Tripura Human Development Report II Pratichi Institute Pratichi (India) Trust 2018 2 GLIMPSES OF THE STUDY Contributory Authors Sabir Ahamed Ratan Ghosh Toa Bagchi Amitava Gupta Indraneel Bhowmik Manabi Majumdar Anirban Chattapadhyay Sangram Mukherjee Joyanta Choudhury Kumar Rana Joyeeta Dey Manabesh Sarkar Arijita Dutta Pia Sen Dilip Ghosh Editors Manabi Majumdar, Sangram Mukherjee, Kumar Rana and Manabesh Sarkar Field Research Sabir Ahamed Mukhlesur Rahaman Gain Toa Bagchi Dilip Ghosh Susmita Bandyopadhyay Sangram Mukherjee Runa Basu Swagata Nandi Subhra Bhattacharjee Piyali Pal Subhra Das Kumar Rana Joyeeta Dey Manabesh Sarkar Tanmoy Dutta Pia Sen Arijita Dutta Photo Courtesy Pratichi Research Team Logistical Support Dinesh Bhat Saumik Mukherjee Piuli Chakraborty Sumanta Paul TRIPURA HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT II 3 4 GLIMPSES OF THE STUDY FOREWORD Amartya Sen India is a country of enormous diversity, and there is a great deal for us to learn from the varying experiences and achievements of the different regions. Tripura’s accomplishments in advancing human development have many distinguishing features which separate it out from much of the rest of India. An understanding of the special successes of Tripura is important for the people of Tripura, but – going beyond that – there are lessons here for the rest of India in appreciating what this small state has been able to achieve, particularly given the adverse circumstances that had to be overcome. Among the adversities that had to be addressed, perhaps the most important is the gigantic influx of refugees into this tiny state at the time of the partition of India in 1947 and again during the turmoil in East Pakistan preceding the formation of Bangladesh in 1971. For one thing, these population movements changed the ethnic composition of the state, making it more Bengali speaking, and reducing the power and prominence of the indigenous tribal people, who are also typically poorer and more deprived than the non-tribal parts of the population. The social strains and difficulties of what can be seen as an imposed eruption of heterogeneity are particularly striking, and they needed to be overcome. One of the successes of Tripura certainly has been the ability of the political authorities to deal effectively with the associated tensions and to attempt in an organized way to reduce the inequalities between different sections of the population. As we note in this report, there are certainly considerable accomplishments to celebrate in what has been happening in this small but high performing state. To turn to the basic ingredients of human development, there have been achievements in educational development that clearly deserve applause. The levels of literacy and schooling are significantly high in the state, and inequalities in educational opportunities are also much less unequal than in the bulk of India. The literacy and schooling of girls are not far behind those of boys as is often the case in many parts of India, and even the educational progress of the tribal population TRIPURA HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT II 5 places them relatively close to the more prosperous non-tribal communities, which too contrasts with many other parts of India. We have noted these important successes, but we have also found the quality of school education to be generally quite low across the board. Improvement of what the schools provide is, thus, an important agenda item to which Tripura must give priority. If that happens (as we strongly suggest should be brought about), then the full benefits of wider and less unequal coverage will surely come into its own. Regarding health, we see again some things to celebrate. For example, Tripura’s levels of infant mortality and indicators of undernourishment compare quite favourably with the bulk of India. Indeed, even the tribal population, who have been typically left far behind in much of India, has largely kept pace with the attainments of the non-tribal people in Tripura. And yet, as we have also discussed in this report, there are many deficiencies in the health infrastructure that need to be urgently addressed in this generally high-performing state. Since the different features of success and its lack have been discussed in detail in this report, there is no need to elaborate on them in this Foreword. But there is a general point that has also emerged from our study that perhaps demands a special mention. Social good can come about through the benevolence of those in power (including of the functioning state), but also – more securely and robustly - through advancing the agency of the deprived people who can play a direct part in promoting what needs to be done. There is more evidence of benevolence in the governance of Tripura than of the systematic development of the deprived people’s own agency. This can be a matter of concern, especially in the long run. Even as we cheer the benevolence that characterizes what the state has been trying to do, with notable success, we have to point to the need to pay greater attention to the role of agency of the worse-off, especially of tribals and of women in general. Perhaps this beautiful and dynamic state can fruitfully be a bit more dynamic in developing people’s agency, going beyond the undoubtedly well-planned achievements of the benevolent state. 6 FOREWORD Acknowledgements We express our huge debt of gratitude to all those who, over the last three years, made this Second Tripura Human Development Report possible. This was initiated by Shri Manik Sarkar, who as Chief Minister of Tripura invited us to undertake this study and gave us full support for it. We take this opportunity to convey our sincere gratitude to him. We are also grateful to Shri Biplab Deb, the current Chief Minister, for his encouragement in completing the project. Under the adept stewardship of the Chief Secretary as well as the Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister’s Office, numerous members of several line departments of the Government of Tripura have extended full cooperation to our project by giving us time to answer our queries in the midst of their busy schedule, by generously providing us with relevant facts and figures and above all by sharing their thoughts and insights with us on the promises and challenges of human development in the state of Tripura. It is in the light of their wit and wisdom that we have endeavoured to prepare this document. We remain most grateful to all of them. However, the views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect views of the Government of Tripura. It is our great pleasure to convey special thanks to Shri Anindya Kumar Bhattacharya and Shri Susanta Debbarma of the Government of Tripura; without their sustained and solid assistance this report would not have been possible. Illuminating comments on part of several elected political functionaries at all levels of governance as well as other political leaders in the state have enriched our understanding of the issue of human well-being in the state for which we remain very grateful to them. In the preparation of this report we have greatly benefitted from the active participation of several members of the academic faculty at Tripura University at workshops organized during the course of preparing this report and from their incisive comments and suggestions. We acknowledge our intellectual debt to Professor Achin Chakraborty and Professor Jean Dreze for their kind advice in the preparation of some of the key chapters in the report. We express our sincere thanks to Dr. Abhijit Chowdhury who has helped Pratichi Institute in many different ways in the preparation of this report. The Pratichi research team works under the intellectual guidance and inspiration of Professor Amartya Sen, and is steered by the able leadership of Ms Antara Dev Sen, the Managing Trustee of Pratichi (India) Trust. The study team remains most grateful to her for her continued encouragement and support toward TRIPURA HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT II 7 all its research activities, including this project. We express our special thanks to Ms Anwesha Rana for her editorial assistance in the preparation of this report. Finally, we acknowledge, with a great sense of humility and sincerity, our special debt to the local field investigators in Tripura as well as our respondents in the state whose voice and vitality resonate through the pages of this report. Research Team, Pratichi Institute, Kolkata 8 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Contents Page Number Foreword by Amartya Sen 5 Acknowledgements 7 List of Tables 10 List of Figures 13 Abbreviations 14 Glimpses of the Report 19 Chapter 1 Introduction 35 Chapter 2 A Socio-Political Understanding of 43 Human Development Condition: Mediation and Moderation of Social Conflicts Chapter 3 Growth for Development 61 Chapter 4 Inclusive Education 97 Chapter 5 HealthCare Challenges 121 Chapter 6 Social Protection and Human Development 137 Chapter 7 Engendering Development 165 Chapter 8 Decentralized Institutions and Human Development 179 Chapter 9 Human Development and the Media 197 Chapter 10 Human Development Indices: Inter-State and 201 Intra-State Ranking Chapter 11 Conclusion 211 Bibliography 215 Appendix 223 TRIPURA HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT II 9 List of Tables 2.1 Restoration of tribal lands in Tripura till 2014 2.2 Share of various social groups in allotted governmentkhas land in Tripura (till March, 2014) Distribution of operational holdings in 2010-11 across social groups in selected Indian states 2.3 having ST population of 10 per cent or more