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Budget allocation for indigenous communities insufficient

Says Kapaeeng Foundation

DU Correspondent
Kapaeeng Foundation, a human rights organisation for the indigenous people of Bangladesh, yesterday said though the size of the national budget has been increased in recent years, the allocation for ethnic minorities is still insufficient.
They raised the issue at a prebudget meeting held in the Centre on Budget and Policy auditorium of Dhaka University (DU), jointly organised by the Parliamentary Caucus on National Planning and Budget, and Democratic Budget Movement.
Members of the foundation also claimed that the government does not have the actual number of indigenous people living in the country,
so their demands were not reflected in the budgets of previous years.
At the programme, Kapaeeng
Foundation consultant Sohel Chandra Hajong presented a keynote paper, saying that according to
the foundation, there are 30 lakh indigenous people in the country (10 lakh from Chittagong Hill Tracts and 20 lakh from plain lands).
However, the 2011 government statistics shows that the figure stands at 15.86 lakh (around six lakh from CHT and nine lakh from plain lands), which is 1.1 percent of the country's total population.
In the last fiscal year (2017-18), the government allocated Tk 1,150 crore for the CHT affairs ministry andTk 30 crore for the plain indigenous communities, while the figures were Tk 393 crore and Tk 8 crore in 2009-10.
Sohel said, "The government has increased the budgetary allocation for Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs but the fate of indigenous people has not changed as the allocation against demand was insufficient and there is no specific allocation to resolve their problems."
Besides, the money was not only allocated for the tribal people but also for the Bangalees living in the hill districts and for the development of law enforcement agencies, he said in his presentation.
"In the 2017-2018 fiscal year, Tk 150 was allocated per head for indigenous people, whereas the national allocation per head was around Tk 26,000," according to the paper.
The speakers said the government has to increase the allocation manifold to ensure the development of the minority communities.
They also said the government lacks sincerity to implement the CHT Peace Accord while a sufficient allocation was not being kept to implement the agreement, aimed at improving the lives of the people.
Speaking as the chief guest, lawmaker Fazle Hossain Badsha, also convener of the parliamentary caucus on indigenous affairs, said the promises made in the election manifesto of the present government should be delivered.
Professor Sourav Shikder of linguistics department of DU, General Secretary of Bangladesh Adivasi Forum Sanjeeb Drong, and Manager of Kapaeeng Foundation Hiran Mitra Chakma also spoke at the programme.