Tea garden communities demand govt recognition

Students from small ethnic communities at tea gardens in Moulvibazar yesterday submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina via the district deputy commissioner, demanding inclusion in the government’s list of small ethnic communities.    

In absence of government recognition, languages and cultures of these communities are not getting protection under various programmes taken by the authorities, said Mithun Kurmi, president of Uttaran Bangladesh, a welfare organisation of indigenous students at tea gardens.

Narayan Goala, general secretary of Uttaran Bangladesh, said although the tea garden workers have significant contributions to the country’s economy, they are yet to be included in the country’s list of small ethnic communities.

AFM Zakaria, head of anthropology department at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, said the government so far gazetted 50 communities to recognise those as small ethnic communities.

“But sadly, the small ethnic communities living at tea gardens were not included in the list despite their fulfilling the criteria of being classified as small ethnic communities,” he also said.