Socio-economic Baseline Survey of Chittagong Hill Tracts - chtdf

HDRCSocio-economic Baseline Survey of Chittagong Hill Tracts158Box 21. 3: Indicators Used to Assess Knowledge Status on CHT Accord 1997The eighteen indicators used to assess the respondents knowledge status on CHT Accord 1997 were whether ornot the respondent:1. Heard about CHT Accord.2. Knew the year of signing the accord.3. Knows about the two parties/signatories to the accord.4. Remembers the number and location of HDC (Hill District Council).5. Knows that no land within the boundaries of CHT districts can be given in to settlement, purchase,sale, transfer, or lease without prior approval of the HDC.6. Knows about to the CHT Regional Council (CHTRC).7. Knows that the Chairperson of the CHTRC would be elected from the IPs.8. Knows that two thirds of the members of the CHTRC would be elected from IPs.9. Knows that three members of the CHTRC would be elected from amongst women.10. Knows that two-thirds of female members of the CHTRC would be elected from IPs.11. Knows that tenure of the CHTRC would be five years.12. Knows the Government’s provision for giving two acres of land to each landless indigenous family.13. Knows the provision for forming a Land Commission to settle land disputes.14. Knows the provision for exemption of loans with interest for indigenous refugees who could not usethem due to the social conflicts.15. Knows that the Government should continue reservation of the Quota System in governmental jobsand educational institutions for IPs.16. Knows that in case any law is found to be detrimental for the IPs, the HRC/HDC may file petition tothe Government for amending its application and that the Government shall, in such cases, adoptnecessary measures.17. Knows that the Minister for the Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs has to be appointed fromamongst the IPs of CHT, and an advisory board would help the ministry.18. Knows that a non-indigenous resident of the CHT cannot contest for membership of the HDC withouta certification by the respective Circle Chief.During the data collection process, interviewers conducted a household survey andinterviewed one adult HH member (either male or female) by spelling out these knowledgeindicator and took their answer as ‘know’ or ‘don’t know’.The CHT Accord 1997 has been a remarkable andhistorical event in the history of Bangladesh. It hasbeen evident in the study that, irrespective of ethnicity,87.6% of the CHT population is informed of thisaccord and there is a slight difference between theknowledge of indigenous people (89.5%) andBangalee (85.3%) about this accord. In fact, theknowledge of the indigenous people about the accordis only 4 percentage-points higher than that ofBangalee.Figure 21.1: Heard about Chittagong HillTracts Treaty (1997)87.689.585.3All Indigenous peoples Bangalee21.3 Overall Knowledge Score on the CHT Accord 1997Assessment of knowledge can be expressed in various ways. In this section, an analysis ofoverall knowledge score on the CHT Accord 1997 has been estimated for the communitiesliving in the CHT. All knowledge indicators used for assessment have been given equalweight and the overall score for any community has been estimated as the simple average ofpoints obtained against all indicators. If one respondent know all the indicators then s/he gets100 and if s/he does not know any indicator then s/he gets 0. The respondents’ score havebeen aggregated (using simple average) to assess the community-wise overall knowledge