Pact To End Bru Refugee Crisis
Recently, to end the 23-year-old Bru-Reang refugee crisis, a four-party agreement between the Centre, the Mizoram government, the Tripura government, and leaders of the Bru group was signed.
CONTEXT:
In Mizoram, Tripura, and parts of southern Assam, the Bru group, also referred to as Reangs, resides and is ethnically distinct from the Mizos of Mizoram.
About 40,000 Brus live in four Mizoram districts. Currently, after they fled Mizoram following ethnic clashes with the Mizo tribes in 1997, over 30,000 Brus live in refugee camps in Tripura.
Reangs are listed as Partucularly vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) in Tripura.
In 1995, when Mizo organizations - the Young Mizo Association and the Mizo Students' Association - requested that Brus be left out of the electoral rolls of the Mizoram because they were not an indigenous group, the first signs of tension between the two groups appeared.
By establishing an armed group, the Bru National Liberation Front, and a political entity, the Bru National Union, the Brus retaliated. Under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, the two requested more political autonomy for Mizoram's Brus and Bru Autonomous District Council (ADC) in the western areas of Mizoram, where they were present in large numbers but where Mizos formed the majority.
In 1997, over 5,000 families comprising over 30,000 Bru tribes were forced to leave the state and seek shelter in Tripura, where they were housed in temporary camps at Kanchanpur in North Tripura, following ethnic conflict over an incident in Mizoram.
ATTEMPTS TO PEACE:
The Government of India has been making ongoing efforts since 2010 to permanently rehabilitate these internally displaced Bru individuals. The government of the Union has been supporting the two state governments to take care of the refugees. Until 2014, in various batches, 1622 Bru-Reang families returned to Mizoram.
- An agreement was signed on 3 July 2018 between the Government of India, the two State Governments and representatives of Bru-Reang refugees, resulting in a significant increase in assistance to these families. Subsequently, under the deal, 328 families of 1369 people returned to Mizoram.
MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NEW DEAL:
- Around 34,000 Internally Displaced Brus will be settled in Tripura and assistance from the Centre will be provided through a package of around Rs 600 crores to assist with their rehabilitation and all-round growth.
- These persons would have all the privileges that ordinary citizens of the States have, and they would now be able to reap the benefits of the Centre and State governments' social security schemes.
- Assistance for their rehabilitation will be provided to the Bru refugees in Tripura and tribal status will be granted and included in the state's voting list.
- 4 lakes will be offered in a fixed deposit account to each displaced Bru family. Rs 5,000 per month for two years, a residential plot in Tripura and a ration for two years will also be given to each family.
- As per this agreement, the Tripura government will provide the land.
IMPLEMENTATION PROBLEMS:
- It is uncertain whether the land allocated to Brus in Tripura would be recognized by the Tripura residential tribes.
- Before the agreement, the government of Tripura was willing to repatriate the Brus to Mizoram. As the new pact settles the Brus in Tripura, Tripura needs a great deal of political will to enforce the Brus' welfare programs.
Some Mizoram ethnic organizations also condemn the current Bru families in Mizoram, which could cause another exodus if there is no settlement at the conflict site.
CONCLUSION:
The agreement is hailed as a solution to the ethnic disturbances between the tribes of the North East that are over 2 decades old and a clear approach to a stable North-East India. This also offers a blueprint for how internally displaced persons (IDPs) should be treated.