ALL SARKARI EXAM: Agreement to settle Bru refugees in Tripura (Indian Express)

Context:

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

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.

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.

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.

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, 5,000 people have returned to Mizoram in 9 phases of repatriation, 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.

In 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.
In 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.

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