The critique presents a critical position and gives insights into the environmentalists and ethnic communities of Bangladesh on the “Forest (Amendment) Act, 2000” and the “(draft) Social Forestry Rules, 2000”.  The stated intention of the amendment act passed by the parliament in 2000 and the resulting rules are to promote “social forestry”.

The environmentalists and Adivasis complain that commercial and industrial plantations have been established in the name of “social forestry”. They have termed the “Forest (Amendment) Act, 2000” and the “(draft) Social Forestry Rules, 2000” as being “anti-people, anti-environment and anti-national interest” and rejected the new laws. With information, photographs and reflections, the critique helps one understand the opposition of the environmentalists and ethnic communities.

The critique compiles workshop report, its resolution and two papers, “A Critique to the Forest (Amendment) Act of 2000 and the (Draft) Social Forestry Rules of 2000” by Raja Devasish Roy and Dr. Sadeka Halim and “Background and Context to the Forest (Amendment) Act, 2000 and the (draft) Social Forestry Rules, 2000” by Philip Gain.

Publication Details

Published: 2001
Language: English
Paperback: 80 pages
Editor: Philip Gain
Price: Tk.75 / US$5

Bon O Boner Adhibasi (Forest and Forest People) is a booklet that compiles information and insights presented at a national seminar on forest, forest people and forest culture held in 1994. Adivasis, environmentalists, activists, politicians, academics, etc. attended the seminar. SEHD presented its findings of investigation and action-oriented research on critical concerns in the public forestland. Issues concerning commercial and industrial plantations were also discussed at the seminar.

The participants insisted that the Adivasis are the true custodians of forest and biodiversity, but instead of getting protection, they face consistent harassment and false cases. They also have been progressively losing their customary land rights and access to forest resources.

Publication Details

Published: 1996
Language: English
Photocopy only: 66 pages
Editor: Philip Gain and Shishir Moral
Price: Tk.100 / US$5

Modhupur, one of 12 upazilas in Tangail district is well known for its sal forest and the Garo and Koch people. Modhupur sal forest, officially 45,565.18 acres in Tangail, was dense forest under the zamindari of Maharaj of Natore during the British rule. The Garos in particular were used to living in the deep jungle of Modhupur. But today Modhupur sal forest remains only in its name. The forest, along with its wildlife, has vanished in most part. Commercial scale banana, pineapple and spice plantations have crept on the forest land. Rubber plantation and social forestry, better say monoculture plantations, beginning in the mid-1980s were intended to do public good but in reality they have caused irreparable damage to the forest and environment.

To put the story of the Modhupur sal forest in right context, this book compiles findings of a baseline survey carried out in 2017-2018, reportage, features and photographs from early 1990s. The survey finds in 44 core forest villages show that the Garos, an exclusive people of the Modhupur sal forest from the Mughal times, constitutes 33.47% of the population by 2018. The most appalling of all that has happened with the end of the British colonial rule and end of the zamindari system is that the state has denied the people of the forest villages of their land rights. Now there is nothing more important for the people of the Modhupur forest villages to press for than for the right to land.

Life was simple for the Chaks of Longodujhuri (Khal) Chak Para completely dependent on land and forests for which they never had titles. They were well-fed and happy people with their life completely dependent on land and forests. What they grew on cropland and in jum was more than enough for round the year. They never thought about papers for their land and forests.

The trouble began when the desperate outsiders, began to invade for bamboo and timber on land that belonged to nobody on paper. It was to the advantage of the outsiders that the constitution and laws in Bangladesh do not recognize customary rights of the indigenous peoples in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) and elsewhere in Bangladesh.

Rubber and tobacco have turned out to be a serious issue in four (Lama, Naikongchari, Bandarban Sadar, and Alikadam) out of eight upazilas of Bandarban Hill District. These have caused severe threat to the Chaks and other small ethnic communities and have caused massive destruction to the local ecology. These have brought in outsiders who have marauded the land that the indigenous communities have used for generations.

Land granted for rubber plantation and horticulture in Bangladesh comes under the jurisdiction of three authorities- the Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Board (CHTDB), the Deputy Commissioner (DC), and the Standing Committee (for rubber). CHTDB oversees the rubber cultivation on 2,000 acres of land leased to 500 households under the rehabilitation project. These families are supposed to get land titles in their names, which they still have not gotten.

The book, Lower Depths: Little-known Ethnic Communities of Bangladesh is a recent publication of SEHD that focuses on the little-known ethnic communities found in 16 districts in Rajshahi and Rangpur Divisions, seven districts in the North-centre and two districts in Northeast of Bangladesh.

It contains brief profiles of 40 communities of the plains land giving succinct description of their history of origin, life, livelihood, education, culture, tradition and customs. Each profile is accompanied by a portrait, a table showing spatial distribution of the community and a geographical map showing its locations (upazilas and districts).

In addition to the profiles of the ethnic communities, it includes a chapter with a good number of investigative reports on brutal attacks, killings, arson and other atrocities associated with adivasis in North Bengal. These investigative reports, first published in national and local newspapers and magazines, show the pattern of abuses that the adivasis face.

A special addition to this volume is the agenda of the tea plantation workers and ethnic communities developed with their active participation. It focuses on their political protection, wage deprivation, work condition, health, sanitation, difficulties women and children face, education, living conditions, access to land, language and culture, etc.

Tallied with other communities in the volume on the tea communities (Slaves In These Times) and the photo album (On the Margins: Image of Tea and Ethnic Communities), one will find that there are at least 110 ethnic communities in Bangladesh excluding Bangalees, which means the government is yet to recognize a large number of ethnic communities. This book and other SEHD publications on adivasis stand unique to assist the government and other non-state actors in coming to a consensus about the number and identities of these ethnic communities.

The key message that this book communicates is that the ethnic communities are one of the most vulnerable people in Bangladesh. They continue to remain socially excluded, overwhelmingly illiterate, deprived and disconnected. They have also lost their original languages in most part as well as their culture, history, education, knowledge and unity. It is in this context that they deserve recognition of their identities and special attention from the state, not just equal treatment.

Edited by Philip Gain
English PBK, 220 pages, 2016
Price: Tk. 400 US$15