Context: A joint team of Nagarik Suraksha Mancha, mostly representing Bengali people displaced from erstwhile East Pakistan post-partition in 1947, and the Mizo Convention have submitted a memorandum to Tripura Chief Minister protesting the proposed settlement of the displaced Brus in Kanchanpur Sub-Division of North Tripura district.

What’s the issue?

The centre, in January 2020, signed a historic pact for permanent solution of Bru refugees’ issue.

The agreement was between the Union Government, Governments of Tripura and Mizoram and Bru-Reang representatives to end the 23-year old Bru-Reang refugee crisis.

Opponents, now, do not want the Brus to settle in Kanchanpur Sub-Division of North Tripura district. The two organisations, however, clarified that they have no objection to the settlement of Brus in 22 other sub-divisions of Tripura.

Highlights of the agreement:

1. Under the agreement, the centre has announced a package of Rs. 600 crore under this agreement.
2. As per the agreement, the Bru tribes would be given land to reside in Tripura.
3. A fixed deposit of Rs. 4 lakh will be given to each family as an amount of government aid. They will be able to withdraw this amount after two years.
4. Each of the displaced families will be given 40×30 sq ft residential plots.
5. Apart from them, each family will be given Rs. 5,000 cash per month for two years.
6. The agreement highlights that each displaced family will also be given free ration for two years and aid of Rs. 1.5 lakh to build their houses.

Background:

More than 30,000 Bru tribes who fled Mizoram, are residing in Tripura’s refugee camps.

Who are Brus?

The Brus, also referred to as the Reangs, are spread across the northeastern states of Tripura, Assam, Manipur, and Mizoram.

In Tripura, they are recognised as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group. In Mizoram, they have been targeted by groups that do not consider them indigenous to the state.

What’s the issue?

• A bout of ethnic violence forced thousands of people from the Bru tribe to leave their homes in Mizoram.
• The displaced Bru people from Mizoram have been living in various camps in Tripura since 1997. In 1997, the murder of a Mizo forest guard at the Dampa Tiger Reserve in Mizoram’s Mamit district allegedly by Bru militants led to a violent backlash against the community, forcing several thousand people to flee to neighbouring Tripura.
• The Bru militancy was a reactionary movement against Mizo nationalist groups who had demanded in the mid-1990s that the Brus be left out of the state’s electoral rolls, contending that the tribe was not indigenous to Mizoram.