Bru Agreement

Why in News?

An agreement was signed recently among the Bru leaders and the Governments of India, Tripura, and Mizoram.

What is in the Bru agreement?

• This agreement gives the Bru community their choice of living in either the state of Tripura or Mizoram.
• All Bru currently living in temporary relief camps in Tripura will be settled in the state, if they want to stay on.
• The Bru who returned to Mizoram in the eight phases of repatriation since 2009, cannot, however, come back to Tripura.
• To ascertain the numbers of those who will be settled, a fresh survey and physical verification of Bru families living in relief camps will be carried out.
• The Centre will implement a special development project for the resettled Bru; this will be in addition to the Rs 600 crore fund announced for the process, including benefits for the migrants.

What benefits will the Bru community get?

• Each resettled family will get 0.03 acre of land for building a home, Rs 1.5 lakh as housing assistance, and Rs 4 lakh as a one-time cash benefit for sustenance.
• They will also receive a monthly allowance of Rs 5,000, and free rations for 2 years from the date of resettlement.
• All cash assistance will be through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT).
• The state government will expedite the opening of bank accounts and the issuance of Aadhaar, permanent residence certificates, ST certificates, and voter identity cards to the beneficiaries.
• All dwelling houses will be constructed and payments completed within 270 days of the signing of the agreement.

Where will the Bru be resettled?

• Revenue experts reckon 162 acres will be required. Tripura Chief Minister (CM) has said that the effort will be to choose government land.
• But since Tripura is a small state, this government would explore the possibility of diverting forest lands, even reserve forest areas if necessary, to grant the new entitlements.
• However, diverting forest land for human settlements will need clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, which is likely to take at least 3 months.

What is the condition of the migrants now?

• 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).
• In October 1997, following ethnic clashes, nearly 37,000 Bru fled Mizoram to Tripura, where they were sheltered in relief camps. Of this,
  1. 5,000 people have returned to Mizoram in 9 phases of repatriation,
  2. 32,000 people still live in 6 relief camps in North Tripura.
• Under a relief package announced by the Centre, a daily ration of 600 g rice was provided to every adult Bru migrant and 300 g to every minor.
• They depended on the wild for vegetables, and some of them have been practising slash-and-burn (jhum) cultivation in the forests.
• They live in makeshift bamboo thatched huts, without permanent power supply and safe drinking water, with no access to proper healthcare services or schools.

How did the agreement come about?

• June 2018 - Bru leaders signed an agreement with the Centre and the two state governments, providing for repatriation to Mizoram.
• However, most residents of the camps rejected the insufficient terms of the agreement.
• The camp residents said the package did not guarantee their safety in Mizoram, and that they feared a repeat of the violence that had forced them to flee.
• November 2019 - A scion of Tripura’s erstwhile royal family, wrote to Home Minister seeking the resettlement of the Bru in the state.
• After that, Tripura CM too, asked the Centre for permanent settlement of the Bru in Tripura.

How is this agreement different from the earlier initiatives taken for the Bru?

• Successive state and central governments had thus far stressed only on peacefully repatriating the Bru, even though the enduring fear of ethnic violence remained a fundamental roadblock.
• The two other durable solutions for refugees and displaced persons suggested by the UN Refugee Agency - local integration or assimilation, and resettlement - were never explored.
• The Bru speak Kaubru, Kokborok and Bangla, the latter two are the most widely spoken languages of the tribal and non-tribal communities of Tripura, and have an easy connection with the state.
• Their long stay in Tripura, albeit in exile and in terrible conditions, has also acquainted them very well with the state’s socio-political ecology.
• Home Minister who presided over the signing of the agreement, hailed the “historic” resolution of the Bru issue.

Source: Indian Express