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July 18, 2004 

A land commission is needed to protect the lands of indigenous people

Sanchita Sharma

Mankhan Tundu, a 53-year-old aborigine, is in trouble. The fear of losing his homestead haunts him all the time. He is scared and he does not keep his only daughter at home. He says a group of influential villagers have made fake papers to grab his land.

Aborigines in Bangladesh fall into such traps more often than not. Aborigines follow the traditional collective ownership of land, but laws in Bangladesh recognise individual ownership of land and that is their problem.

The aborigines have never felt the need for registering their lands with the government authorities. Nor they have ever made any official documents about the ownership of land they have used for years. They have no idea about the need for preserving documents, records and keeping contact with land offices. They live in their own world -- not aware of the changes that have taken place over the years.

Above all, the aborigines are too simple to understand the deceptive tactics of cheats. Most ethnic people are illiterate. As a result, it is not hard for the non-ethnic people to grab their lands and evict them from their homesteads.

Taking advantage of their ignorance, unscrupulous people make official documents for lands more than they buy from them. Besides, the aborigines do not know when and how the non-ethnic people make registration of their lands. The aborigines come to know about their troubles when it's too late to act. The only thing they face is eviction.

Says Prof. Mesbah Kamal, an expert on aborigine issues, "The aborigines are the victims of development in Bangladesh. Whenever the government takes a development project, it acquires lands of the aborigines to implement it. Besides, the lands of the aborigine people are taken over by the government in the name of many projects such as social afforestation, rehabilitation, Eco Park and National Park."

Land grabbing is not the only problem the aborigines face in Bangladesh. They have other problems like filing of false cases against them, making fake official documents of their lands, death threats, inclusion of their lands as vested property and terming them as non-Bangladeshis or Indian citizens.

The land ownership system of the aborigines is a little bit different from that of non-aborigines. The aborigines traditionally own the fallow lands, forests and hilly areas, which they cultivate for years and this is their culture. They care little about individual ownership of land. Many even do not know about the price of their lands.

"Chhoto Nagpur Tenancy Act 1908" is the lone safeguard of the lands of the aborigines. According to this act, it is illegal to hand over or sell the lands of aborigines to non-aborigines without the permission of the Deputy Commissioner concerned.

In 1977, a welfare association, "North Bengal Tribal Welfare Association", was established, with a provision that the association's permission would be needed to sell the lands of aborigines to non-aborigines. But these laws and provisions are rarely followed in selling or handing over the lands of aborigines. As a result, the number of landless aborigines is on the rise in the country's northern region.

According to available statistics, some 85 per cent aborigines in the country's northern region are now landless, which was only 20 per cent after 1947. The aborigines now have no rights to the lands once their ancestors owned.

A survey conducted in greater Rajshahi, covering Chapainawabganj, Natore and Noagaon districts, shows that about 92 per cent aborigines work as day-labourers either throughout the year or for a specific period of the year. They cannot undertake any income-generating scheme for lack of money. Besides, non-government organisations do not want to give them loans, as they cannot keep up installments.

International Labour Organisation (ILO) approved Convention No. 169 in 1989. It's a very important step towards protecting the rights of a independent country's people, including its tribesmen and aborigines. The clause No 14 of the convention says that rights to lands will be recognised to those who own the lands traditionally. But Bangladesh did not ratify the ILO convention No 169.

Bangladesh's neighbour India has recognised the rights of aborigines in its constitution. According to clause No 350 of the Indian constitution, Bidhan Sava and Loksava are determined to protect and improve the language, culture and religion of the aborigines. But there is no constitutional recognition of the rights of aborigines in Bangladesh. So, the aborigines are deprived of legal help. They do not get legal help even to resolve their land-related complexities.

General secretary of Bangladesh Aborigines Forum Sanjib Drong says a land commission has been formed for the aborigines as per the Peace Treaty signed with PCJSS during the previous Awami League rule, but the commission could not yet start its functioning.

Besides, there is no organisation to deal with the matters of the aborigines living in plain lands. But there should have a separate land commission for them.

Dr Mesbah Kamal says, "Eviction from lands is the main problem now the aborigines are facing. This trend is not only crippling them economically, but also affecting them culturally. When they lose their lands, they in fact lose their cultural identity. So, it is important to protect the lands of the aborigines."

Source- NewsNetwork.