**5.3.2 Land crisis and dispossession of Jumma land**

According to the available information on site quality, physiognomy and topography, the CHTs do not allow intensive irrigated agriculture except in the limited valley and lowlands (Roy, 2004). According to the soil survey report, only 3.1% of the CHTs lands are suitable for agriculture and 72.9% are suitable for forestry (GOB, 1966). Besides, Kaptai hydro-electric dam further increased the land crisis inundating 21,862 ha of cultivable land (GOB, 1975). In spite of the shortage of fertile farming land and inundation of the available cultivable land, the Government settled thousands of landless non-indigenous people in the CHTs. Besides, each land less settler family was given a legal ownership of 2 ha of hill land or 1.5 ha of

Conflict and Corollaries on Forest and Indigenous People: Experience from Bangladesh 195

the respondents know about the participatory benefit sharing social forestry programs of Forest Department. But they are discriminated to become stakeholders (nine out of the total one hundred two interviewees became the participants). However, the migrated *Bangalis* living in the areas are getting the benefit of such program. Additionally, it was found that most of the saw mills, furniture shops and small scale wood based industries in the CHTs are owned by the non-indigenous migrated population (93%in Ranagamati, 95%in

> **No. (n) & % of interviewees responded\***

\* n=90 (respondents) + 12 (key informants) =102; the figures in the parentheses indicate percentage (%) \*\* a scale of magnitude from 1-5 indicating 1=very low, 2= low, 3= moderate, 4=high, 5=extreme \*\*\* Inappropriate forest management refers to clear felling followed by artificial regeneration with fast

Historical review suggests that the Jumma people have been affected largely by the policies of migration, land eviction, cultural assimilation and ethnic discrimination by successive Governments. In their struggle for autonomy, they have been targets of massacres, extra judicial executions, rape, torture and forced relocation. However, the Government took some initiatives in order to calm the situation. Table 5 summarizes the chronological initiatives for peace in the CHTs. Finally after series of meetings and negotiations, Bangladesh Government and the PCJSS came up with a Peace Accord on December 02, 1997. The 68 points Accord deal with variety of subjects ranging from administration to military status, land question, refugee settlement and others. One of the elements of the Peace Accord was to recognize the rights of indigenous communities to land and other sovereign issues. It was agreed that the Ministry of CHTs Affairs will be headed by an indigenous representative. Government also agreed to repatriate and rehabilitate the CHTs refugees in India, resolve land disputes, and cancel illegal leases of land to non-indigenous people. This Accord endorsed a partial release of power to the indigenous authority declaring creation of the 'Regional Council' to look after the entire region. Under the Accord, the militants agreed

**\*\*Average magnitude of the effect of each factor in forest degradation**  1 2 3 4 5

Bandarbans and 94%in Khagrachari).

**No Factors affecting forests** 

 a Forest Department 102 (100) b District administration 78 (76.5) c Military administration 102 (100) d Police Administration 85 (83.3) e Politicians and elites 91 (89.2) 2 Syndicated illegal logging 96 (94.1) 3 Poor transit rules 35 (34.3) 4 Leasing lands to outsiders 25 (24.5) 5 \*\*Inappropriate management 43 (42.2) 6 Private forest felling permit 18 (17.6)

growing species like, *Eucalyptus camaldulensis*, *Acacia auriculiformes*

Table 4. Major causes of forest depletion in the CHTs

**6. Steps towards conflict resolution** 

1 Systemized corruption

**Sl.** 

mixed land or 1 ha of wet rice land (Chowdhury, 2002). A study of Bangladesh Society for the Enforcement of Human Rights (BSEHR) found that about 61.44% of the indigenous people still face discrimination, 41.86% are victims of corruption and 18.67% have been evicted from their ancestors land (Zaman, 2003). Land and forests are the very basis of life for the Jumma people, so plundering of land is the question of their existence. Respondents (100%) opined that when the newly settled families cannot make a living from their allocated land, they encroach on Jumma owned land. They adopted various ways to occupy the Jumma land and still now the Jumma people are being dispossessed from their own lands (Table 3).


Table 3. Patterns of dispossession of Jumma land in the CHTs
