The Tribes Who Are Refugees In Their Own Land
The typical organization of mankind in primary history was the tribe. Today,
in many parts of the world, the tribal community is still a major form of human
political organization. Even in advanced systems, traces can still be found of
its influence. Some of the landers of modern Germany, such as Bavaria, saxony,
or Westphalia, have maintained their identity since the days of the Germanic
tribal settlements. In England too, many country boundaries can be explained
only by the reference to the territorial divisions in the period after the end
of Roman occupation.
In its primary sense, tribe is a community organized in terms of kinship, and its subdivisions are the intimate kindred groupings of moieties, genets and totem groups. Its territorial basis is rarely defined with any precisions and intermittent structures of an omni functional social system. The leadership of the tribe is provided by the group of adult males, the lineage elders acting as tribal chiefs, the village headmen, or the shamans, or the tribal magicians.
These groups are individuals who are the guardians of the tribal customs and of an oral tradition of law. Law is thus not made but rather invoked; its repository is the collective memory of the tribal council or chief men. This kind of customary law, sanctioned and hallowed by religious belief, nevertheless changes and develops for each time it is declared something may be added or omitted to meet the needs of the occasions .
Origin
The Reang is the second largest sub-tribe in Tripuris after the ancient Tripuri clan. According to legends, one of the princes of Tripuri was expatriated by the king, who along with his followers immigrated to the Mayani Thalang area of the Lusai Hills and established a state there. He proclaimed himself king of the state and the descendant of the exiled Prince Tripuri ruled the state for generations. In due course there was no heir to the throne, leading to anarchy in the kingdom.
Due to internal strife and revenge, four sub-tribal chiefs, namely Twikluha, Yongsika, Paisika, Tuibruha and their entourage left their homeland and migrated to the state of Tripura via Chittagong centuries ago. These Reang chiefs failed to scale the top of Dombur Hill twice in a row, and succeeded for the third time.
Mahendra Manikya was on the throne of the Tripura Kingdom. After reaching the capital, these chiefs tried to persuade the ministers and other bureaucrats to give them permission to meet with the king and present their memorandum, but were unsuccessful. By then, they have used up all the food and groceries they brought and have suffered greatly. They were very sad and discouraged about this. They were determined to send word of their arrival to the king anyway.
In order to send information to the king, they broke the dam on the Gomati River, where the cult was taking place at the time. This was a serious crime and all were brought before the king. The king ordered the death penalty. Somehow this news reached Queen Gunavati.The caciques prayed before the queen who, after convincing the king, motivated them to forgive these caciques for their crime, who forgave them in writing.
Since then, the Reang have become very obedient and loyal to the Queen and the throne of Tripura. It said that Queen Gunavati fed these chiefs with their breast milk in a large brass pot still intact with Kotor Dofa, a gift from the Queen. The queen gave away many other valuable things that Reangs carefully preserves to this day.
Background
Reang (aka Bru in Tripura and Mizoram) are one of the 21 scheduled tribes of the Indian nation of Tripura.The Bru may be observed all around the Tripura region and additionally in Mizoram and Assam. They speak the Reang dialect of Bru language that is of Tibeto-Burmese origin and is regionally known as Kau Bru.
The Bru or Reang are a community indigenous to Northeast India, living mostly in Tripura, Mizoram, and Assam. In Tripura, they are recognised as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG).
Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group
The particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs) generally are socially as well as economically terribly backward within the sense that they need very little access to the resources for their development, low rate of literacy, comparatively little population size, dwindling in numbers and a few of the groups are at the verge of extinction. In 1973, the Dhebar Commission created the Primitive Tribal Groups (PTG) as a separate category, less developed among tribal groups. In 2006, the Indian government changed the name of the PTGs to PVTG.
In this context, in 1975 the Government of India initiated the identification of the most vulnerable tribal groups as a separate category called PVTG and declared 52 such groups, while in 1993 another 23 groups were added to this category, making a total of 75 PVTG out of 705 scheduled tribes. The PVTG have some basic characteristics, they are largely homogeneous, with a small population, relatively isolated physically, with no written language, relatively simple technology and a slower rate of change, etc.
State-wise list of PVTGs shows that there are 75 communities, that are distributed in four states: Bihar, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, however on the opposite hand, a tribe enjoys the standing of PVTG in one state but not into another state. If solely the names of the tribes are considered, the quantity of the communities within the list could also be reduced to some extent. they're distributed in numerous ecological zones on the far side the state boundaries with huge variation in subsistence pattern, technological development, ways that of living and call with outside world similarly like completely different worldviews in respect with neighbourhood so referred to as thought population.
Origin Of The Crisis For The Reang Tribe
Over two decades ago, Bru were targeted by the Young Mizo Association (YMA), Mizo Zirwlai Pawl (MZP), and a few ethnic social organisations of Mizoram who demanded that the Bru be excluded from electoral rolls in the state as they were not indigenous to their state. In October 1997, following ethnic clashes, nearly 37,000 Bru fled Mizoram's Mamit, Kolasib, and Lunglei districts to Tripura, where they were sheltered in relief camps.
They were sheltered in temporary camps and sustained efforts since 2010 were being made by the government for providing rehabilitation to these individuals. By 2014, 1622 families had returned to Mizoram. Another agreement was formed on 3rd July 2018, requiring the community to return to Mizoram. Only 328 families consisting of about 1369 people accepted this agreement and returned back to Mizoram.
Conditions Of People In Refugee Camp
They are rendered "refugees" in their own nation with neither of the two governments (Mizoram & Tripura) willing to give them full rights of a citizen. They get a minimal ration of 600g rice/salt and Rs. 5/day/person, with minimal support for livelihood. About 7,000 kids from the Bru-Raeng community in North Tripura have in no way been to high school and they're dwelling in makeshift camps that lack fundamental centres of healthcare and hygiene dwelling conditions, in line with child rights body NCPCR .
In terms of healthcare, only two Primary Health Centres (PHCs) are functional and available for the total population of the community living in all six camps of North Tripura. A majority of the respondents neither benefited with any health camps, nor received any subsidized medicine from the authorities, the NCPCR said in the report.
Families living in the camps do not have access to basic necessities of life such as clean drinking water, sanitation facilities and electricity. Several members of the community do not have proper identification documents such as Aadhar Card, Voter Id Card, Birth Certificate etc. due to which they face various problems in their daily lives and in accessing financial and banking services.
Schemes For PVGTs
The theme for Development of Primitive Vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs), came into impact from Apr 1, 2008. The theme defines PVTGs because the most vulnerable among the scheduled Tribes thus the and also the} theme therefore seeks to prioritize their protection and development. It identifies 75 PVTGs. The theme seeks to adopt a holistic approach to the socio-economic development of PVTGs and provides state governments flexibility in coming up with initiatives that are geared towards the precise socio-cultural imperatives of the specific groups at hand.
Activities supported beneath the scheme embody housing, land distribution, land development, agricultural development, cows' development, construction of link roads, installation of non-typical sources of energy, social security, and so forth Funds are created offered just for activities essential for the survival, protection and development of PVTGs and not already funded by the other theme of the central/state governments. The Conservation-cum-Development (CCD) set up is approved by a professional Committee, appointed by the Ministry of social group Affairs. The theme is then funded entirely by the Central government.
How Did The Agreement Come About?
In June 2018, Bru leaders in Delhi signed an agreement with the centre and the governments of the two states, providing for repatriation to Mizoram. However, most camp residents rejected the "inadequate" terms of the agreement. camp residents said the package did not guarantee their safety in Mizoram and that they feared a repeat of the violence that forced them to flee.
On November 16, 2019, Pradyot Kishore Debbarma, a descendant of the former Tripura royal family, wrote to the Home Secretary asking for the resettlement of the Bru in the state.
Quadripartite Agreement
All Bru tribals presently living in temporary relief camps in Tripura are settled within the state if they need to remain on. The Bru who came back to Mizoram in the eight phases of return since 2009, cannot return to Tripura. Every relocated family will get 03 acre (1.5 ganda) of land for building a home, Rs 1.5 100000 as housing assistance, and Rs 4 lakh as a one-time money profit for sustenance. They'll conjointly receive a monthly allowance of Rs 5,000, and free rations for 2 years from the date of resettlement.
All cash help is through Direct benefit Transfer (DBT), and also the government can expedite the gap of bank accounts and the issue of Aadhaar, permanent residence certificates, ST certificates, and voter identity cards to the beneficiaries.
Relocation Of The Tribe
The move will require khash or government land, but since Tripura is a small state (only 10,491 square kilometres), state authorities would explore the possibility of relocating forest land.
However, the diversion of forest land for human settlements requires approval from the MoEFCC, which is expected to take at least three months.
Issues With The Agreement
The settlement to settle a few 35,000 Bru tribal human beings in Tripura and now no longer in Mizoram from which they have been displaced, should inspire the introduction of ethnocentric States withinside the northeast, rights activists have stated.
Activists argue that the "solution" has the capability of causing conflicts among the Brus and indigenous groups of Tripura, however it addresses the insecurities of a tribe that survived and fled violence.
The northeast has had a record of ethnic conflicts � now no longer handiest among the "indigenous" and "settlers" however inter-tribe too � and troubles can also rise up inside smaller sub-companies withinside the equal tribe. Decisions can also throw up questions of citizenship, especially in Assam in which a technique is directly to outline who's indigenous and who's now no longer. Assam-primarily based totally activists started the flow at the Brus legitimizing the agreement of foreigners beneath the Citizenship (Amendment) Act too, growing conflicts with the indigenous human beings in addition to groups that settled earlier.
Conclusion
Despite the troubles flagged with the aid of using numerous stakeholders withinside the region, the settlement has supplied the Brus with a solution. Various Mizo corporations have reassured they've welcomed folks that got here back. According to those corporations, they haven't any troubles with the ones diagnosed with the aid of using the authorities as Mizoram population even supposing they go back now regardless of the Tripura rehabilitation offer. The Brus can't stay in transit camps forever.
References:
In its primary sense, tribe is a community organized in terms of kinship, and its subdivisions are the intimate kindred groupings of moieties, genets and totem groups. Its territorial basis is rarely defined with any precisions and intermittent structures of an omni functional social system. The leadership of the tribe is provided by the group of adult males, the lineage elders acting as tribal chiefs, the village headmen, or the shamans, or the tribal magicians.
These groups are individuals who are the guardians of the tribal customs and of an oral tradition of law. Law is thus not made but rather invoked; its repository is the collective memory of the tribal council or chief men. This kind of customary law, sanctioned and hallowed by religious belief, nevertheless changes and develops for each time it is declared something may be added or omitted to meet the needs of the occasions .
Origin
The Reang is the second largest sub-tribe in Tripuris after the ancient Tripuri clan. According to legends, one of the princes of Tripuri was expatriated by the king, who along with his followers immigrated to the Mayani Thalang area of the Lusai Hills and established a state there. He proclaimed himself king of the state and the descendant of the exiled Prince Tripuri ruled the state for generations. In due course there was no heir to the throne, leading to anarchy in the kingdom.
Due to internal strife and revenge, four sub-tribal chiefs, namely Twikluha, Yongsika, Paisika, Tuibruha and their entourage left their homeland and migrated to the state of Tripura via Chittagong centuries ago. These Reang chiefs failed to scale the top of Dombur Hill twice in a row, and succeeded for the third time.
Mahendra Manikya was on the throne of the Tripura Kingdom. After reaching the capital, these chiefs tried to persuade the ministers and other bureaucrats to give them permission to meet with the king and present their memorandum, but were unsuccessful. By then, they have used up all the food and groceries they brought and have suffered greatly. They were very sad and discouraged about this. They were determined to send word of their arrival to the king anyway.
In order to send information to the king, they broke the dam on the Gomati River, where the cult was taking place at the time. This was a serious crime and all were brought before the king. The king ordered the death penalty. Somehow this news reached Queen Gunavati.The caciques prayed before the queen who, after convincing the king, motivated them to forgive these caciques for their crime, who forgave them in writing.
Since then, the Reang have become very obedient and loyal to the Queen and the throne of Tripura. It said that Queen Gunavati fed these chiefs with their breast milk in a large brass pot still intact with Kotor Dofa, a gift from the Queen. The queen gave away many other valuable things that Reangs carefully preserves to this day.
Background
Reang (aka Bru in Tripura and Mizoram) are one of the 21 scheduled tribes of the Indian nation of Tripura.The Bru may be observed all around the Tripura region and additionally in Mizoram and Assam. They speak the Reang dialect of Bru language that is of Tibeto-Burmese origin and is regionally known as Kau Bru.
The Bru or Reang are a community indigenous to Northeast India, living mostly in Tripura, Mizoram, and Assam. In Tripura, they are recognised as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG).
Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group
The particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs) generally are socially as well as economically terribly backward within the sense that they need very little access to the resources for their development, low rate of literacy, comparatively little population size, dwindling in numbers and a few of the groups are at the verge of extinction. In 1973, the Dhebar Commission created the Primitive Tribal Groups (PTG) as a separate category, less developed among tribal groups. In 2006, the Indian government changed the name of the PTGs to PVTG.
In this context, in 1975 the Government of India initiated the identification of the most vulnerable tribal groups as a separate category called PVTG and declared 52 such groups, while in 1993 another 23 groups were added to this category, making a total of 75 PVTG out of 705 scheduled tribes. The PVTG have some basic characteristics, they are largely homogeneous, with a small population, relatively isolated physically, with no written language, relatively simple technology and a slower rate of change, etc.
State-wise list of PVTGs shows that there are 75 communities, that are distributed in four states: Bihar, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, however on the opposite hand, a tribe enjoys the standing of PVTG in one state but not into another state. If solely the names of the tribes are considered, the quantity of the communities within the list could also be reduced to some extent. they're distributed in numerous ecological zones on the far side the state boundaries with huge variation in subsistence pattern, technological development, ways that of living and call with outside world similarly like completely different worldviews in respect with neighbourhood so referred to as thought population.
Origin Of The Crisis For The Reang Tribe
Over two decades ago, Bru were targeted by the Young Mizo Association (YMA), Mizo Zirwlai Pawl (MZP), and a few ethnic social organisations of Mizoram who demanded that the Bru be excluded from electoral rolls in the state as they were not indigenous to their state. In October 1997, following ethnic clashes, nearly 37,000 Bru fled Mizoram's Mamit, Kolasib, and Lunglei districts to Tripura, where they were sheltered in relief camps.
They were sheltered in temporary camps and sustained efforts since 2010 were being made by the government for providing rehabilitation to these individuals. By 2014, 1622 families had returned to Mizoram. Another agreement was formed on 3rd July 2018, requiring the community to return to Mizoram. Only 328 families consisting of about 1369 people accepted this agreement and returned back to Mizoram.
Conditions Of People In Refugee Camp
They are rendered "refugees" in their own nation with neither of the two governments (Mizoram & Tripura) willing to give them full rights of a citizen. They get a minimal ration of 600g rice/salt and Rs. 5/day/person, with minimal support for livelihood. About 7,000 kids from the Bru-Raeng community in North Tripura have in no way been to high school and they're dwelling in makeshift camps that lack fundamental centres of healthcare and hygiene dwelling conditions, in line with child rights body NCPCR .
In terms of healthcare, only two Primary Health Centres (PHCs) are functional and available for the total population of the community living in all six camps of North Tripura. A majority of the respondents neither benefited with any health camps, nor received any subsidized medicine from the authorities, the NCPCR said in the report.
Families living in the camps do not have access to basic necessities of life such as clean drinking water, sanitation facilities and electricity. Several members of the community do not have proper identification documents such as Aadhar Card, Voter Id Card, Birth Certificate etc. due to which they face various problems in their daily lives and in accessing financial and banking services.
Schemes For PVGTs
The theme for Development of Primitive Vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs), came into impact from Apr 1, 2008. The theme defines PVTGs because the most vulnerable among the scheduled Tribes thus the and also the} theme therefore seeks to prioritize their protection and development. It identifies 75 PVTGs. The theme seeks to adopt a holistic approach to the socio-economic development of PVTGs and provides state governments flexibility in coming up with initiatives that are geared towards the precise socio-cultural imperatives of the specific groups at hand.
Activities supported beneath the scheme embody housing, land distribution, land development, agricultural development, cows' development, construction of link roads, installation of non-typical sources of energy, social security, and so forth Funds are created offered just for activities essential for the survival, protection and development of PVTGs and not already funded by the other theme of the central/state governments. The Conservation-cum-Development (CCD) set up is approved by a professional Committee, appointed by the Ministry of social group Affairs. The theme is then funded entirely by the Central government.
How Did The Agreement Come About?
In June 2018, Bru leaders in Delhi signed an agreement with the centre and the governments of the two states, providing for repatriation to Mizoram. However, most camp residents rejected the "inadequate" terms of the agreement. camp residents said the package did not guarantee their safety in Mizoram and that they feared a repeat of the violence that forced them to flee.
On November 16, 2019, Pradyot Kishore Debbarma, a descendant of the former Tripura royal family, wrote to the Home Secretary asking for the resettlement of the Bru in the state.
Quadripartite Agreement
All Bru tribals presently living in temporary relief camps in Tripura are settled within the state if they need to remain on. The Bru who came back to Mizoram in the eight phases of return since 2009, cannot return to Tripura. Every relocated family will get 03 acre (1.5 ganda) of land for building a home, Rs 1.5 100000 as housing assistance, and Rs 4 lakh as a one-time money profit for sustenance. They'll conjointly receive a monthly allowance of Rs 5,000, and free rations for 2 years from the date of resettlement.
All cash help is through Direct benefit Transfer (DBT), and also the government can expedite the gap of bank accounts and the issue of Aadhaar, permanent residence certificates, ST certificates, and voter identity cards to the beneficiaries.
Relocation Of The Tribe
The move will require khash or government land, but since Tripura is a small state (only 10,491 square kilometres), state authorities would explore the possibility of relocating forest land.
However, the diversion of forest land for human settlements requires approval from the MoEFCC, which is expected to take at least three months.
Issues With The Agreement
The settlement to settle a few 35,000 Bru tribal human beings in Tripura and now no longer in Mizoram from which they have been displaced, should inspire the introduction of ethnocentric States withinside the northeast, rights activists have stated.
Activists argue that the "solution" has the capability of causing conflicts among the Brus and indigenous groups of Tripura, however it addresses the insecurities of a tribe that survived and fled violence.
The northeast has had a record of ethnic conflicts � now no longer handiest among the "indigenous" and "settlers" however inter-tribe too � and troubles can also rise up inside smaller sub-companies withinside the equal tribe. Decisions can also throw up questions of citizenship, especially in Assam in which a technique is directly to outline who's indigenous and who's now no longer. Assam-primarily based totally activists started the flow at the Brus legitimizing the agreement of foreigners beneath the Citizenship (Amendment) Act too, growing conflicts with the indigenous human beings in addition to groups that settled earlier.
Conclusion
Despite the troubles flagged with the aid of using numerous stakeholders withinside the region, the settlement has supplied the Brus with a solution. Various Mizo corporations have reassured they've welcomed folks that got here back. According to those corporations, they haven't any troubles with the ones diagnosed with the aid of using the authorities as Mizoram population even supposing they go back now regardless of the Tripura rehabilitation offer. The Brus can't stay in transit camps forever.
References:
- https://www.civilsdaily.com/burning-issue-bru-reang-repatriation-agreement/
- https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/mizoram-bru-refugees
- https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/particularly-vulnerable-tribal-groups
- https://trci.tripura.gov.in/reang
- https://indianculture.gov.in/report-scheduled-areas-and-scheduled-tribes-commission-1960-1961
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