic group in Bangladesh, and their contribution to the Liberation War was noteworthy.

However, their exclusion from the list of ethnic groups is unfortunate, and right now they need government assistance and privileges to make progress, he added. 

Indigenous communities are entitled to a number of benefits including quotas at educational institutions and government jobs. The Rajbongshi leaders said they were being deprived in the job sector and education sector because of the exclusion. Rajbongshis mostly live in the country's south-west including Khulna, Jessore and Narail, and they fish for a living.

Parliament member AKM Fazlul Haque, poet Kazi Rosy, columnist Syed Abul Maksud, and RDS Secretary Jannat-e-Ferdausi also spoke.