新作坊

Migration land alienation and ethnic conflict: causes of poverty in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh.

摘要：

From 1998 to 2002, fieldwork was carried among the Pahari hill people of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) to identify the causes of their poverty. Particular emphasis was placed on migration, land alienation, and ethnic conflict. The aim was to inform the general public of the injustice inflicted on the hill people in the name of national interest, security, and development. The framework of analysis is based on 4 broad categories of mechanisms and processes that affect poverty levels and distribution: (1) mechanisms of surplus appropriation and expropriation of assets; (2) resource depleting mechanisms; (3) constraints to economic growth and human development; and (4) factors undermining the capability to prevent or cope with poverty. The overwhelming responsibility of the state policies in creating poverty among the hill peoples could be observed in the outcomes of the Kaptai project and the subsequent counter-insurgency operations, which led to large-scale relocation and migration programmes. The strategy of demographic engineering by forced transmigration of Bengali settlers further damaged the socio-economic conditions of the hill people. Despite the peace accord of 1997, the factors generating poverty, resentment, and disillusionment continue to operate. One of the recommendations is to carry out a 10-point policy package for the voluntary withdrawal of Bengali settlers from the CHT