Chakmas and Hajongs communities in the COVID-19

• The Ministry of Development of the North Eastern Region (DoNER) has directed the Arunachal Pradesh government to include the Chakma and Hajong communities in the COVID-19 relief program.

About:

• The Chakmas and Hajongs are ethnic people. Chakmas are predominantly Buddhists; Hajongs are Hindus.

• They were inhabitants of the Chittagong Hill Tracts of erstwhile East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) who migrated to India due to –
• Submergence of their land by the Kaptai dam on the Karnaphuli River in the 1960s.

• Religious persecution they faced in East Pakistan as they were non-Muslims.

• The Indian government set up relief camps in Arunachal Pradesh and a majority of them continue to live there even after 50 years.

• An estimated 1 lakh Chakma and Hajong refugees are staying in India. When they came in 1964, there were about 15,000 Chakmas and about 2,000 Hajongs.