A Critical Review of Democracy and Governance Challenges in Bangladesh

This work contributes to understanding the complex process of the marginalization of the two most disadvantaged Indigenous communities, namely the Santal and Oraon of North-Bengal, Bangladesh. The book demonstrates that as a result of the fragile democracy and governance system in Bangladesh, the human rights of the most vulnerable and marginalized Indigenous people have increasingly become a cause for concern. This research applies a Critical Systemic Approach that combines qualitative and quantitative research relevant to research questions to understand the life chances of the most marginalized people through narratives of their lived experiences. It has revealed that the non-recognition of the Indigenous people in the national constitution and their exclusion from participatory democracy, governance and from mainstream development intervention have undermined their life chances in the country, which in turn, has resulted in land dispossession, a low level of literacy, and systemic exclusion from access to health care and other social services. Finally, this research argues that the state has a responsibility to emancipate the Indigenous people in the mainstream policy.