18th Issue ECONOMIC REVIEW OF TRIPURA, 2016-17 Directorate of Economics & Statistics Planning (Statistics) Department Government of Tripura, Agartala. www.destripura.nic.in www.ecostat.tripura.gov.in 1 Sl.No. Chapter Page 1. ECONOMIC SITUATION 3 2. POPULATION 20 3. STATE INCOME 35 4. STATE FINANCE & PLANNING 42 a) State Finance 42 b) Planning 47 5. PRICE & COST OF LIVING 49 6. POVERTY, MANPOWER & EMPLOYMENT 57 7. FOOD, CIVIL SUPPLIES & CONSUMER AFFAIRS 74 8. AGRICULTURE AND ALLIED ACTIVITIES 81 a) Agriculture 81 b) Horticulture 96 c) Animal Resources 100 d) Fisheries 113 9. FORESTRY 120 a) Forestry 120 b) Rubber 134 10. CO-OPERATION 142 11. PANCHAYAT & RURAL DEVELOPMENT 157 a) Panchayat 157 b) Rural Development 159 12. URBANISATION 165 13. ECONOMIC INFRASTRUCTURE 172 a) Power 173 b) Irrigation 178 c) Transport 183 d) Communication 185 e) Vehicle 186 f) Banking 189 14. INDUSTRIES & COMMERCE 191 a) Industries 191 b) Handloom Handicrafts & Sericulture 214 c) Informaiton Technology 220 d) Tourism 226 15. EDUCATION 238 a) School Education 238 b) Higher Education 247 c) Social Education 258 d) Sports & Youth Affairs 274 16. HEALTH & FAMILY WELFARE 290 a) Health 290 b) Family Welfare 298 c) Drinking Water & Sanitation 302 17. WELFARE 306 a) Tribal Welfare 306 b) Schedule Caste Welfare 321 18. HOUSING 347 19. FUTURE ASSESSMENT & OUTLOOK 351 PART- II 358 20. STATISTICAL TABLES 359 2 PART-I 1) ECONOMIC SITUATION Background: Economic performances, development strategies and achievements of the State's economy during the fiscal year 2016-17 have been focused and analysed in this "Economic Review of Tripura, 2016-17". It is the 18th un-interrupted time-series analysis, which put forward the chapters, especially for the fiscal year 2016-17, with previous year's references and data as far as possible. The new initiatives and potential areas of development strategies covering all the districts as well as constraints faced in the process of economic prosperity of the State have also been analysed. State profile: Tripura, erstwhile princely state, merged with the Indian Union after independence on 15th October 1949 and became a Union Territory without a legislature with effect from November 1, 1956 and a popular ministry was installed in Tripura on July 1, 1963. Tripura became a fully fledged State on the 21st January, 1972 and is the third smallest State of the Country, located in the North Eastern Region. The State is surrounded by the neighbouring country Bangladesh on its south, west and north. The length of its international border with Bangladesh is about 856 km (i.e. about 84 percent of its total border), while it has 53 km border with Assam and 109 km border with Mizoram. Forest area is over 60 percent of its land use statistics and predominant, leaving only 27 percent land for agricultural cultivation. A large part of the land is up-land / tilla land and hilly, with altitudes varying from 15 to 940 meters above sea level, though majority of the population lives in the plains. Tripura is connected with the rest of the Country by National Highway-44, which runs through the hilly terrains of Cachar District in Assam followed by zigzag roads of hilly regions of Meghalaya and then to Guwahati, the capital city of Assam, via Shillong, the capital city of Meghalaya. 3 Agartala, the capital city of Tripura, connected to the country's railway network in 2008 through a meter gauge track. Broad-Gauge conversion work from Lumding to Agartala via Badarpur has been completed. On 31st July 2016 the Railway Minister of India inaugurated the Agartala-New Delhi ‘Tripura Sundari Express’, linking the broad gauge with the rest of the country. Railway Minister of India, on 25th January 2017, also flagged off a train to inaugurate a new broad-gauge railway line to connect Agartala with Udaipur, the district headquarter of Gomati, by video-conferencing from Delhi. The work for further extension of railway line from Udaipur to Sabroom, the southernmost border town of Tripura, into broad gauge has been sanctioned by the Ministry of Railway, Government of India. The State Government have been pursuing with the Ministry of Railway, Government of India for getting attractive benefits of the railway service. Governments of India and Bangladesh laid the foundation stone for a project on 31st July 2016 for a new rail link to ease surface transport. India will build a 15-km railway tracks linking Tripura's capital Agartala with Bangladesh's southeastern city of Akhaura, an important railway junction connected to Chittagong port. The Indian Railway Construction Company would lay the new railway tracks on both sides of the border. Of the 15 km rail line, five km of tracks fall in the Indian Territory. The Government of Tripura has reorganised the administrative units in 2012 by creating 4-new Districts, 6-new Sub-Divisions and 5-new Blocks in-order to further decentralise the administration for better and effective delivery of services and effective implementation and monitoring of the development programmes. The State has now 8-Districts, 23-Sub- Divisions, 58-Blocks and 1-Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) created under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. The prominent hill ranges of the State are Jampui, Sakhantang, Longtharai, Atharamura, Baramura, Deotamura, Belkum and Kalajhari. Betling Shib (939 meters), situated in the Jampui Range, is the highest peak of Tripura. The important forest products include sal, teak, gamai, gurjan and champa. The Gumati, Howrah, Dhalai, Muhuri, Feni and Juri are the major rivers which swell in monsoon but become shallow during the rest of the year. Tripura has a tropical climate and receives adequate rainfall during the monsoons. The State is situated between latitudes 22°56' and 24°32' North, and longitudes 90°09' and 92°20' East. It has an area of 10,491.69 sq. km. It has diverse range of topography, people, flora and fauna. Local flora and fauna bear a very close affinity and resemblance 4 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 266- species of medicinal plants, 379-tree species, 320-shrubs, 581-herbs, 165-climbers, 16-climbing shrubs, 35-ferns, 45-epiphytes and 4- parasites. Moreover, there are 50-species endemic to Tripura. 2-primitive plants and 7-endangered plants are also found in Tripura. There are 90 mammal species in Tripura. Effect of the partition of the country on Tripura: The partition of India in 1947 had an enormous and enduring impact on the process of social and economic development of Tripura. The partition was perhaps the largest movement of evicted people in modern history. It witnessed a heavy influx of refugees into Tripura from erstwhile 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. The State's resources came under severe strain due to heavy influx of refugees into the State from erstwhile East Pakistan, mainly due to its long international border. It lost all its rail-heads-to the west, south and north-as they fell in East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, and the State was then 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. Demographic profile: The population of Tripura as per Census 2011 was 36,73,917, out of which 18,74,376 males and 17,99,541 females. The data of Census-2011 shows that Tripura ranks 18th in terms of density of population at all India level. Among the north-eastern states, Tripura remained the second highest populous State after Assam. The population density of Tripura in 2011 was 350 persons per sq.km., which means that 45 more people live in a sq. km. area in the State then they lived a decade ago. The population density for all India in 2011 was 324. There is a positive improvement in sex ratio in the State as it rose from 945 (per 1000 males) in 1991 to 948 (per 1000 males) in 2001 and further to 960 in 2011. 5 Scheduled Tribe Population: The population of Tripura is characterized by social diversity. The people of the Scheduled Tribes (ST) comprise about one-third of the population. As per Census-2011, ST population of the State was 11,66,813 which is 31.75 percent of the total population of the State. The total ST male was 5,88,327 and ST female was 5,78,486.There are 19- sub tribes among the ST population of the State with their own cultural identity, namely i) Tripuri, ii) Reang, iii) Jamatia, iv) Chakma, v) Lusai, vi) Mog, vii) Garo, viii) Kuki, ix) Chaimal, x) Uchai, xi) Halam, xii) Khasia, xiii) Bhutia, xiv) Munda, xv) Orang, xvi) Lepcha, xvii) Santal, xviii) Bhil and xix) Noatia. Schedule Caste Population: The Census-2011 data shows that SC population of the State was 6,54,918 (17.8 percent). The total SC male was 3,34,370 and SC female was 3,20,548. The demography of Scheduled Castes in the State is not confined to any particular location or 'paras' or 'bastis'; instead it is scattered in all regions of the State. Literacy:- The literacy and education are reasonably good indicators of development in a society.