Protests Against Bru Resettlement In Tripura

Table of Contents

Who are the Brus?

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).
Over two decades ago, they were targeted by the Young Mizo Association (YMA), Mizo Zirwlai Pawl (MZP), and a few ethnic social organisations of Mizoram who demanded that the Bru be excluded from electoral rolls in the state.

In October 1997, following ethnic clashes, nearly 37,000 Bru fled Mizoram’s Mamit, Kolasib, and Lunglei districts to Tripura, where they were sheltered in relief camps.
Since then, over 5,000 have returned to Mizoram in nine phases of repatriation, while 32,000 people still live in six relief camps in North Tripura.

The situation in Tripura’s Kanchanpur and Panisagar areas remains tense after,
Protests against the planned resettlement of thousands of Bru migrants permanently at Kanchanpur sub-division of North Tripura turned violent on Saturday.
At least one person was killed in police firing, while there were 15 police personnel among the 23 other injured.

Twenty-three years after ethnic clashes in Mizoram forced 37,000 people of the Bru (or Reang) community to flee their homes to neighbouring Tripura.
An agreement was signed in January this year to allow 32,000 of them remaining in the camps to permanently settle in the state.
The news, however, was not welcomed by the Bengali and Mizo communities in Tripura, who claim wouldlead to a demographic imbalance.
Mizo Convention, a local ethnic organisation, has paired up with the Mancha to create a platform called Joint Movement Committee (JMC) and Proclaimed that not more than 1,500 Bru families would be allowed to settle at Kanchanpur.

Joint Movement Committee convener Sushanta Baruah said,
The agitation was started to save ‘ancestral lands’ from Bru migrants as the government was planning to settle5,000 migrant families at Kanchanpur
Instead of 1,500 as assured by the local administration a month back.

Kanchanpur Sub-Divisional Magistrate Chandni Chandran denied having received any policy decision regarding settling 5,000 migrant families within her jurisdiction.
Selection of families of resettlement is still in progress and no figure can be pointed out now.
However, a letter from North Tripura District Magistrate Nagesh Kumar B. to Officer on Special Duty of the state Revenue Department on October 28 reads that,
The district administration had estimated Rs. 137.46 crore fund requirement for permanent settlement of 6,000
Bru migrants in the district.
A breakup of the figures shows 5,000 Bru families were estimated to be resettled in six locations which are in Kanchanpur sub-division.

According to the four-corner agreement (2018) for resettling them in Tripura,
The central government announced a special development project with funding of Rs 600
Each resettled family is estimated to get-
03 acre of land for building a home,
Rs 1.5 lakh as housing assistance,
Rs 4 lakh as a one-time cash benefit for sustenance,
Monthly allowance of Rs 5,000 and
Free rations for two years from the date of resettlement

Q) Which state of India has no scheduled caste population?