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Transnational Thursday for July 18, 2024

Transnational Thursday is a thread for people to discuss international news, foreign policy or international relations history. Feel free as well to drop in with coverage of countries you’re interested in, talk about ongoing dynamics like the wars in Israel or Ukraine, or even just whatever you’re reading.

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5% allotted to indigenous communities

I am legitimately curious who "indigenous communities" here refers to: I usually associate that term with first world countries with guilt complexes around historical events. I may be ignorant of regional events, here, but I'm not quite sure who this means, and what they were present before.

The Bangla-language version of Wikipedia's article on the quota system uses a word that Google translates as "tribal" rather than "indigenous".

Wikipedia's article on Bangladesh's demographics says:

Bangladesh's tribal population was enumerated at 897,828 [1.0 percent of the total] in the 1981 census. These tribes are concentrated in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and around Mymensingh, Sylhet, and Rajshahi. They are of Sino-Tibetan descent and differ markedly in their social customs, religion, language and level of development. They speak Tibeto-Burman languages and most are Buddhist or Hindu. The four largest tribes are Chakmas, Marmas, Tipperas, Tanchangya, and Mros. Smaller groups include the Santals in Rajshahi and Dinajpur, and Khasis, Garos, and Khajons in Mymensingh and Sylhet regions.

There's a separate Wikipedia article on the topic.