Dr Manmohan Singh
Hon'ble Prime Minister of India
Government of India
New Delhi – 110001
Respected Sir,
We beg to draw your kind attention towards the citizenship issue of large number of Hindu Bengali
refugees who had to flee from erstwhile East Pakistan due to a particular circumstance over which they
had no control. Their situation is different than those who have come to India for economic & livelihood
reasons. While we advocate a humane approach to all sections, on the specific issue of citizenship we
share the opinion that you had advocated as leader of opposition when it was debated in Parliament in
2003.
You will kindly recall that under the NDA government the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2003 was placed,
which did not differentiate between different sections of the society which would be affected by the
Bill. At the time you had stated, "… with regard to treatment of refugees after partition of our country,
the minorities in countries like Bangladesh, have faced persecution, and it is our moral obligation, that
if circumstance force these unfortunate people, to seek refuge in our country, approach to granting
citizenship to these communities must be most liberal. I sincerely hope that the hon'ble Deputy Prime
Minister bears this in mind in charting out the future course of action…" In response to your appeal, the
then Deputy Prime Minister Sri L K Advani had said, "what the leader of the opposition has said, I am
fully agreement with the views expressed."
This should have been followed with a suitable amendment to Clause 2 (i) (b) of the Citizenship
Amendment Act, 2003 in relation to the minority community refugees from Bangladesh. However, in
spite of the consensus on the floor of the House, this was not done. For nearly a decade the matter
has been pending. Meanwhile the insecurity felt by these refugees has been heightened as they are
considered as illegal migrants facing the constant threat of deportation.
Majority of these affected people are from Namasudra, Pod, Poundra, Rajbanshi communities which
are considered as Scheduled Caste in 6 eastern states including West Bengal but not in the states where
they have been rehabilitated. Had they been rehabilitated in the eastern states, they would have got the
SC status but not in other states where they have been rehabilitated. Moreover, state governments had
issued SC certificates to these communities till 1983-84 but stopped thereafter.
In light of the above facts, I request you to consider these issues and take up the steps which you
consider are necessary, including the amendment to the law referred to and also providing them caste
reservation in all states, so that their future generations can live a dignified life in this country.
With regards
Yours sincerely
(
)
I Inaugural Session I
10.30 am – 11.30 am
Welcome : Sri Paramananda G.
Inauguration :
Inaugural Address :
Keynote Address : Dr. Subodh Biswas
Tea Break – 11.30-11.45
I Business Session-I I
Challenges & Strategies
11.45 am – 13.45 pm
(Each presentation-15 min & open discussion-45 min)
Paper-1: Impacts and implications of The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2003 on us and strategies & process to address it – a national perspective
Speaker: Advocate Tapan Debnath, Ambika Roy
Paper-2: Impacts and implications of Caste reservation outside Bangla border and the strategies & process to be adopted – a national perspective
Speaker: Sri Nirmal Mondal, Maharastra
Paper-3: Entitlement issues on land, residential plots and revenue village status – strategies and process to be adopted at state level
Speaker:
Paper-4: Preservation of Bengali culture and language in outside Bangla border – the steps to be initiated
Speaker: Sri Sailen Kharati, Maharastra
Paper-5: How to address the issues of unsettled families to obtain voter ID, ration card, citizenship, land allotment, benefits of various government schemes
Speaker:
Lunch Break – 13.45-15.00
I Business Session-II I
Organization Strengthening
15.00 pm – 16.30 pm
(Each presentation-15 min & open discussion-45 min)
Paper-6: Current status of NiBBUSS and need & potential of building/ strengthening it from grass-root
Speaker:
Paper-7: Process to increase the reach out of NiBBUSS to each displaced family in the country
Speaker:
Paper-8: Essential requirements & coping up mechanism of NiBBUSS to address the challenges at appropriate level (like publicity, capacity enhancement, finance, etc.)
Speaker:
Tea Break – 16.30-16.45
I Way ForwardI
16.45 pm – 17.45 pm
Summing up the strategies
& process :
Presidential Remarks : Dr Subodh Biswas
Vote of Thanks : Sri Sushil Mallik. Delhi
Anchor:
Nikhil Bharat
Bangali Udbastu Samanway Samiti
NiBBUSS
2nd Convention of
All India Refugee Representatives
on
29th August 2012
at
Mavalankar Auditorium
Vittal Bhai Patel House
Rafi Marg
New Delhi-110011
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