Separate allocation in budget for adivasis in the plains demanded

The district unit of Jatiya Adivasi Parishad formed a human chain in front of Cooperative Market in the town yesterday, demanding separate allocation for plain land indigenous people in the upcoming budget for their socio-economic development. 

The leaders of the parishad also held a discussion at the same venue and later placed a memorandum to the finance minister through Deputy Commissioner Mukesh Chandra Biswas to realise the demand.  

Addressing the programme, the speakers said social, economic and political rights of the indigenous people are yet to be established. 
Many indigenous families have been evicted from their ancestral land and homesteads by local influential people, they alleged.   

The indigenous community is still lagging behind in the society as they are not getting facilities like others in the fields of education and job, the speakers said. 

They urged for Tk 500 crore allocation in the upcoming budget for the socio-economic development of the indigenous people.  

The adivasis urged the government to establish a separate ministry and land commission to deal with their problems.

They also demanded mother tongue-based primary education for their children and the community's quota in higher education and government service.

Adivasi people played a significant role during the country's Liberation War in 1971, but they are yet to enjoy the constitutional rights.

Babul Tigga, general secretary of district unit of Jatiya Adivasi Parishad, and its advisor advocate Imran Hossain Chowdhury, among others, spoke.