9th Issue 2007-08 Sl.No. Chapter Page 1. ECONOMIC SITUATION 3 2. POPULATION 26 3. STATE INCOME 39 4. STATE FINANCE & PLANNING 49 a) State Finance 49 b) Planning 58 5. PRICE & COST OF LIVING 72 6. POVERTY, MANPOWER & EMPLOYMENT 80 7. FOOD, CIVIL SUPPLIES & CONSUMER AFFAIRS 94 8. AGRICULTURE AND ALLIED ACTIVITIES 103 a) Agriculture 103 b) Horticulture 117 c) Animal Resources 125 d) Fisheries 133 9. FORESTRY 138 a) Forestry 138 b) Rubber 150 10. CO-OPERATION 154 11. PANCHAYAT & RURAL DEVELOPMENT 167 a) Panchayat 167 b) Rural Development 172 12. URBANISATION 179 13. ECONOMIC INFRASTRUCTURE 187 a) Power 188 b) Irrigation 191 c) Transport 197 d) Vehicle 199 e) Communication 199 f) Banking 200 14. INDUSTRIES & COMMERCE 203 a) Industries 203 b) H.H. & S. 214 c) Informaiton Technology 219 d) Tourism 222 15. EDUCATION 226 a) School Education 226 b) Higher Education 230 c) Social Education 237 d) Sports & Youth Affairs 238 16. HEALTH & FAMILY WELFARE 243 a) Health 243 b) Family Welfare 250 C O N T E S C O N T E S C O N T E S C O N T E S C O N T E S c) Public Health Engineering 254 17. WELFARE 257 a) Tribal Welfare 257 b) Schedule Caste Welfare 277 18. HOUSING 283 19. FUTURE ASSESSMENT & LOOK 287 PART- II 295 20. STATISTICAL TABLES 296 1 2007-08 PART-I 1) ECONOMIC SITUATION Introduction: The budgetary process has been targeted for schematic allocation of resources especially to economic and social sectors as well as concerning for additional re- source mobilization from existing potential areas to keep fiscal deficit under control. In this background, understanding of the State’s macroeconomic profile is prelude for assigning the fiscal priorities and visioning the economic prosperity.Therefore, Economic Review of Tripura focuses and analyses the macroeconomic trend as well as progress achieved in different sectors of State’s economy during the annual plan period. It also gives thrust on the new initiatives, potential areas as well as constrains faced in the changing economic scenario by the State’s economy. The present issue of “Economic Review of Tripura, 2007-08” is the 9th in the series that shows the overall performances and trend of the State’s economy during the fiscal year 2007- 08. The State is characterised by geographical isolation, poor infrastructure facili- ties, communication bottlenecks, inadequate exploitation of natural resources (natu- ral gas, rubber, forest etc.), low capital formation, almost non-existence of industry and high level of incidences of poverty and un-employment. The State has many rain-fed, non-perrenial rivers and streams flowing to the neighbouring Bangladesh. Most of the parts of the State are rural area and about 83 percent of State’s population lives in rural areas. Upliftment of rural poor as well as improvement in the quality of life of the economically weaker section of the society has been one of the basic objectives of development planning in the State. Tripura is the second highest in terms of density of population among the North-Eastern States i.e., next to Assam. Over 60% of the area is classified as forest area and leaving less area about 27% for cultivation. Low availability of infrastructure has made the process of economic develop- ment extremely difficult for this backward State. The NH-44, the lifeline of Tripura, has been disrupted in the rainy season due to land slides near Patharkandi in Assam 2 2007-08 and Sonarpur in Meghalaya which is a perennial problem to the State. The railway link is extremely poor, although Agartala the capital of the State has recently been connected with the railway link by the metre gauge. Moreover, the State does not have any water transport system. The liberalization and economic reforms of India introduced since 1990 have limited impact on the industrial growth in the State. The economy of the State continues to be agrarian base. The State scores well in terms of literacy, birth rate and death rate. It can be evident from the fact that State’s birth rate, death rate, infant mortality rate, total fertility rate as well as literacy rate are above the national standard. Despite poor financial resources of its own, the State could ensure providing its share liabilities against almost all the Centrally Sponsored Schemes. Despite backwardness and geographical isolation; Tripura’s economy achieved the annual average pro-poor growth rate of 7.75 percent in real terms for 2003-04 with 1993-94 base. The pro-poor growth rate for 2006-07 was 8.37 percent with new 1999-2000 base. The similar growth rate has been anticipated to continue and would touch 9 percent by the end of 11th Plan against the National target of 8 to 10 percent. To put this in perspective, in 2001, Tripura’s Net State Domestic Product (NSDP) accounted for 0.33 per cent of Net National Income, while the population of Tripura was 0.30 per cent of the National population. In 2006-07, the per capita income of the State was Rs.27,777/- against the National per capita income of Rs.29,642/-. In 1980-81, per capita income of Tripura was 75 per cent of the National average; by 2002-03, it had risen to 88 percent of the National average and now in 2006-07 it was about 93.71 per cent. Background: The erstwhile princely State merged with the Indian Union after independence on the 15th October, 1949 as Group-C category State. It became an Union Territory on 1st July, 1963. Tripura became a full-fledged State on the 21st January, 1972. At present, the State has 4- districts, 17-sub-divisions, 40- blocks, and also one Tribal Autonomous District Council. The Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) was set up in 1982 under the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution, which brought under the Sixth Schedule in 1985. The TTAADC covers about 2/3rd of the total area of the State. It covers all the four districts and has 1/3rd population of the State. The State is situated between latitudes 22°56' and 24°32' north, and longitudes 91°09' and 92°20' east. It has an area of 10,491.69 Sq. Km. Tripura is a land-locked State, surrounded by Bangladesh on its north, south and west. The length of its 3 2007-08 international border with Bangladesh 856 Km (84 per cent of its total border), while it shares 53 Km border with Assam and 109 Km border with Mizoram. Tripura is connected with the rest of Country by only one road of National Highway-44, which runs through the hills to Cachar District in Assam. The Partition of India in 1947 was a defining event in the history of Tripura, and had an enduring effect on the process of social and economic development of the State. The Partition was perhaps the largest movement of evicted people in modern history. It witnessed a heavy influx of refugees into Tripura from erst-while East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, who arrived with little wealth in hand. On the otherhand, the Partition resulted in a huge infrastructural and economic set back for Tripura. It lost all its rail-heads-to the west, south and north-as they fell in East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, and the State was cut off from India’s railway network. The distance by road from Agartala to Kolkata was less than 350 Km before Partition. After Partition, the route to Kolkata via Siliguri land corridor became 1,700 Km long. The Partition thus aggravated the geo-political isolation of Tripura and indeed, of the entire North Eastern Region. The local flora and fauna bear a very close affinity and resemblance with floral and faunal components of Indo-Malayan and Indo-Chinese sub-regions. The State is located in the bio-geographic zone of 9B-North-East hills and possesses an extremely rich bio-diversity. There are 379- species of trees, 320- shrubs, 581- herbs, 165- climbers, 16- climbing shrubs, 35- ferns, 45- epiphytes and 4- parasites. Rare plants of Tripura have been put to 18 numbers. There are 266 species of medicinal plants in the State (68- trees, 39- shrubs, 71- herbs and 88- climbers). There are 90 mammal species in Tripura and in the aquatic ecosystem 47 species of fish have been found. As per last Census of Wild Life conducted in 1989, there were 39 numbers of leopard, 182 numbers of elephant and 92 numbers of bison in the State. The prominent hill ranges are Jampui, Sakhantang, Longtharai, Atharamura, Baramura, Deotamura, Belkum and Kalajhari. Betling Shib (939 metres), situated in the Jampui Range, is the highest peak of Tripura. The important forest products include Sal, Teak, Gamai, Gurjan and Champa. The bamboo is available in the State abundantly, and is traditionally being used for multi-purpose by the tribal people. The Gumati, Howrah, Dhalai, Muhuri, Feni and Juri are the major rivers which swell in monsoon but they become shallow during the rest of the year. Natural gas deposits are among the most important features of Tripura’s natu- ral resource base. Natural gas has been struck in the Baramura Hills and in Rokhia. Natural gas-based thermal power plants have been set-up at both the places (Barmura and Rokhia). 4 2007-08 Demographic profile: As per Census- 2001, the population of Tripura stands at 31,99,203 registering a population density of 305 per Sq. Km. The estimated mid-year population of Tripura in 2008 was 34,74,000 comprising of 17,79,000 males and 16,95,000 females.