Economy
The
economy of the Chittagong Hill Tracts is controlled by the
Bengali trading-merchant class which has developed itself
under state patronization during the period of Pakistan.
It further consolidated control over the economy of the
CHT after independence of Bangladesh in 1971.
Before
the British colonization of the CHT, the Jumma
people's economic life was centred round self-subsistent
Jum cultivation. "Communal ownership of all material
resources, sharing and exchange constituted the core of
their economic as well as cultural values. The concept of
surplus and private profit was totally alien to them, for
it was subsistence economy."
The
British introduced and encouraged plough cultivation in
CHT and brought the Jumma people into the fold
of its own economic order. This had far reaching implications
for the Hill people. While it laid the foundation for the
emergence of the educated middle class of the Jumma society,
which was to play a leading role in the autonomy movement
in the post-independent Bangladesh, this new economic system
also gave the British tremendous opportunity to exploit
the Jumma people and their vast natural and forest
resources. The British declared large tracts of forest land
as reserved and monopolized timber trade in the CHT. They
also introduced monetary system (money-economy) paving the
way for the Bengali middlemen, traders and money lenders
to exploit the Jummas at will. Captain T. H. Lewin
in his book "A Fly on the Wheel" gave a succinct
description of ruthless exploitation of the over-credulous Jumma people. The scenario has not changed even
today.
The
economy of the CHT is agricultural. But land suitable for
plough cultivation is scarce as the area is covered with
forests and rugged hills. This has been further aggravated
by two developments: one is the construction of Kaptai dam in the early sixties which inundated 54 thousand
acres of arable land, and the other is the politically motivated
state-sponsored migration of 400,000 landless Bengali settlers
from the plain districts from 1979 to 1982. These two factors
combined with Bengali control and monopoly of trade and
commerce have completely crushed the economic backbone of
the Jumma people. On the other hand, anachronistic
Jum cultivation, which is still practiced by poor Jummas,
remains unprofitable and unsustainable.
The
CHT has no major industry except the Karnaphuli Paper
Mill and Karnaphuli Rayon and Chemicals Ltd.
situated at Chandraghona. Set up in the fifties
and sixties in the last century, these two industries do
not contribute in any manner to the economy of the hill
people as none of these has provided employment opportunities
to them. The small and cottage industry has all the potentials,
but due to lack of adequate support from the government
it remains crippled.
