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ABSTRACTThis article analyses processes of dadan contract negotiations between Bengali intermediaries and indigenous Tanchangya peasants of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh, in the culantro sector. The research extends the debates on the dadan system and interlocked market relationships by highlighting everyday dynamics of dadan and the issue of 'just price' that arises from such contracts. The article argues that the dadan loan system leads to greater spaces for exploitation. While it facilitates peasants' access to credit for agricultural and social reproduction and the supply of culantro to wider national markets, it also creates a dependency of Tanchangya peasants on Bengali moneylending traders. Such an analysis reveals the limitations of existing studies on dadan in accounting for the social, cultural and political aspects of dadan contracts, alongside their economic aspects. The article concludes that contested moralities associated with the pursuit of familial subsistence and contractual obligations shape peasants' decisions and strategies concerning such contracts.

This paper aims to understand the background of development and draws a link to culture in the context of Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) - a post conflict region – to explore how the dispossession and commercialisation of culture in development planning is processing tension between different actors by reviewing secondary literature. The Indigenous people of Bangladesh have a longstanding history of struggle to achieve self-determination due to their institutional reference as 'tribes' or 'ethnic minorities'. Denial of Indigenous peoples' identity contributes to their discrimination and violation within the existing development concerns. The specific structural regulations and resource mobilization activities resulting from institutions – government, military, and powerful individuals - in areas inhabited by Indigenous people reflect the asymmetrical relations between Indigenous peoples and Bangalee actors. The conflict started in this region with the mobilization of ethnic majority Bangalee through the settlement programs in 1970s as a part of 'development' project, which later created tensions in this region due to the exploitation of people, land, and culture. As the government and ongoing military presence greatly shape 'development' for local people, the power relations between different actors facilitate the various forms of exploitative development projects. In addition, the ignorance towards integration of culture in development projects results in imposing threats to Indigenous peoples' lives, livelihoods, and access to resources. This paper focuses on the economic expansions in this region from modernist perspectives drawing the example of tourism development in the CHT, which can marginalize and exploit Indigenous people in the making of 'development',
Social Science Review, Vol. 37(2), Dec 2020 Page 87-103

In the decade-old ethnic conflict of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), the Liaison Committee and Dialogue Committee, among many grassroots actors, have played a vital role in initiating negotiation and finally concluding the Chittagong Hill Tracts Accord (1997) between the government of Bangladesh and Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti (PCJSS). On the contrary, as also observed in Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, and Northern Ireland, just to mention a few examples, several grassroots actors are also spoiling the peace process of the CHT through reinforcing pre-existing ethnic divides and deteriorating the law and order situation. Hence, this study attempts to discover those grassroots actors and interventions that influence (negatively or positively) peacebuilding in the CHT, while also identifying domestic and international challenges that might lead to peacebuilding disaster in the CHT. On account of time constraints and lack of funding for fieldwork, this study is based on desk research that has produced a database on reported grassroots interventions of the last two years using two leading local newspapers. Based on the analysis of the dataset combined with the Geographic Information System (GIS) supported by relevant secondary literatures, it can be asserted that grassroots actors of the CHT were and are still now influential not only as human rights defenders and service providers but also as spoilers in the most conflict-affected upazilas of the CHT. This paper also argues that peacebuilding in the CHT is at risk from the recurrence of conflict due to a number of contextual factors.

This article analyzes the dynamics of the conflict in the Chittagong Hill Tracts region of Bangladesh. This study argues that violations of human rights by law enforcement agencies and Bangali settlers against indigenous people continue even after the signing of the 1997 peace accord. Furthermore, peace remains elusive because of the "top-down" nature of that accord.