50 ethnic communities live in Bangladesh: minister

He made the disclosure in response to a tabled question by ruling party lawmaker Selina Sultana from a reserved women's seat in the Jatiya Sangsad with speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad, Bir Bikram, in the chair.

The minister said that according to the Schedule of the Small Ethnic Cultural Institutions Act, 2010 (amended in 2019), a total of 50 ethnic communities have been officially included in the government gazette.

He further said that, according to the preliminary report of the Population and Housing Census 2022, the combined population of scheduled and other ethnic communities in the country stands at 1,650,159, accounting for around one percent of Bangladesh's total population.

Nitai Roy Chowdhury said the government has been implementing various programmes to preserve and promote the languages, cultures, traditions and lifestyles of ethnic communities. Various initiatives have also been undertaken to highlight their cultural identities and heritage at the national level.

He noted that activities are being carried out through legal and institutional frameworks to safeguard the cultural heritage of ethnic communities, while necessary support for the development and promotion of their cultures continues to be provided by the government, reports BSS.