2010-07-27 14:40:03

Japan lends tribal people a helping hand


(July 27, 2010) The Japanese government has provided financial assistance to poor indigenous people in northeast Bangladesh to help eliminate poverty and promote self-reliance. Some 70 Catholics and 20 non-Christians from the Garo, Hajong and Koach communities in Dhobaura, near Mymensingh, each received 20,000 taka (US$287) through Bangladesh’s Ministry of Cooperatives recently. Minister for Cultural Affairs Promod Mankhin, a Garo Catholic, distributed the cash. “The welfare of indigenous people deeply concerns the government. That’s why we’re able to receive funds from Japan to help improve their socio-economic conditions,” said Mankhin, who is also the local Member of Parliament. Recipients of the money were chosen by local cooperative officials and by the Tribal Welfare Association, a rights forum of ethnic indigenous groups. Many of the beneficiaries told Ucanews how the cash would change their lives such as by complementing uncertain daily wage labour with crop cultivation and livestock rearing.







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