Representatives from plain land national minority groups on Sunday urged the local government reform commission to ensure their rights and security.
At an opinion sharing meeting, they also urged the government to reform the existing local government laws, coordinating these with the traditional management and institutions.
Under the banner of 鈥楽amatal Adivasi Odhikar Andolan鈥� or the plain land national minority groups movement for rights, the representatives met the commission members at the National Institute of Local Government, said a press release issued by the movement.
At the programme the activists upheld different recommendations and their opinions.
The recommendations included separate positions for the national minority groups at different levels of the local government (district, upazila and union), a standing committee for the national minority groups (land management, water bodies, forest and natural resources management) and security for the groups during the elections.聽
They also recommended recognition of plain land national minority groups鈥� traditional land management and social institutions, their empowerment, allocations of allowances and sufficient budget allocations.
Samatal Adivasi Odhikar Andolan convener Ujjal Azim said that the state did not take any significant initiatives or institutional structures for development of life of the plain land minority minority groups.
Like the Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs ministry, he also demanded a separate ministry and land commission for the plain land national minority groups as they were also victims of discrimination politically, socially, economically and culturally.
The opinion-sharing meeting was chaired by the local government reform commission chairman professor Tofail Ahmed while the commission members lawyer Abdur Rahman, Ilira Dewan and Mashuda Khatun Shefali and the movement member secretary Ripon Chandra Banai were present, among others, at the meeting.
