Form separate ministry, commission: speakers
Right activists yesterday urged the government to form a separate ministry and commission to safeguard the rights of indigenous people across the country in the wake of constant attack on their ancestral land.
They made the call in a national seminar titled "Minority Group's Right to Land: Realities and Challenges in North-West Bangladesh" organised by NETZ Bangladesh at CIRDAP auditorium in Dhaka.
Fazle Hossain Badsha, lawmaker from Rajshahi-2 who was the chief guest at the seminar, said, "Now I don't see any indigenous people in my locality. They either got evicted or left the country. Indigenous people from the northern part of Bangladesh left the country most," he said.
Referring to the disparity facing the indigenous people, Badsha said though the constitution articulated equal rights irrespective of cast, religion and ethnic origin, indigenous people still experience disparity.
He said India has formed the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and allocated 7,500 crore rupees last year for the indigenous people.
"We urge the government to form a separate ministry,
a commission and allocate fund so that socio-economic development of indigenous people can be ensured," he said.
He also criticised the declaration of indigenous people as ethnic minorities.
Afsana Binte Amin from NETZ Bangladesh presented the concept paper in the seminar which illustrated four key drivers because of which the community lagged behind in socio-economic condition of the country.
The concept paper found poor political base in existing political structure of Bangladesh, poor idea about land and its law, lack of information and lack of knowledge for bargaining against the effort of marginalising them socially, economically and politically.
Sanjeeb Drong, general secretary of Bangladesh Adivasi Forum, said a state cannot change the name of any ethnic group.
"Indigenous people are those who lost their ethnic identity, got deprived of their land rights in the process of building a modern state. When the world is talking about the conservation of biodiversity, it is the indigenous people who conserve world's 80 percent of biodiversity," he said.
He also urged the government to form separate commission and ministry for minority groups.
Rokeya Kabir, executive director of Bangladesh Nari Pragati Sangha; Shamim Ara Begum, executive director of Pallisri, and Jakir Hossen, chief executive of Nagorik Uddog, spoke at the seminar which was moderated by Shahidul Islam, director NETZ Bangladesh.
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