Geography:
The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), situated in the south-eastern part of Bangladesh and comprises a total area of 13,295 sq. kilometers(approximately one-tenth of the total area of Bangladesh), encompassing
three hill districts, namely, Rangamati, Khagrachari and Bandarban. It
shares borders with Myanmar on the south and southeast, India on the
north and northeast and Chittagong district of Bangladesh on the west. It is a unique territory with mountains and beautiful landscapes and
socio-economically and culturally completely different from the rest of
Bangladesh.
Demography: Peoples and Population
CHT have been the home, mainly of thirteen
indigenous ethnic groups for a long period of time that history could remember. They are the Chakma, Marma, Tripura, Tanchangya, Mro,
Murung, Lushai, Khumi, Chak, Khyang, Bawm, Pankhua, and
Reang. Besides, a very small number of
descendents of Assames, Gorkha and Santal also live there. They collectively identify themselves as the Jumma people (High Landers), the first people of the CHT.
At
the time of the partition of India, in August, 1947, non-Muslims
constituted 98.5% of the population of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Among them
Buddhists were 85%; Hindus (mainly of the Tripuri tribe) 10%; and
animists 3% of the population.
According to the census of 1991, the population was 974,447, of which 501,114 were tribal peoples and the rest were from different communities. The population of the three districts ( zilas) totalled 1,587,000 in the provisional returns of the census of 2011. About 50% of the population are tribal peoples and mainly followers of Theravada Buddhism; 48% of the inhabitants are Bengali Muslims; the remainder are Hindus, Christians.
Over the last 30 years, Bengali settlers from other parts of Bangladesh have been allocated land in the CHT districts and now represent approximately 50 per cent of the CHT population
Economy:
The CHT area covers about one-tenth of
the total land surface area of the country and the density of population
is the lowest in the country. However if one takes into account the
relief of CHT and compare it with the flat land pattern of the rest of
the country, then CHT comes out as the most populated area in
Bangladesh. The statistics indicate that the per capita income of the
CHT is the lowest of Bangladesh. Census and economical statistics of
2001 stipulates that per capita income of the CHT residents is 40% lower
than the national average.
The amount of land for plough
cultivation of this region is only 3.1% i.e. 76,466 acres. If the
indigenous hill men and permanent Bengali residents are counted as 900
thousand, then per capita availability of land in CHT stands only at
0.08 acre against approximately 0.20 acre of land per capita at the
national level.
One of the most common and suitable
forms of cultivation in the CHT is Jum cultivation (shifting
cultivation or crop rotation agriculture). Besides the Jums, plough cultivation is also practiced by
the indigenous people in the plain lands available mostly in the river
valleys. As a result, the people of CHT used to be self-sufficient in
food and other daily necessities.
The construction of Kaptai Dam (for
Karnafuli hydroelectric project) in the early sixties added to the
already existing land crisis in the CHT. As a result of the Dam, an
artificial reservoir (popularly known as Kaptai lake) was created which
submerged 54,000 acres or 40 percent of the most fertile plough lands of
the CHT. The net effect is further contraction of per capita
availability of agricultural land.
In addition, more than four hundred
thousands of Bengali Muslims were transferred into CHT from plain land
without free, prior and informed consent from CHT people. They were
settled down on the land of Jumma people. Indeed, no cultivable land was
vacant for settlement so the settlers started to forcibly occupy the
land of Jumma people. With the aim to uproot the Jumma people from their
ancestral land, a long series of massacres and genocide were
perpetrated by the Bengali settlers with the direct help of military
forces. Thousand of Jumma people were ousted from their own hearth and
home. The livelihood and economic backbone of the Jumma people were
completely broken down.
Sources:
http://www.angelfire.com/ab/jumma/bground.html
http://unpo.org/members/7867
http://www.academia.edu