- In the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), traditional headmen, with the assistance of village elders known as karbaries, manage and protect small forest, grazing and water commons, through customary laws and practices. At the formal level, the hill district councils and the deputy commissioner’s offices retain supervisory authority (5).

- In the Santal and Garo communities, the village headman still enjoys special dignity. In practice, however, the headman is more a ceremony leader rather than a political one (4).