Tripura (,
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
: ) is a
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
in
Northeast India
, native_name_lang = mni
, settlement_type =
, image_skyline =
, image_alt =
, image_caption =
, motto =
, image_map = Northeast india.png
, ...
. The
third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a population of 36.71 lakh ( 3.67 million). It is bordered by
Assam
Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...
and
Mizoram
Mizoram () is a state in Northeast India, with Aizawl as its seat of government and capital city. The name of the state is derived from "Mizo people, Mizo", the endonym, self-described name of the native inhabitants, and "Ram", which in the Mizo ...
to the east and by
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
to the north, south and west. Tripura is divided into
8 districts and 23 sub-divisions, where
Agartala
Agartala () is the capital city of the Indian state of Tripura, and is one of the largest cities in northeast India. The city is governed by the Agartala Municipal Corporation. The city is the seat of the Government of Tripura. It is located on ...
is the capital and the largest city in the state. Tripura has 19 different tribal communities with a majority of the
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
population.
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
,
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
and
Kokborok
Kokborok (also known as Tripuri or Tiprakok) is the main native language of the Tripuri people of the Indian state of Tripura and neighbouring areas of Bangladesh. Its name comes from ''kok'' meaning "verbal" and ''borok'' meaning "people" or ...
are the state's official languages.
[
The area of modern Tripura — ruled for several centuries by the ]Manikya Dynasty
The Manikya dynasty was the ruling house of the Twipra Kingdom and later the princely Tripura State, what is now the Indian state of Tripura. Ruling since the early 15th century, the dynasty at its height controlled a large swathe of the north- ...
— was part of the Tripuri Kingdom
The Twipra Kingdom (Sanskrit: Tripura, Anglicized: Tippera) was one of the largest historical kingdoms of the Tripuri people in Northeast India.
Geography
The present political areas which were part of the Twipra Kingdom are:
* Barak Valley ( ...
(also known as Hill Tippera). It became a princely state
A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Raj, British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, ...
under the British Raj
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...
during its tenure, and acceded to independent India in 1947. It merged with India in 1949 and was designated as a 'Part C State' ( union territory). It became a full-fledged state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
of India in 1972.
Tripura lies in a geographically isolated location in India, as only one major highway, National Highway 8
The following highways are numbered 8. For roads numbered A8, see list of A8 roads. For roads numbered N8, see list of N8 roads.
Route 8, or Highway 8, may refer to:
International
* Asian Highway 8
* European route E08
* European route E008
...
, connects it with the rest of the country. Five mountain ranges — Hathai Kotor, Atharamura, Longtharai, Shakhan and Jampui Hills
Jampui Hills is a part of the Mizo hills (Lushai Hills) range located in the North Tripura district in the north eastern part of the Indian state of Tripura. The average altitude of the hill range is approximately 1000 metres above sea level.
...
— run north to south, with intervening valleys; Agartala
Agartala () is the capital city of the Indian state of Tripura, and is one of the largest cities in northeast India. The city is governed by the Agartala Municipal Corporation. The city is the seat of the Government of Tripura. It is located on ...
, the capital, is located on a plain to the west. The state has a tropical savanna climate
Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry winter) and ''As'' (for a dry summer). The driest month has less than of p ...
, and receives seasonal heavy rains from the south west monsoon.
Forests cover more than half of the area, in which bamboo
Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, bu ...
and cane
Cane or caning may refer to:
*Walking stick or walking cane, a device used primarily to aid walking
*Assistive cane, a walking stick used as a mobility aid for better balance
*White cane, a mobility or safety device used by many people who are b ...
tracts are common. Tripura has the highest number of primate
Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians (monkeys and apes, the latter including huma ...
species found in any Indian state. Due to its geographical isolation, economic progress in the state is hindered. Poverty and unemployment continue to plague Tripura, which has a limited infrastructure. Most residents are involved in agriculture and allied activities, although the service sector is the largest contributor to the state's gross domestic product.
According to the 2011 census, Tripura is one of the most literate states in India, with a literacy rate of 87.75%. Mainstream Indian cultural elements coexist with traditional practices of the ethnic groups, such as various dances to celebrate religious occasions, weddings and festivities; the use of locally crafted musical instruments and clothes; and the worship of regional deities. The sculptures at the archaeological sites Unakoti
Unkoti Hill is a sculptural emblem and ancient Shaivite place that hosts approx ''ninety-nine lakh ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine'' rock carvings figures and images of gods and goddesses. It is a place of worship with huge ...
, Pilak and Devtamura provide historical evidence of artistic fusion between organised and indigenous religions.
Etymology
The name Tripura is linked to the Hindu goddess Tripura Sundari
Tripura Sundari (Sanskrit: त्रिपुरा सुन्दरी, IAST: Tripura Sundarī), also known as Rajarajeshwari, Shodashi, Kamakshi, and Lalita is a Hindu goddess, worshipped as a principal aspect of supreme goddess Mahadevi m ...
, the presiding deity of the Tripura Sundari Temple
Tripura Sundari Temple is a Hindu temple of the Goddess Tripura Sundari, better known locally as ''Devi Tripureshwari''. The temple is situated in the ancient city of Udaipur, about 55 km from Agartala, Tripura and can be reached by train a ...
at Udaipur
Udaipur () (ISO 15919: ''Udayapura''), historically named as Udayapura, is a city and municipal corporation in Udaipur district of the state of Rajasthan, India. It is the administrative headquarter of Udaipur district. It is the historic capit ...
, one of the 51 ''Shakti Peethas
The Shakti Pitha or the Shakti Peethas ( sa, शक्ति पीठ, , ''seat of Shakti'') are significant shrines and pilgrimage destinations in Shaktism, the goddess-centric denomination in Hinduism. The shrines are dedicated to various fo ...
'' (pilgrimage centres of ''Shaktism
Shaktism ( sa, शाक्त, , ) is one of several major Hindu denominations, wherein the metaphysical reality is considered metaphorically a woman and Shakti ( Mahadevi) is regarded as the supreme godhead. It includes many goddesses, al ...
''), and to the legendary tyrant king Tripur, who reigned in the region. Tripur was the 39th descendant of Druhyu
This is a list of ancient Indo-Aryan peoples and tribes that are mentioned in the literature of Indic religions.
From the second or first millennium BCE, ancient Indo-Aryan peoples and tribes turned into most of the population in the northern p ...
, who belonged to the lineage of Yayati
Yayāti ( sa, ययाति, translit=Yayāti), is a king in Hindu tradition. He is described to be a Chandravamsha king. He is regarded to be the progenitor of the races of the Yadavas and the Pandavas.
He is considered in some texts to ...
, a king of the Lunar Dynasty
The Lunar dynasty (IAST: Candravaṃśa) is a legendary principal house of the Kshatriyas varna, or warrior–ruling caste mentioned in the ancient Indian texts. This legendary dynasty was said to be descended from moon-related deities (''Som ...
.
There are alternative theories regarding the origin of the name Tripura, such as a possible etymological reinterpretation to Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
of a Tibeto-Burman (Kokborok
Kokborok (also known as Tripuri or Tiprakok) is the main native language of the Tripuri people of the Indian state of Tripura and neighbouring areas of Bangladesh. Its name comes from ''kok'' meaning "verbal" and ''borok'' meaning "people" or ...
) name. Variants of the name include ''Tipra'', ''Tuipura'' and ''Tippera'', which can all denote the indigenous people inhabiting the area. A Kokborok etymology from ''tüi'' (water) and ''pra'' (near) has been suggested; the boundaries of Tripura extended to the Bay of Bengal
The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line between ...
when the kings of the Tipra Kingdom held sway from the Garo Hills
The Garo Hills (Pron: ˈgɑ:rəʊ) are part of the Garo-Khasi range in Meghalaya, India. They are inhabited by the Garo people. It is one of the wettest places in the world. The range is part of the Meghalaya subtropical forests ecoregion.
De ...
of Meghalaya
Meghalaya (, or , meaning "abode of clouds"; from Sanskrit , "cloud" + , "abode") is a states and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. Meghalaya was formed on 21 January 1972 by carving out two districts from the state of As ...
to Arakan
Arakan ( or ) is a historic coastal region in Southeast Asia. Its borders faced the Bay of Bengal to its west, the Indian subcontinent to its north and Burma proper to its east. The Arakan Mountains isolated the region and made it accessi ...
, the present Rakhine State of Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
; so the name may reflect vicinity to the sea.
History
Although there is no evidence of lower or middle Paleolithic
The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός ''palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone too ...
settlements in Tripura, Upper Paleolithic
The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Very broadly, it dates to between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago (the beginning of the Holocene), according to some theories coin ...
tools made of fossil wood have been found in the Haora
Howrah (, , alternatively spelled as Haora) is a city in the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. Howrah is located on the western bank of the Hooghly River opposite its twin city of Kolkata. Administratively it ...
and Khowai
Khowai is a town located in the Indian state of Tripura and a Municipal Council in Khowai district. The city lies on the banks of Khowai river and hence from the river the city gets its name. It was originally settled upon by Upendranath Roy. Lo ...
valleys. The Indian epic, the ''Mahabharata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...
''; ancient religious texts, the ''Purana
Purana (; sa, , '; literally meaning "ancient, old"Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature (1995 Edition), Article on Puranas, , page 915) is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics, particularly about legends an ...
s''; and the Edicts of Ashoka
The Edicts of Ashoka are a collection of more than thirty inscriptions on the Pillars of Ashoka, as well as boulders and cave walls, attributed to Emperor Ashoka of the Maurya Empire who reigned from 268 BCE to 232 BCE. Ashoka used the expres ...
– stone pillar inscriptions of the emperor Ashoka
Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, ...
dating from the third century BCE
Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the or ...
– all mention Tripura. An ancient name of Tripura (as mentioned in the Mahabharata) is ''Kirat Desh'' (English: "The land of Kirat"), probably referring to the Kirata Kingdom
Kirata Kingdom (Kirat) in Sanskrit literature and Hindu mythology refers to any kingdom of the Kirati people, who were dwellers mostly in the Himalayas (mostly eastern Himalaya). They took part in the Kurukshetra War along with Parvatas (mounta ...
s or the more generic term Kirata
The Kirāta ( sa, किरात) is a generic term in Sanskrit literature for people who had territory in the mountains, particularly in the Himalayas and Northeast India and who are believed to have been Sino-Tibetan in origin. The meaning o ...
. However, it is unclear whether the extent of modern Tripura is coterminous with ''Kirat Desh''. The region was under the rule of the Twipra Kingdom for centuries, but when this dynasty began is not documented. The ''Rajmala
''Rajmala'' is a chronicle of the Kings of Tripura, written in Bengali verse in the 15th century under Dharma Manikya I.
Overview
The ''Rajmala'' chronicles the history of the Manikya kings of Tripura. While it serves as an invaluable sou ...
'', a chronicle of Tripuri kings which was first written in the 15th century, provides a list of 179 kings, from antiquity up to Krishna Kishore Manikya (1830–1850), but it is not a reliable source.
The boundaries of the kingdom changed over the centuries. At various times, the borders reached south to the jungles of the Sundarbans
Sundarbans (pronounced ) is a mangrove area in the delta formed by the confluence of the Padma, Brahmaputra and Meghna Rivers in the Bay of Bengal. It spans the area from the Baleswar River in Bangladesh's division of Khulna to the Hooghly R ...
on the Bay of Bengal; east to Burma; and north to the boundary of the Kamarupa
Kamarupa (; also called Pragjyotisha or Pragjyotisha-Kamarupa), an early state during the Classical period on the Indian subcontinent, was (along with Davaka) the first historical kingdom of Assam.
Though Kamarupa prevailed from 350 to 11 ...
kingdom in Assam
Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...
. There were several Muslim invasions of the region from the 13th century onward, which culminated in Mughal dominance of the plains of the kingdom in 1733, although their rule never extended to the hill regions. The Mughals had influence over the appointment of the Tripuri kings.
Tripura became a princely state
A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Raj, British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, ...
during British rule in India
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...
. The kings had an estate in British India, known as ''Tippera district'' or Chakla Roshanbad (now the Comilla district
Comilla District, officially known as Cumilla District, is a district of Bangladesh located about 100 kilometres south east of Dhaka. Comilla is bordered by Brahmanbaria and Narayanganj districts to the north, Noakhali and Feni districts to t ...
of Bangladesh), in addition to the independent area known as ''Hill Tippera'', roughly corresponding to the present day Tripura state. Udaipur, in the south of Tripura, was the capital of the kingdom, until the king Krishna Manikya moved the capital to Old Agartala in the 18th century. It was moved to the new city of Agartala in the 19th century. Bir Chandra Manikya
Maharaja Bir Chandra Manikya Bahadur of the Manikya Dynasty was the king of Tripura from 1862 to 1896.
Biography
Bir Chandra Manikya is regarded as the architect of modern Agartala city. In 1862, he started the urbanisation of the Agartala. In ...
(1862–1896) modelled his administration on the pattern of British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
, and enacted reforms including the formation of Agartala Municipal Corporation.
Post-independence (1947-present)
Following the independence of India
The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947.
The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...
in 1947, Tippera district – the estate in the plains of British India – became Comilla
Comilla (; bn, কুমিল্লা, Kumillā, ), officially spelled Cumilla, is the fifth largest city of Bangladesh and second largest in Chittagong division. It is the administrative centre of the Comilla District. The name Comilla was ...
district of East Pakistan
East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Scheme, One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India ...
, and Hill Tippera remained under a regency council until 1949. The Maharani Regent of Tripura signed the Tripura Merger Agreement
The State of Tripura was one of the ancient princely states of India. According to the ''Rajmala'' (the ''Chronicles of Kings''), Tripura was ruled continuously by as many as 184 Tripuri Kings with sovereign and independent status prior to its ...
on 9 September 1949, making Tripura a Part C state of India. It became a Union Territory, without a legislature, in November 1956 and an elected ministry was installed in July 1963. It was conferred full statehood in 1971 by the North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) Act, 1971
The North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) Act, 1971 was a major reform of the boundaries of India's North-East region into States and union territories.
Effect of the changes
Source:
* Establishment of the states of Manipur and Tripura. The ...
. The geographic partition that coincided with the independence of India resulted in major economic and infrastructural setbacks for the state, as road transport between the state and the major cities of the newly-independent India had to follow a more circuitous route, around East Pakistan. The road distance between Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
and Agartala before the partition was less than , and increased to , as the route now avoided East Pakistan. The geopolitical isolation was aggravated by an absence of rail transport.
After the partition of India, many Bengali Hindus
Bengali Hindus ( bn, বাঙ্গালী হিন্দু/বাঙালি হিন্দু, translit=Bāṅgālī Hindu/Bāṅāli Hindu) are an ethnoreligious population who make up the majority in the Indian states of West Benga ...
migrated to Tripura as refugees fleeing religious persecution in Muslim-majority East Pakistan, especially after 1949. Settlement by Hindu Bengalis increased during the Bangladesh Liberation War
The Bangladesh Liberation War ( bn, মুক্তিযুদ্ধ, , also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, or simply the Liberation War in Bangladesh) was a revolution and War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Benga ...
of 1971. Parts of the state were shelled by the Pakistan Army
The Pakistan Army (, ) is the Army, land service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The roots of its modern existence trace back to the British Indian Army that ceased to exist following the partition of India, Partition of British India, wh ...
during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 was a military confrontation between India and Pakistan that occurred during the Bangladesh Liberation War in East Pakistan from 3 December 1971 until the
Pakistani capitulation in Dhaka on 16 Decem ...
. Following the war, the Indian government reorganised the North East region to ensure effective control of the international borders – three new states came into existence on 21 January 1972: Meghalaya, Manipur, and Tripura. Before independence, most of the population was indigenous. Ethnic strife between the Tripuri tribe and the predominantly immigrant Bengali community led to scattered violence, and an insurgency spanning decades, including occasional massacres such as the 1980 Mandai massacre. This gradually abated following the establishment of a tribal autonomous district council and the use of strategic counter-insurgency
Counterinsurgency (COIN) is "the totality of actions aimed at defeating irregular forces". The Oxford English Dictionary defines counterinsurgency as any "military or political action taken against the activities of guerrillas or revolutionar ...
operations. Tripura remains peaceful, as of 2016. In retaliation of the communal violence
Communal violence is a form of violence that is perpetrated across ethnic or communal lines, the violent parties feel solidarity for their respective groups, and victims are chosen based upon group membership. The term includes conflicts, riots ...
against the Hindu minority in neighboring Bangladesh, mosques in several areas in Tripura were attacked from 19 to 26 October 2021.
Geography
Tripura is a landlocked
A landlocked country is a country that does not have territory connected to an ocean or whose coastlines lie on endorheic basins. There are currently 44 landlocked countries and 4 landlocked de facto states. Kazakhstan is the world's largest ...
state in North East India
, native_name_lang = mni
, settlement_type =
, image_skyline =
, image_alt =
, image_caption =
, motto =
, image_map = Northeast india.png
, ...
, where the seven contiguous states – Arunachal Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh (, ) is a state in Northeastern India. It was formed from the erstwhile North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and became a state on 20 February 1987. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south. It shares int ...
, Assam
Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...
, Manipur
Manipur () ( mni, Kangleipak) is a state in Northeast India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. It is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west. It also borders two regions of Myanm ...
, Meghalaya
Meghalaya (, or , meaning "abode of clouds"; from Sanskrit , "cloud" + , "abode") is a states and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. Meghalaya was formed on 21 January 1972 by carving out two districts from the state of As ...
, Mizoram
Mizoram () is a state in Northeast India, with Aizawl as its seat of government and capital city. The name of the state is derived from "Mizo people, Mizo", the endonym, self-described name of the native inhabitants, and "Ram", which in the Mizo ...
, Nagaland
Nagaland () is a landlocked state in the northeastern region of India. It is bordered by the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh to the north, Assam to the west, Manipur to the south and the Sagaing Region of Myanmar to the east. Its capital cit ...
and Tripura – are collectively known as the Seven Sister States
, native_name_lang = mni
, settlement_type =
, image_skyline =
, image_alt =
, image_caption =
, motto =
, image_map = Northeast india.png
, ...
. Spread over , Tripura is the third-smallest among the 29 states in the country, behind Goa
Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...
and Sikkim
Sikkim (; ) is a state in Northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Province No. 1 of Nepal in the west and West Bengal in the south. Sikkim is also close to the Siligur ...
. It extends from 22°56'N to 24°32'N, and 91°09'E to 92°20'E. Its maximum extent measures about from north to south, and east to west. Tripura is bordered by the country of Bangladesh to the west, north and south; and the Indian states of Assam to the north east; and Mizoram to the east. It is accessible by national highways
National Highways, formerly the Highways Agency and later Highways England, is a State-owned enterprise, government-owned company charged with operating, maintaining and improving Roads in England, motorways and major A roads in England. It al ...
passing through the Karimganj district
Karimganj district is one of the 34 districts of the Indian state of Assam. Karimganj town is both the administrative headquarters district and the biggest town of this district. It is located in southern Assam and borders Tripura and the Sylh ...
of Assam and Mamit district
Mamit district is one of the eleven districts of Mizoram state in India. Mamit is located at the western part of Mizoram. It shares an international border with Bangladesh, divided by the Sajek river.
Mamit district has a very significance in t ...
of Mizoram.
Topography
The physiography is characterised by hill ranges, valleys and plains. The state has five anticlinal Anticlinal may refer to:
*Anticline, in structural geology, an anticline is a fold that is convex up and has its oldest beds at its core.
*Anticlinal, in stereochemistry, a torsion angle between 90° to 150°, and –90° to –150°; see Alkane_st ...
ranges of hills running north to south, from Boromura
Boromura (officially Hathai Kotor) is the name of the centrally located hill range in Tripura. It is situated mainly in West Tripura and South Tripura districts.
Many rivers originate from this hill range e.g. the Saidra and Sumli river that fl ...
in the west, through Atharamura, Longtharai and Shakhan, to the Jampui Hills
Jampui Hills is a part of the Mizo hills (Lushai Hills) range located in the North Tripura district in the north eastern part of the Indian state of Tripura. The average altitude of the hill range is approximately 1000 metres above sea level.
...
in the east. The intervening syncline
In structural geology, a syncline is a fold with younger layers closer to the center of the structure, whereas an anticline is the inverse of a syncline. A synclinorium (plural synclinoriums or synclinoria) is a large syncline with superimpose ...
s are the Agartala–Udaipur, Khowai–Teliamura, Kamalpur–Ambasa, Kailasahar–Manu and Dharmanagar–Kanchanpur valleys. At an altitude of , Betling Shib in the Jampui range is the state's highest point. The small isolated hillocks interspersed throughout the state are known as ''tillas'', and the narrow fertile alluvial valleys, mostly present in the west, are called ''Doóng/lungas''. A number of rivers originate in the hills of Tripura and flow into Bangladesh. The Khowai, Dhalai
Dhalai (pron: /ˈdʰɔlai/) is an administrative district in the state of Tripura in India. The district headquarter is in Ambassa. As of 2011 it was the least populous district of Tripura (out of 8), although it is the largest district in th ...
, Manu
Manu may refer to:
Geography
* Manú Province, a province of Peru, in the Madre de Dios Region
**Manú National Park, Peru
** Manú River, in southeastern Peru
* Manu River (Tripura), which originates in India and flows into Bangladesh
*Manu Tem ...
, Juri Juri, JURI or Jüri may refer to:
Law
* Dative singular case of Latin Jus
*Committee on Legal Affairs, committee of the European Parliament, known as JURI
Places
*Juri Upazila, subdistrict (''upazila'') in Maulvibazar District, Sylhet Division, ...
and Longai flow towards the north; the Gumti
The Gomti, Gumti or Gomati River is a tributary of the Ganges. According to beliefs, the river is the son of Rishi Vashistha, Vashishtha and bathing in the Gomti on Ekadashi (the 11th day of the two lunar phases of the Hindu calendar month) can ...
to the west; and the Muhuri and Feni to the south west.
The lithostratigraphy
Lithostratigraphy is a sub-discipline of stratigraphy, the geological science associated with the study of strata or rock layers. Major focuses include geochronology, comparative geology, and petrology.
In general, strata are primarily igneo ...
data published by the Geological Survey of India
The Geological Survey of India (GSI) is a scientific agency of India. It was founded in 1851, as a Government of India organization under the Ministry of Mines, one of the oldest of such organisations in the world and the second oldest survey ...
dates the rocks, on the geologic time scale
The geologic time scale, or geological time scale, (GTS) is a representation of time based on the rock record of Earth. It is a system of chronological dating that uses chronostratigraphy (the process of relating strata to time) and geochrono ...
, between the Oligocene
The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but the ...
epoch
In chronology and periodization, an epoch or reference epoch is an instant in time chosen as the origin of a particular calendar era. The "epoch" serves as a reference point from which time is measured.
The moment of epoch is usually decided by ...
, approximately 34 to 23 million years ago
A year or annus is the orbital period of a planetary body, for example, the Earth, moving in its orbit around the Sun. Due to the Earth's axial tilt, the course of a year sees the passing of the seasons, marked by change in weather, the hour ...
, and the Holocene
The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togethe ...
epoch, which started 12,000 years ago. The hills have red laterite
Laterite is both a soil and a rock type rich in iron and aluminium and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop by ...
soil that is porous. The flood plain
A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...
s and narrow valleys are overlain by alluvial soil, and those in the west and south constitute most of the agricultural land. According to the Bureau of Indian Standards
The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is the National Standards Body of India under Department of Consumer affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Government of India. It is established by the Bureau of Indian Standar ...
, on a scale ranging from in order of increasing susceptibility to earthquakes, the state lies in seismic zone V.
Climate
The state has a tropical savanna climate
Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry winter) and ''As'' (for a dry summer). The driest month has less than of p ...
, designated ''Aw'' under the Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
. The undulating topography leads to local variations, particularly in the hill ranges. The four main seasons are winter, from December to February; pre-monsoon or summer, from March to April; monsoon, from May to September; and post-monsoon, from October to November. During the monsoon season, the south west monsoon brings heavy rains, which cause frequent floods. The average annual rainfall between 1995 and 2006 ranged from . During winter, temperatures range from , while in the summer they fall between . According to a United Nations Development Programme
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...
report, the state lies in "very high damage risk" zone from wind and cyclones.
Flora and fauna
Like most of the Indian subcontinent, Tripura lies within the Indomalayan realm
The Indomalayan realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms. It extends across most of South and Southeast Asia and into the southern parts of East Asia.
Also called the Oriental realm by biogeographers, Indomalaya spreads all over the Indi ...
. According to the Biogeographic classification of India, the state is in the "North-East" biogeographic zone. In 2011 forests covered 57.73% of the state. Tripura hosts three different types of ecosystems: mountain, forest and freshwater. The evergreen forest
An evergreen forest is a forest made up of evergreen trees. They occur across a wide range of climatic zones, and include trees such as conifers and holly in cold climates, eucalyptus, Live oak, acacias, magnolia, and banksia in more temperate zone ...
s on the hill slopes and the sandy river banks are dominated by species such as ''Dipterocarpus
'' D. retusus'' in Köhler
''Dipterocarpus'' is a genus of flowering plants and the type genus of family Dipterocarpaceae.
''Dipterocarpus'' is the third-largest and most diverse genus among the Dipterocarpaceae. The species are well known for ...
'', ''Artocarpus
''Artocarpus'' is a genus of approximately 60 trees and shrubs of Southeast Asian and Pacific origin, belonging to the mulberry family, Moraceae. Most species of ''Artocarpus'' are restricted to Southeast Asia; a few cultivated species are more w ...
'', ''Amoora
''Aglaia'' is a genus of 117 species of woody dioecious trees belonging to the Mahogany family (Meliaceae). These trees occur in the subtropical and tropical forests of Southeast Asia, Northern Australia and the Pacific.
Some species are impo ...
'', ''Elaeocarpus
''Elaeocarpus'' is a genus of nearly five hundred species of flowering plants in the family Elaeocarpaceae native to the Western Indian Ocean, Tropical and Subtropical Asia, and the Pacific. Plants in the genus ''Elaeocarpus'' are trees or shrubs ...
'', ''Syzygium
''Syzygium'' () is a genus of flowering plants that belongs to the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. The genus comprises about 1200 species, and has a native range that extends from Africa and Madagascar through southern Asia east through the Pacific. I ...
'' and ''Eugenia
''Eugenia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the myrtle family Myrtaceae. It has a worldwide, although highly uneven, distribution in tropical and subtropical regions. The bulk of the approximately 1,100 species occur in the New World tropics, ...
''. Two types of moist deciduous forests comprise the majority of the vegetation: moist deciduous mixed forest and Sal (''Shorea robusta
''Shorea robusta'', the sal tree, sāla, shala, sakhua, or sarai, is a species of tree in the family Dipterocarpaceae. The tree is native to India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Tibet and across the Himalayan regions .
Evolution
Fossil evidence from lig ...
'')-predominant forest. The interspersion of bamboo
Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, bu ...
and cane
Cane or caning may refer to:
*Walking stick or walking cane, a device used primarily to aid walking
*Assistive cane, a walking stick used as a mobility aid for better balance
*White cane, a mobility or safety device used by many people who are b ...
forests with deciduous and evergreen flora is a peculiarity of Tripura's vegetation. Grassland
A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur natur ...
s and swamp
A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...
s are also present, particularly in the plains. Herbaceous plant
Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials.
Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous"
The fourth edition of t ...
s, shrubs, and trees such as ''Albizia
''Albizia'' is a genus of more than 160 species of mostly fast-growing subtropical and tropical trees and shrubs in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae. The genus is pantropical, occurring in Asia, Africa, Madagascar, America and A ...
'', ''Barringtonia
''Barringtonia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Lecythidaceae first described as a genus with this name in 1775. It is native to Africa, southern Asia, Australia, and various islands of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The genus name ...
'', ''Lagerstroemia
''Lagerstroemia'' (), commonly known as crape myrtle (also spelled crepe myrtle or crêpe myrtle), is a genus of around 50 species of deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs native to the Indian subcontinent, southeast Asia, northern Australia ...
'' and ''Macaranga
''Macaranga'' is a large genus of Old World tropical trees of the family Euphorbiaceae and the only genus in the subtribe Macaranginae (tribe Acalypheae). Native to Africa, Australasia, Asia and various islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, ...
'' flourish in the swamps of Tripura. Shrubs and grasses include ''Schumannianthus dichotoma
''Schumannianthus dichotomus'', also known as 'cool mat', was first described by Roxburgh, with its current name after Gagnepain. The plant belongs to the family Marantaceae and no subspecies are listed.
''S. dichotomus'' is typically found in ...
'' (''shitalpati''), ''Phragmites
''Phragmites'' () is a genus of four species of large perennial reed grasses found in wetlands throughout temperate and tropical regions of the world.
Taxonomy
The World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, maintained by Kew Garden in London ...
'' and ''Saccharum
''Saccharum'' is a genus of tall perennial plants of the broomsedge tribe within the grass family.
The genus is widespread across tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate regions in Africa, Eurasia, Australia, the Americas, and assorted ocean ...
'' (sugarcane).
According to a survey in 1989–90, Tripura hosts 90 land mammal species from 65 genera and 10 orders, including such species as elephant (''Elephas maximus''), bear (''Melursus ursinus''), binturong (''Arctictis binturong
The binturong (''Arctictis binturong'') (, ), also known as the bearcat, is a viverrid native to South and Southeast Asia. It is uncommon in much of its range, and has been assessed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because of a declining popu ...
''), wild dog (''Cuon alpinus
The dhole (''Cuon alpinus''; ) is a canid native to Central, South, East and Southeast Asia. Other English names for the species include Asian wild dog, Asiatic wild dog, Indian wild dog, whistling dog, red dog, red wolf, and mountain wolf. It ...
''), porcupine ('' Artherurus assamensis''), barking deer (''Muntiacus muntjak
The Indian muntjac or the common muntjac (''Muntiacus muntjak''), also called the southern red muntjac and barking deer, is a deer species native to South and Southeast Asia. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. In popular local ...
''), sambar (''Cervus unicolor
The sambar (''Rusa unicolor'') is a large deer native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia that is listed as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List since 2008. Populations have declined substantially due to severe hunting, local ins ...
''), wild boar (''Sus scrofa
The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is no ...
''), gaur (''Bos gaurus
The gaur (''Bos gaurus''; ), also known as the Indian bison, is a bovine native to South Asia and Southeast Asia, and has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1986. The global population was estimated at a maximum of 21,000 m ...
''), leopard (''Panthera pardus
The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus ''Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, an ...
''), clouded leopard (''Neofelis nebulosa
The clouded leopard (''Neofelis nebulosa''), also called the mainland clouded leopard, is a wild cat inhabiting dense forests from the foothills of the Himalayas through mainland Southeast Asia into South China. In the early 19th century, a cl ...
''), and many species of small cats and primates. Out of 15 free ranging primates of India, seven are found in Tripura; this is the highest number of primate species found in any Indian state. The wild buffalo (''Bubalus arnee
The wild water buffalo (''Bubalus arnee''), also called Asian buffalo, Asiatic buffalo and wild buffalo, is a large bovine native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It has been listed as ''Endangered'' in the IUCN Red List since 198 ...
'') is extinct now. There are nearly 300 species of birds in the state.
Wildlife sanctuaries
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or o ...
of the state are Sipahijola, Gumti
The Gomti, Gumti or Gomati River is a tributary of the Ganges. According to beliefs, the river is the son of Rishi Vashistha, Vashishtha and bathing in the Gomti on Ekadashi (the 11th day of the two lunar phases of the Hindu calendar month) can ...
, Rowa
Rowa is a Village development committee (Nepal), village development committee in Mugu District in the Karnali Zone of north-western Nepal. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census it had a population of 2771 people living in 523 individual household ...
and Trishna wildlife sanctuaries. National parks
A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual ...
of the state are Clouded Leopard National Park and Rajbari National Park. These protected areas cover a total of . Gumti is also an Important Bird Area
An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations.
IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...
. In winter, thousands of migratory waterfowl throng Gumti and Rudrasagar lakes.
Administrative divisions
In January 2012, major changes were implemented in the administrative divisions of Tripura. There had previously been four districts – Dhalai
Dhalai (pron: /ˈdʰɔlai/) is an administrative district in the state of Tripura in India. The district headquarter is in Ambassa. As of 2011 it was the least populous district of Tripura (out of 8), although it is the largest district in th ...
(headquarters Ambassa
Ambassa (pron: /আমবাসা/) is a census town located in the Indian state of Tripura a Municipal Council in Dhalai district. Ambassa is also the headquarters of the Dhalai district.
Demographics
India census, Ambassa had a populati ...
), North Tripura
North Tripura is an administrative district in the state of Tripura in India. The district headquarters are located at Dharmanagar. The district occupies an area of 1422.19 km² and has a population of 693,947 (as of 2011).
History
The t ...
(headquarters Kailashahar
Kailashahar (or Kôilāśohôr) is the fourth largest urban area in the north eastern state of India, Tripura, located near northwest Bangladesh border. It is a Municipal council and the administrative center of the Unakoti district, this city ...
), South Tripura
South Tripura ( bn, দক্ষিণ ত্রিপুরা জেলা) is an administrative district in the state of Tripura in northeastern India.
History
The district came into existence on 1 September 1970, when the entire state was ...
(headquarters Udaipur, Tripura
Udaipur ( Pron:/uːˈdaɪpʊə or ˈuːdaɪˌpʊə/), formerly known as Rangamati, is the third biggest urban area in the Indian state of Tripura. The town was a capital of the state during the reign of the Manikya Dynasty. It is famous for th ...
), and West Tripura
West Tripura is an administrative district in the state of Tripura in India. The district headquarters are located at Agartala. As of 2012 it is the most populous district of Tripura (out of 8).
Geography
Climate
District Profile
The inform ...
(headquarters Agartala
Agartala () is the capital city of the Indian state of Tripura, and is one of the largest cities in northeast India. The city is governed by the Agartala Municipal Corporation. The city is the seat of the Government of Tripura. It is located on ...
). Four new districts were carved out of the existing four in January 2012 – Khowai
Khowai is a town located in the Indian state of Tripura and a Municipal Council in Khowai district. The city lies on the banks of Khowai river and hence from the river the city gets its name. It was originally settled upon by Upendranath Roy. Lo ...
, Unakoti
Unkoti Hill is a sculptural emblem and ancient Shaivite place that hosts approx ''ninety-nine lakh ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine'' rock carvings figures and images of gods and goddesses. It is a place of worship with huge ...
, Sipahijala and Gomati. Six new subdivisions and five new blocks were also added. Each is governed by a district collector
A District Collector-cum-District Magistrate (also known as Deputy Commissioner in some states) is an All India Service officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) cadre who is responsible for ''land revenue collection'', ''canal reven ...
or a district magistrate, usually appointed by the Indian Administrative Service
The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. Considered the premier civil service of India, the IAS is one of the three arms of the All India Services along with the Indian ...
. The subdivisions of each district are governed by a sub-divisional magistrate and each subdivision is further divided into blocks. The blocks consist of ''Panchayat
The Panchayat raj is a political system, originating from the Indian subcontinent, found mainly in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. It is the oldest system of local government in the Indian subcontinent, and historical ment ...
''s (village councils) and town municipalities. As of 2012, the state had eight districts, 23 subdivisions and 58 development blocks. National census and state statistical reports are not available for all the new administrative divisions, as of March 2013. Agartala
Agartala () is the capital city of the Indian state of Tripura, and is one of the largest cities in northeast India. The city is governed by the Agartala Municipal Corporation. The city is the seat of the Government of Tripura. It is located on ...
, the capital of Tripura, is the most populous city. Other major towns with a population of 10,000 or more (as per 2015 census) are Sabroom
Sabroom ( bn, সাব্রুম) is a town and a Nagar Panchayat on South Tripura district in the Indian state of Tripura. It is located on the banks of the Feni River, which separates India and Bangladesh. Most of the people speak Noakhaill ...
, Dharmanagar
Dharmanagar or (''Dhôrmônôgôr'') is a town with a municipal council in the northeast of India. It is the administrative center for North Tripura district, located in the northernmost region of the state near the Assam border on the west and ...
, Jogendranagar, Kailashahar
Kailashahar (or Kôilāśohôr) is the fourth largest urban area in the north eastern state of India, Tripura, located near northwest Bangladesh border. It is a Municipal council and the administrative center of the Unakoti district, this city ...
, Pratapgarh, Udaipur
Udaipur () (ISO 15919: ''Udayapura''), historically named as Udayapura, is a city and municipal corporation in Udaipur district of the state of Rajasthan, India. It is the administrative headquarter of Udaipur district. It is the historic capit ...
, Amarpur, Belonia, Gandhigram, Kumarghat
Kumarghat is a town and subdivision in Unakoti district in Tripura, India. It is a municipal council and the 14th largest town in Tripura by population. Kumarghat railway station is the only railway station in Unakoti district.
Demographics
As ...
, Khowai
Khowai is a town located in the Indian state of Tripura and a Municipal Council in Khowai district. The city lies on the banks of Khowai river and hence from the river the city gets its name. It was originally settled upon by Upendranath Roy. Lo ...
, Ranirbazar, Sonamura
Sonamura is a town and a Nagar Panchayat in the Indian state of Tripura. It is the headquarter of Sonamura Subdivision in Sipahijala district and lies on the border with Bangladesh to the east of Comilla.
Demographics
As of the 2011 India cen ...
, Bishalgarh
Bishalgarh is a major town located in the Indian state of Tripura & a Municipal Council in Sipahijala district. As of 2001 census Bishalgarh has a population of 23,721. 12,248 people are male. 11,473 are female.
See also
* List of cities and to ...
, Teliamura
Teliamura is a town and a Municipal Council in Khowai district in the Indian state of Tripura. It is on National Highway No. 08 of India. It is also the headquarters of the recently included sub-division of Teliamura. It is 45 km from Aga ...
, Mohanpur, Melaghar
Melaghar is a small town located in the India, Indian States and territories of India, state of Tripura and a Municipal Council in Sipahijala district, situated about 50 km (approx. 30 miles) from the capital Agartala. It is a neighbour to ...
, Ambassa
Ambassa (pron: /আমবাসা/) is a census town located in the Indian state of Tripura a Municipal Council in Dhalai district. Ambassa is also the headquarters of the Dhalai district.
Demographics
India census, Ambassa had a populati ...
, Kamalpur, Bishramganj, Kathaliya, Santirbazar
Santirbazar is a town and Municipal Council in South Tripura district, Tripura, India. It is linked with Agartala (the state capital) by National Highway 8 (India), National Highway 8 via Udaipur, Tripura, Udaipur and Bishramganj to Sabroom.
Geo ...
and Baxanagar.
Government and politics
Tripura is governed through a parliamentary system
A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...
of representative democracy
Representative democracy, also known as indirect democracy, is a type of democracy where elected people represent a group of people, in contrast to direct democracy. Nearly all modern Western-style democracies function as some type of represen ...
, a feature it shares with other Indian states. Universal suffrage
Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political stanc ...
is granted to residents. The Tripura government has three branches: executive, legislature and judiciary. The Tripura Legislative Assembly
The Tripura Legislative Assembly or Tripura Vidhan Sabha is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Tripura, with 60 Members of the Legislative Assembly. The present Assembly is located in Gurkhabasti. Ujjayanta Palace in Agartala ser ...
consists of elected members and special office bearers that are elected by the members. Assembly meetings are presided over by the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker in case of Speaker's absence. The Assembly is unicameral
Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one.
Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multic ...
with 60 Members of the Legislative Assembly
A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. S ...
(MLA). The members are elected for a term of five years, unless the Assembly is dissolved prior to the completion of the term. The judiciary
The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...
is composed of the Tripura High Court
The Tripura High Court is the High Court of the state of Tripura. It was established on 23 March 2013, after making suitable amendments in the Constitution of India and North-Eastern Areas (Re-organisation) Act, 1971. The seat of the High Cou ...
and a system of lower courts. Executive authority
The Executive, also referred as the Executive branch or Executive power, is the term commonly used to describe that part of government which enforces the law, and has overall responsibility for the governance of a state.
In political systems b ...
is vested in the Council of Ministers headed by the Chief Minister
A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...
. The Governor, the titular head of state
A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and l ...
, is appointed by the President of India
The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Murmu ...
. The leader of the party or a coalition of parties with a majority in the Legislative Assembly is appointed as the chief minister by the governor. The Council of Ministers are appointed by the governor on the advice of the chief minister. The Council of Ministers reports to the Legislative Assembly.
Tripura sends two representatives to the Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...
(the lower house
A lower house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has co ...
of the parliament of India
The Parliament of India (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameralism, bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the R ...
) and one representative to the Rajya Sabha
The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...
(parliament's upper house
An upper house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.''Bicameralism'' (1997) by George Tsebelis The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smalle ...
). In the 2014 Indian general election
General elections were held in India in nine phases from 7 April to 12 May 2014 to elect the members of the 16th Lok Sabha. With 834 million registered voters, they were the largest-ever elections in the world until being surpassed by the 2019 ...
, both parliament lower house seats were won by the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist communist List of political parties in India, political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in term ...
. ''Panchayats'' ( local self-governments) elected by local body elections are present in many villages for self-governance. Tripura also has a unique tribal self-governance body, the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council
The Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) is an autonomous district council administering the Tipra-dominated areas of the state of Tripura, India. Its council and assembly are situated in Khumulwng, a town 26 km away ...
. This council is responsible for some aspects of local governance in 527 villages with high density of the scheduled tribes.
The main political parties are the Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...
(BJP), the Left Front, the All India Trinamool Congress
The All India Trinamool Congress (English: All India Grassroots Congress; AITC), colloquially the Trinamool Congress ( TMC) is an Indian political party which is predominantly active in West Bengal. The party is led by Mamata Banerjee, the cur ...
and Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...
along with regional parties like the IPFT and INPT. Until 1977, the state was governed by the Indian National Congress. The Left Front was in power from 1978 to 1988, and then again from 1993 to 2018. In 1988–93, the Congress and Tripura Upajati Juba Samiti
Tripura Upajati Juba Samiti ("Tripura Tribal Youth Association") was a political party in the Indian state of Tripura from 1977–2001. During 1988-93, the Indian National Congress formed a coalition government with the TUJS at the Tripura Legisl ...
were in a ruling coalition. In the 2013 Tripura Legislative Assembly election
The 2013 Tripura Legislative Assembly election took place in a single phase on 14 February to elect the Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from each of the 60 Assembly Constituencies (ACs) in Tripura, India.
Highlights
Election to th ...
, the Left Front won 50 out of 60 seats in the Assembly. The 2018 assembly election resulted in loss for the Left Front; the Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...
won an overall majority in the state, resulting in the end of the Communist Party's uninterrupted twenty-five year rule. The BJP
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...
won 44 out of 60 seats in the Assembly by coalition with the IPFT. The CPI (M)
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxist–Leninist communist political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in terms of membership and electoral seats and one of the nat ...
only got 16 seats and Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...
lost by huge margins in all constituencies.
Communism in the state had its beginnings in the pre-independence era, inspired by freedom struggle activities in Bengal
Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...
, and culminating in regional parties with communist leanings. It capitalised on the tribal dissatisfaction with the mainstream rulers, and has been noted for connection with the "sub-national or ethnic searches for identity".
Since the 1990s, there has been an ongoing irredentist
Irredentism is usually understood as a desire that one state annexes a territory of a neighboring state. This desire is motivated by ethnic reasons (because the population of the territory is ethnically similar to the population of the parent sta ...
Tripura rebellion
The insurgency in Tripura was an armed conflict which took place in the state of Tripura between India and several separatist rebel organisations. It was a part of the wider insurgency in Northeast India and was fueled by Tripuris.
Backgroun ...
, involving militant outfits such as the National Liberation Front of Tripura
The National Liberation Front of Tripura (abbreviated NLFT) is a Tripuri nationalist militant organisation based in Tripura, India. It has an estimated 550 to 850 members.
The NLFT seeks to secede from India and establish an independent Tripu ...
and the All Tripura Tiger Force
The All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) was a Tripuri nationalist militant group active in India's Tripura State. It was founded on 11 July 1990, by a group of former Tripura National Volunteer members under the leadership of Ranjit Debbarma. Th ...
(ATTF); terrorist
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
incidents involving the ATTF claimed a recorded number of 389 victims in the seven-year period from 1993 to 2000. The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA) was first enforced in Tripura on 16 February 1997 when terrorism was at its peak in the state. Ever since then, the Act, as per its provisions, was reviewed and extended every six months. However, in view of the improvement in the situation and fewer terrorist activities being reported, the Tripura government in June 2013 reduced operational areas of the AFSPA to 30 police station areas. The last six-month extension to AFSPA was given in November 2014, and after about 18 years of operation, it was repealed on 29 May 2015.
Economy
Tripura's gross state domestic product for 2022-23 was at constant price (2022-23), recording 10.38% growth over the previous year. In the same period, the GDP of India was , with a growth rate of 8.55%. Annual per capita income at current price of the state was , compared to the national per capita income . In 2009, the tertiary sector of the economy
The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the second ...
(service industries) was the largest contributor to the gross domestic product of the state, contributing 53.98 percent of the state's economy compared to 23.07 percent from the primary sector
The primary sector of the economy includes any industry involved in the extraction and production of raw materials, such as farming, logging, fishing, forestry and mining.
The primary sector tends to make up a larger portion of the economy in de ...
(agriculture, forestry, mining) and 22.95 percent from the secondary sector
In macroeconomics, the secondary sector of the economy is an economic sector in the three-sector theory that describes the role of manufacturing. It encompasses industries that produce a finished, usable product or are involved in construction. ...
(industrial and manufacturing). According to the Economic Census of 2005, after agriculture, the maximum number of workers were engaged in retail trade (28.21% of total non-agricultural workforce), followed by manufacturing (18.60%), public administration (14.54%), and education (14.40%).
Tripura is an agrarian state with more than half of the population dependent on agriculture and allied activities. However, due to hilly terrain and forest cover, only 27% of the land is available for cultivation. Rice, the major crop of the state, is cultivated in 91% of the cropped area. According to the Directorate of Economics & Statistics, Government of Tripura, in 2009–10, potato, sugarcane
Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with ...
, mesta
The ''Mesta'' () was a powerful association protecting livestock owners and their animals in the Crown of Castile that was incorporated in the 13th century and was dissolved in 1836. Although best known for its organisation of the annual migrat ...
, pulse
In medicine, a pulse represents the tactile arterial palpation of the cardiac cycle (heartbeat) by trained fingertips. The pulse may be palpated in any place that allows an artery to be compressed near the surface of the body, such as at the nec ...
s and jute
Jute is a long, soft, shiny bast fiber that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. It is produced from flowering plants in the genus ''Corchorus'', which is in the mallow family Malvaceae. The primary source of the fiber is ''Corchorus olit ...
were the other major crops cultivated in the state. Jackfruit
The jackfruit (''Artocarpus heterophyllus''), also known as jack tree, is a species of tree in the fig, mulberry, and breadfruit family (Moraceae). Its origin is in the region between the Western Ghats of southern India, all of Bangladesh, ...
and pineapple top the list of horticultural products. Traditionally, most of the indigenous population practised ''jhum
The traditional shifting cultivation farming technique of indigenous communities and Bengalis in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh and nearby regions in Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, and Nagaland in India is known as jhum cultivation.
Tec ...
'' method (a type of slash-and-burn
Slash-and-burn agriculture is a farming method that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a field called a swidden. The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody plants in an area. The downed vegeta ...
) of cultivation. The number of people dependent on ''jhum'' has declined over the years.
Pisciculture
upright=1.3, Salmon farming in the sea (mariculture) at Loch Ainort, Isle of Skye">mariculture.html" ;"title="Salmon farming in the sea (mariculture">Salmon farming in the sea (mariculture) at Loch Ainort, Isle of Skye, Scotland
Fish farming or ...
has made significant advances in the state. At the end of 2009–10, the state produced a surplus of 104.3 million fish seeds, primarily carp
Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish from the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. While carp is consumed in many parts of the world, they are generally considered an invasive species in parts of ...
. Rubber and tea are the important cash crops of the state. Tripura ranks second to Kerala in the production of natural rubber in the country. The state is known for its handicraft
A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...
, particularly hand-woven cotton fabric, wood carvings, and bamboo products. High quality timber including sal, garjan
Garjan ( fa, گرجان, also Romanized as Garjān) is a village in Sardabeh Rural District, in the Central District of Ardabil County, Ardabil Province, Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Pers ...
, teak
Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters (panicl ...
and gamar are found abundantly in the forests of Tripura. Tata Trusts signed a pact with Government of Tripura in July 2015 to improve fisheries and dairy in the state.
The industrial sector of the state continues to be highly underdeveloped – brickfields A brickfield is an open site where bricks are made. Place names are often formed from the word.
Brickfield, Brickfields or Brickfielder may specifically refer to:
Australia
*Brickfielder, an arid wind
* Brickfield Hill, an area of Sydney
*Brickfie ...
and tea industry are the only two organised sectors. Tripura has considerable reservoirs of natural gas. According to estimates by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation
The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is a central public sector undertaking under the ownership of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India. It is headquartered in New Delhi. ONGC was founded on 14 August 1956 by the ...
(ONGC), the state has 400 billion metres3 reserves of natural gas, with 16 billion metres3 is recoverable. ONGC produced 480 million metres3 natural gas in the state, in 2006–07. In 2011 and 2013, new large discoveries of natural gas were announced by ONGC. Tourism industry in the state is growing – the revenue earned in tourism sector crossed for the first time in 2009–10, and surpassed in 2010–11. Although Bangladesh is in a trade deficit
The balance of trade, commercial balance, or net exports (sometimes symbolized as NX), is the difference between the monetary value of a nation's exports and imports over a certain time period. Sometimes a distinction is made between a balance ...
with India, its export to Tripura is significantly more than import from the state; a report in the newspaper ''The Hindu'' estimated Bangladesh exported commodities valued at about to the state in 2012, as opposed to "very small quantity" of import. Alongside legal international trade, unofficial and informal cross-border trade is rampant. In a research paper published by the Institute of Developing Economies
Institute of Developing Economies (IDE; アジア経済研究所) is a semi-governmental research institute under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and the largest institute on social science in Japan. Current status is a body of the Ja ...
in 2004, the dependence of Tripura's economy on that of Bangladesh was emphasised.
The economy of Tripura can be characterised by the high rate of poverty, low capital formation, inadequate infrastructure facilities, geographical isolation and communication bottlenecks, inadequate exploration and use of forest and mineral resources, slow industrialisation and high unemployment. More than 50% of the population depends on agriculture for sustaining their livelihood. However agriculture and allied activities contribution to Gross State Domestic Production (GSDP) is only 23%, this is primarily because of low capital base in the sector. Despite the inherent limitation and constraints coupled with severe resource shortages for investing in basic infrastructure, this has brought consistency progress in the quality of life and income of people cutting across all sections of society. The state government through its Tripura Industrial Policy and Tripura Industrial Incentives Scheme, 2012, has offered heavy subsidies in capital investment and transport, preferences in government procurement, waivers in tender processes and fees, yet the impact has not been much significant beyond a few industries being set up in the Bodhjungnagar Industrial Growth Center.
The Planning Commission estimates the poverty rate of all North East Indian states by using headcount ratio of Assam (the second largest state in North East India after Arunachal Pradesh). According to 2001 Planning Commission assessment, 22 percent of Tripura's rural residents were below the poverty line. However, Tripura government's independent assessment, based on consumption distribution data, reported that, in 2001, 55 percent of the rural population was below the poverty line. Geographic isolation and communication bottlenecks coupled with insufficient infrastructure have restricted economic growth of the state. High rate of poverty and unemployment continues to be prevalent.
Transport
Air
Maharaja Bir Bikram Airport
Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya Airport (IATA: IXA, ICAO: VEAT), which is used to known as Agartala Airport,is an international airport situated 12 kilometres (7 miles) northwest of Agartala, the capital of Tripura. It is administered by t ...
, located 12 km northwest of Agartala at Singerbhil, is the second busiest airport in northeast India after Guwahati. There are direct flights to Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
, Imphal
Imphal ( Meitei pronunciation: /im.pʰal/; English pronunciation: ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Manipur. The metropolitan centre of the city contains the ruins of Kangla Palace (also known as Kangla Fort), the royal seat of the fo ...
, Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
, Shillong
Shillong () is a hill station and the capital of Meghalaya, a Indian state, state in northeastern India, which means "The Abode of Clouds". It is the headquarters of the East Khasi Hills district. Shillong is the list of most populous cities in ...
, Guwahati
Guwahati (, ; formerly rendered Gauhati, ) is the biggest city of the Indian state of Assam and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the ...
, Bangalore
Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...
, Dibrugarh
Dibrugarh (pron: ˌdɪbru:ˈgɑ:) is an industrial city in Upper Assam with sprawling tea gardens. It is located 435 kms East from the state capital of Dispur. It serves as the headquarters of Dibrugarh district in the state of Assam in ...
, Aizawl
Aizawl (; Mizo: ) is the capital of the state of Mizoram in India. Aizawl was officially established on 25 February 1890. With a population of 293,416, it is the largest city in the state. It is also the centre of administration containing all ...
, Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad ( ; Gujarati: Amdavad ) is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 (per t ...
and Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
. The major airlines are flybig
flybig is a regional airline based in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India. It is promoted by Gurugram-based Big Charter Private Limited. The airline began operations in December 2020 and is focused on connecting tier-2 cities within India.
History
Th ...
, Air India
Air India is the flag carrier airline of India, headquartered at New Delhi. It is owned by Talace Private Limited, a Special-Purpose Vehicle (SPV) of Tata Sons, after Air India Limited's former owner, the Government of India, completed the sa ...
and IndiGo
Indigo is a deep color close to the color wheel blue (a primary color in the RGB color space), as well as to some variants of ultramarine, based on the ancient dye of the same name. The word "indigo" comes from the Latin word ''indicum'', m ...
. Passenger helicopter services are available between the capital and major towns (Kailashahar, Dharmanagar) as well as to more remote areas such as Kanchanpur, Belonia and Gandacherra.
Railway
Agartala, came on India's railway map with the advent of the railways in the subcontinent
A continent is any of several large landmasses. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven geographical regions are commonly regarded as continents. Ordered from largest in area to smallest, these seven ...
in 1853 but the link was broken when India was partitioned in 1947. Railway service was established in Tripura in 1964 by constructing track from Lumding
Lumding (Pron:/lʌmˈdɪŋ/) is a city with municipal board in Hojai district in the Indian state of Assam.
Etymology
The word 'Lumding' owes its roots to a couple of Dimasa words 'Lama' and 'Ding' connoting 'straight pathway'. The word ''Lu ...
in Assam to Dharmanagar
Dharmanagar or (''Dhôrmônôgôr'') is a town with a municipal council in the northeast of India. It is the administrative center for North Tripura district, located in the northernmost region of the state near the Assam border on the west and ...
and Kailasahar in Tripura but the track did not connect the state capital Agartala. Rail transport was absent in the state until 2008–09 when the railway track was extended to the capital Agartala. The metre gauge rail track was connected to broad gauge at Lumding. The major railway stations in this line are in Agartala, Dharmanagar
Dharmanagar or (''Dhôrmônôgôr'') is a town with a municipal council in the northeast of India. It is the administrative center for North Tripura district, located in the northernmost region of the state near the Assam border on the west and ...
, and Kumarghat
Kumarghat is a town and subdivision in Unakoti district in Tripura, India. It is a municipal council and the 14th largest town in Tripura by population. Kumarghat railway station is the only railway station in Unakoti district.
Demographics
As ...
. This metre gauge track was converted to broad gauge in 2016 and now trains run from Agartala to Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
and Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
. The total length of this railway track in Tripura state is 153 km. It is a single line without electrification. The Agartala sabroom line was compled and fully operational since 2019.
A new railway line is being laid westwards from Agartala
Agartala () is the capital city of the Indian state of Tripura, and is one of the largest cities in northeast India. The city is governed by the Agartala Municipal Corporation. The city is the seat of the Government of Tripura. It is located on ...
to Akhaura in Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
. This will reduce the distance between Agartala
Agartala () is the capital city of the Indian state of Tripura, and is one of the largest cities in northeast India. The city is governed by the Agartala Municipal Corporation. The city is the seat of the Government of Tripura. It is located on ...
and Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
by over 1000 km and provide rail access to Chittagong port.
Some major Express trains operated from Agartala
Agartala () is the capital city of the Indian state of Tripura, and is one of the largest cities in northeast India. The city is governed by the Agartala Municipal Corporation. The city is the seat of the Government of Tripura. It is located on ...
are -
Agartala–Anand Vihar Terminal Rajdhani Express, Agartala - Anand Vihar Terminal Rajdhani Express
* Bangalore Cantonment–Agartala Humsafar Express, Agartala - Bengaluru Cantonment Humsafar Express
* Tripura Sundari Express, Agartala - Firozpur Cantonment Tripura Sundari Express
* Sealdah–Agartala Kanchanjunga Express, Agartala - Sealdah Kanchanjunga Express
* Deoghar–Agartala Weekly Express, Agartala - Deoghar Weekly Express
* Agartala–Silchar Passenger, Agartala - Silchar Express
* Agartala - Rani Kamplapati(Bhopal) Weekly Express
* Agartala - Secunderabad Superfast Special
* Agartala - Jiribam Janshatabdi Express
* Agartala - Bengaluru Cantonment Superfast Special
Road
Only one major road, the National Highway 8
The following highways are numbered 8. For roads numbered A8, see list of A8 roads. For roads numbered N8, see list of N8 roads.
Route 8, or Highway 8, may refer to:
International
* Asian Highway 8
* European route E08
* European route E008
...
(NH-8), connects Tripura to the rest of India. Starting at Sabroom
Sabroom ( bn, সাব্রুম) is a town and a Nagar Panchayat on South Tripura district in the Indian state of Tripura. It is located on the banks of the Feni River, which separates India and Bangladesh. Most of the people speak Noakhaill ...
in southern Tripura, it heads north to the capital Agartala, turns east and then north-east to enter the state of Assam. Locally known as "Assam Road", the NH-8 is often called the lifeline of Tripura. However, the highway is single lane and of poor quality; often landslides, rains or other disruptions on the highway cut the state off from its neighbours. Another National Highway, National Highway 8A (India), NH 108, connects the town Panisagar, Tripura, Panisagar in North Tripura District with Aizawl
Aizawl (; Mizo: ) is the capital of the state of Mizoram in India. Aizawl was officially established on 25 February 1890. With a population of 293,416, it is the largest city in the state. It is also the centre of administration containing all ...
, Mizoram. The Tripura Road Transport Corporation is the government agency overlooking public transport on road. A hilly and land-locked state, Tripura is dependent mostly on roads for transport. The total length of roads in the state is of which national highways constitute and state highways , as of 2009–10. Residents in rural areas frequently use waterways as a mode of transport.
Tripura has an long international border with Bangladesh, of which is fenced, as of 2012. Several locations along the border serve as bilateral trading points between India and Bangladesh, such as Akhaura near Agartala, Raghna, Srimantpur, Belonia, Khowai and Kailasahar. A Transport between India and Bangladesh, bus service exists between Agartala and Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. In 2013, the two countries signed an agreement to establish a railway link between Agartala and Akhaura Upazila#Railways and transportation, the Akhaura junction of Bangladesh. Citizens of both countries need visa (document), visa to legally enter the other country; however, illegal movement and smuggling across the border are widespread.
Media and communication
Doordarshan (DD) has a television station in Agartala. Other full-time based channels are Headlines Tripura, News Vanguard, PB 24, Prime Television Network, Chini Khorang, Swrangchati News and many more.
As of 2014, 56 daily and weekly newspapers are published in Tripura. Most of the newspapers are published in Bengali, except for one Kokborok daily (''Hachukni Kok''), one Manipuri weekly (''Marup''), two English dailies and three bilingual weeklies. Notable dailies include ''Ajkal Tripura'', ''Daily Desher Katha'', ''Dainik Sambad'' and ''Syandan Patrika''. In a study by Indian Institute of Mass Communication in 2009, 93% of the sampled in Tripura rated television as very effective for information and mass education. In the study, 67% of the sampled listened to radio and 80–90% read newspaper. Most of the major Indian telecommunication companies are present in the state, such as Bharti Airtel, Airtel, Vodafone Idea Ltd, Vi, Jio and BSNL. Mobile connections outnumber landline connections by a wide margin. As of 2011, the state-controlled BSNL has 57,897 landline subscribers and GSM mobile service connections. There are 84 telephone exchanges (for landlines) and 716 post offices in the state, as of 2011.
Electricity
Till 2014, Tripura was a power deficit state. In late 2014, Tripura reached surplus electricity production capacity by using its recently discovered natural gas resources, and installing high efficiency gas turbine power plants. The state has many power-generating stations. These are owned by Tripura State Electricity Corporation (TSECL), natural gas-powered thermal power stations at Rokhia and Baramura, and the ONGC Tripura Power Company in Palatana. The ONGC plant has a capacity of 726.6 MW, with the second plant's commissioning in November 2014. It is the largest individual power plant in the northeast region.
The state also has a Hydroelectricity, hydro power station on the Gumti River. The combined power generation from these three stations is 100–105 Megawatt, MW. The North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited, North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO) operates the 84 MW Agartala Gas Turbine Power Plant near Agartala. As of November 2014, another thermal power plant is being built at Monarchak.
With the newly added power generation capacity, Tripura has with enough capacity to supply all seven sister states of northeast India, as well export power to neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh. With recent discoveries, the state has abundant natural gas reserves to support many more power generation plants, but lacks pipeline and transport infrastructure to deliver the fuel or electricity to India's national grid.
Irrigation and fertilizers
As of 2011, of land in Tripura cultivable, of which has the potential to be covered by irrigation projects. However, only is irrigated. The state lacks major irrigation projects; it depends on medium-sized projects sourced from Gumti, Khowai (at Chakmaghat) and Manu rivers, and minor projects administered by village-level governing bodies that utilise tube wells, water pumps, tanks and lift irrigation.
ONGC and Chambal Fertilizers & Chemicals are jointly building a fertiliser plant to leverage ONGC's natural gas discoveries in Tripura. Expected to be in operation by 2017, the 1.3 million tonnes per year plant will supply the northeastern states.
Drinking water
Drinking Water and Sanitation (DWS) wing] of Public Works Department manages the drinking water supply in the state. Schools and Anganwadi Centers have been specifically targeted to improve drinking water supply as well as attendance to these institutions. Many areas of Tripura have the problem of excessive iron content in groundwater requiring the installation of Iron Removal Plants (IRP). Tripura State has received the best State Award for Water & Sanitation under the category of Small States in the IBN7 Diamond State Award function for doing commendable work to provide drinking water supply to the people with the sparsely distributed tribal population in hamlets of hilly regions of the State. However, a study by the DWS Department found a depleting water table and excessive contamination. Still, packaged drinking water under brands "Tribeni", "Eco Freshh", "Blue Fina", "Life Drop" and "Aqua Zoom" among others is manufactured and sold in the state. Filters of many types and brands, in addition to locally manufactured ceramic type filters, are sold in the state although their acceptance in rural areas is less.
Education
As per 2011 Census of India, 2011 census, the literacy rate of Tripura was 87.75 percent, the fourth-highest in India (which had a national literacy rate of 74.04 percent). A state government survey in 2013 announced that Tripura has the highest literacy rate in India at 94.65 percent. Schools in Tripura are run by the state government, TTAADC or private organisations, which include religious institutions. Instruction in schools is mainly in Bengali or English, though Kokborok
Kokborok (also known as Tripuri or Tiprakok) is the main native language of the Tripuri people of the Indian state of Tripura and neighbouring areas of Bangladesh. Its name comes from ''kok'' meaning "verbal" and ''borok'' meaning "people" or ...
and other regional languages are also used. Some of the special schools include Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya, residential schools run by Tripura Tribal Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (TTWREIS), missionary organisations like St. Paul's,
St. Arnold's, Holy Cross, Don Bosco, and St. John's. The schools are affiliated to the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), the Central Board of Secondary Education, Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE), the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) or the Tripura Board of Secondary Education. Under the Education in India#10+2+3 pattern, 10+2+3 plan, after completing secondary school, students typically enroll for two years in a junior college or in a higher secondary school affiliated either to the Tripura Board of Secondary Education or to other central boards. Students choose from one of the three streams—liberal arts, commerce or science. As in the rest of India, after passing the Higher Secondary Examination (the grade 12 examination), students may enroll in general degree programs such as bachelor's degree in arts, commerce or science, or professional degree programs such as engineering, law or medicine.
According to the Economic Review of Tripura 2010–11, Tripura has a total of 4,455 schools, of which 2,298 are primary schools. The total enrolment in all schools of the state is 767,672. Tripura has one Central University, India, Central University (Tripura University), one State University (Maharaja Bir Bikram College, M. B. B. University) and one private university (a branch of the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India). There are 15 general colleges, three engineering colleges (Tripura Institute of Technology, National Institute of Technology, Agartala an
NIEILT, Agartala
, two medical colleges (Agartala Government Medical College and Tripura Medical College), three nursing or paramedical colleges, three polytechnic colleges, one law college, on
Government Music College
on
Institute of Advance Studies in Education
on
Regional College of Physical Education
at Panisagar and one art college.
Healthcare
Healthcare in Tripura features a universal health care system run by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (Tripura), Ministry of Health & Family Welfare of the Government of Tripura. The health care infrastructure is divided into three tiers – the primary health care network, a secondary care system comprising district and sub-divisional hospitals and tertiary hospitals providing speciality and super speciality care. As of 2010–11, there are 17 hospitals, 11 rural hospitals and community health centres, 79 primary health centres, 635 sub-centres/dispensaries, 7 blood banks and 7 blood storage centres in the state. Homeopathy, Homeopathic and Ayurveda, Ayurvedic styles of medicine are also popular in the state. The National Family Health Survey – 3 conducted in 2005–06 revealed that 20% of the residents of Tripura do not generally use government health facilities, and prefers the private medical sector. This is overwhelmingly less than the national level, where 65.6% do not rely on government facilities. As in the rest of India, Tripura residents also cite poor quality of care as the most frequent reason for non-reliance over the public health sector. Other reasons include distance of the public sector facilities, long waiting time, and inconvenient hours of operation. As of 2010, the state's performance in major public health care indices, such as birth rate, infant mortality rate and total fertility rate is better than the national average. The state is vulnerable to epidemics of malaria, diarrhea, Japanese encephalitis and meningitis. In summer 2014 the state witnessed a major malaria outbreak.
Demographics
Population
Tripura ranks second to Assam as the most populous state in North East India
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. According to the provisional results of 2011 census of India, Tripura has a population of 3,671,032 with 1,871,867 males and 1,799,165 females. It constitutes 0.3% of India's population. The sex ratio of the state is 961 females per thousand males, higher than the national ratio 940. The density of population is 350 persons per square kilometre. The literacy rate of Tripura in 2011 was 87.75%, higher than the national average 74.04%, and third best among all the states.
Tripura ranked sixth in Human Development Index (HDI) among 35 states and union territories of India, according to 2006 estimate by India's Ministry of Women and Child Development; the HDI of Tripura was 0.663, better than the all-India HDI 0.605.
In 2011, the police in Tripura recorded 5,803 cognisable offences under the Indian Penal Code, a number second only to Assam (66,714) in North East India. The crime rate in the state was 158.1 per 100,000 people, less than the all-India average of 192.2. However, 2010 reports showed that the state topped all the states for crime against women, with a rate of 46.5 per 100,000 people, significantly more than the national rate of 18.
Ethnic groups
According to the 2001 census of India, Bengalis represented almost 70 per cent of Tripura's population while the Tripuri people, Tripuri population amounted to 30 per cent. The state's "scheduled tribes", recognised by the country's constitution, consist of 19 ethnic groups and many sub-groups, with diverse languages and cultures. In 2001, the largest such group was the Kokborok
Kokborok (also known as Tripuri or Tiprakok) is the main native language of the Tripuri people of the Indian state of Tripura and neighbouring areas of Bangladesh. Its name comes from ''kok'' meaning "verbal" and ''borok'' meaning "people" or ...
-speaking Tripuri people, Tripuris, which had a population of 543,848, representing 17.0 per cent of the state's population and 54.7 per cent of the "scheduled tribe" population. The other major groups, in descending order of population, were the Reang (16.6 per cent of the indigenous population), Jamatia (7.5 per cent), Chakma people, Chakma (6.5 per cent), Halam tribe, Halam (4.8 per cent), Mog people, Mog (3.1 per cent), Munda people, Munda (1.2 per cent), Kuki people, Kuki (1.2 per cent) and Garo people, Garo (1.1 per cent).
Languages
The official languages of the state are Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
, English language, English and Kokborok language, Kokborok (Tripuri). Bengali is the most widely spoken language, while Kokborok
Kokborok (also known as Tripuri or Tiprakok) is the main native language of the Tripuri people of the Indian state of Tripura and neighbouring areas of Bangladesh. Its name comes from ''kok'' meaning "verbal" and ''borok'' meaning "people" or ...
is the most prominent language among the Tripuri people. Other minority languages such as Arakanese language, Mog, Odia language, Odia, Bishnupriya Manipuri language, Bishnupriya Manipuri, Meitei language, Manipuri, Falam language, Halam, Garo language, Garo and Chakma language, Chakma belonging to Indo-European and Sino-Tibetan families are spoken in the state. Thadou language, Thadou, a nearly extinct language, is spoken by only four people in one village, as of 2012.
Religion
According to 2011 census, Hinduism is the majority religion in the state, followed by 83.40% of the population. Muslims make up 8.60% of the population, Christians 4.35%, and Buddhism, Buddhists 3.41%.
Christianity is chiefly followed by members of the Lusei tribe, Lushai, Kuki, Garo, Halam tribes and as per 2011 census has 159,882 adherents.
Demography of indigenous population
Percentage of Tripuris by decade[https://repository.tribal.gov.in › ...PDF
Web results
Kaloi Community in Tripura Group-A (500 Copy) - Tribal Digital ...
]
Once Tripura was an overwhelming Tripuri majority state. In 1941, the native Tripuris made up 62.06% of the population in present- day Tripura while the non-Tripuri people, mainly Bengalis and non-Bengalis occupies rest of the percentage. The percentage of Tripuris decreased from 62.06% in 1941 (before partition) to 48.65% (after partition) in 1951 due to East Bengali refugees who were coming from East Pakistan
East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Scheme, One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India ...
present-day-Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
. After 1971, the indigenous Tripuri population of Tripura has increased from 28.44% in 1981 to 31.05% in 2001. The 2011 census stated that indigenous Tripuri constitute 31.78% of the state population which is up from the previous census record of 31.05% in 2001.
Arrival of Bengali refugees
During the Partition of Bengal (1947), Partition of Bengal in 1947, hundreds of thousands of East Bengali refugees, Bengali refugees fled from East Pakistan
East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Scheme, One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India ...
into India's Tripura following the Partition of India. Estimation shows that between the period of 1947–51, around 610,000 Bengali Hindus, Bengalis — a figure almost equal to the state's total population poured into the state leading to a profound demographic change during this first phase. Again during the Bangladesh liberation war of 1971, in the second phase of migration, around 1.038 million Bengalis (most being Bengali Hindus, Hindus) moved into various parts of Tripura as refugees with most of them settling down permanently afterwards.
Culture
The diverse ethno-linguistic groups of Tripura have given rise to a composite culture. The major Tripuri clans are: Tripura, Debbarma, Jamatia, Reang, Noatia, and Murasing. And there are tribal groups such as Chakma, Halam (ethnic group), Halam, Garo, Kuki, Mizo people, Mizo, Uchoi, Dhamai, Roaza, Mag, Munda people, Munda, Oraon people, Oraon and Santhal people, Santhal who migrated in Tripura as tea labourers. Bengali people represent the largest ethno-linguistic community of the state. Bengali culture, as a result, is the main non-indigenous culture. The Tripuri Maharajas were great patrons of Bengali culture, especially literature; Bengali language replaced Kokborok
Kokborok (also known as Tripuri or Tiprakok) is the main native language of the Tripuri people of the Indian state of Tripura and neighbouring areas of Bangladesh. Its name comes from ''kok'' meaning "verbal" and ''borok'' meaning "people" or ...
as the language of the court. Elements of Bengali culture, such as Bengali literature, Bengali music, and Bengali cuisine are widespread, particularly in the urban areas of the state.
Tripura is noted for bamboo and cane handicrafts. Bamboo, wood and cane are used to create an array of furniture, utensils, hand-held fans, replicas, mats, baskets, idols and interior decoration materials. Music and dance are integral to the culture of the state. Some local musical instruments are the ''Sarinda (instrument), sarinda'', ''Musical instruments of Tripura#Chongpreng, chongpreng'' (both string instruments), and ''sumui'' (a type of flute). Each indigenous community has its own repertoire of songs and dances performed during weddings, religious occasions, and other festivities. The Tripuri and Jamatia people perform goria dance during the Goria puja. Jhum dance (also called tangbiti dance), lebang dance, mamita dance, and mosak sulmani dance are other Tripuri dance forms. Reang community, the second largest scheduled tribe of the state, is noted for its hojagiri dance that is performed by young girls balanced on earthen pitchers. Bizhu dance is performed by the Chakmas during the Bizhu festival (the last day of the month of ''Chaitra'' in Hindu calendar). Other dance forms include wangala dance of the Garo people, hai-hak dance of the Halam branch of Kuki people, and sangrai dance and owa dance of the Mog. Alongside such traditional music, mainstream Indian musical elements such as Indian classical music and Indian classical dance, dance, Rabindra Sangeet are also practised. Sachin Dev Burman, a member of the royal family, was a maestro in the filmi genre of Indian music.
Hindus believe that ''Tripura Sundari
Tripura Sundari (Sanskrit: त्रिपुरा सुन्दरी, IAST: Tripura Sundarī), also known as Rajarajeshwari, Shodashi, Kamakshi, and Lalita is a Hindu goddess, worshipped as a principal aspect of supreme goddess Mahadevi m ...
'' is the patron goddess of Tripura and an aspect of ''Shakti''. Durga Puja, Kali Puja, Holi, Dolyatra, Ashokastami and the worship of the Chaturdasha Temple, ''Chaturdasha'' deities are important festivals in the state. Some festivals represent confluence of different regional traditions, such as Ganga puja, Garia puja, Kharchi puja and Ker puja. Unakoti
Unkoti Hill is a sculptural emblem and ancient Shaivite place that hosts approx ''ninety-nine lakh ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine'' rock carvings figures and images of gods and goddesses. It is a place of worship with huge ...
, Pilak and Devtamura are historic sites where large collections of stone carvings and rock sculptures are noted. Like Neermahal is a cultural Water Palace of this state. Sculptures are evidence of the presence of Buddhist and Brahmin, Brahmanical orders for centuries, and represent a rare artistic fusion of traditional organised religions and tribal influence.
Performing arts
Tripura had a wide collection of notable art and cultural displays.
* ''Mamita dance'' : A Tripuri dance form performed during Mamita occasion, which is after the harvesting of year's first crops and to worship ''Ama Mailuma''.
* ''Goria dance'' : Tripuri dance performed during Goria puja.
* ''Hojagiri dance'' : A divine Tripuri dance form. The dance is performed on the occasion of Hojagiri festivals or Laxmi Puja, held in the following full moon night of Durga Puja. generally after 3rd day of Dashera. The Goddess Mailuma (Tipra Indigenous Goddess) is worshipped on this day.
* ''Lebang dance'' : A Tripuri dance form.
* ''Mosak Sulmani dance'' : A Tripuri dance form.
* ''Jadu Kolija'' : A Tripuri folk-classical song.
* ''Dangsa Mwsamung'': A type of Tripuri play performed on stage.
Other dance forms of minority groups include Sangrai dance and Owa dance of Mog, Hai-hak dance of Halam, Wangla dance of Garo, Bizhu dance of Chakma. Alongside such traditional music, mainstream Indian musical elements such as Indian classical music and Indian classical dance, dance are also practised. Sachin Dev Burman, a member of the Tripuri royal family, was a maestro in the filmi genre of Indian music.
Local musical instruments are:
* ''Sarinda (instrument), sarinda'' : A Tripuri string instrument.
* ''chongpreng'' : Tripuri string instrument.
* ''sumui'' : Tripuri flute.
Sports
association football, Football and cricket are the most popular sports in the state. The state capital Agartala has its own club football championships every year in which many local clubs compete in a league and knockout format. The Tripura cricket team participates in the Ranji Trophy, the Indian domestic cricket competition. The state is a regular participant of the Indian National Games and the North Eastern Games.
Tennis player Somdev Devvarman, who won the gold medal in the Tennis at the 2010 Asian Games – Men's Singles, Men's Singles event at the 2010 Asian Games, has family roots in Tripura. He was the first Indian to win a gold medal in the men's singles tennis event of the Asian Games.
In 2016, Dipa Karmakar from Agartala became the first ever female gymnast from India to qualify for the Olympics when she qualified for the women's artistic gymnastics event of 2016 Summer Olympics. Other notable gymnasts from Tripura include Mantu Debnath, Kalpana Debnath, and Bishweshwar Nandi.
Notable Person
** Pradyot Manikya Debbarma
** Bir Bikram Kishore Debbarman
** Kirit Bikram Kishore Deb Barman
** Birendra Kishore Manikya
** Bir Chandra Manikya
Maharaja Bir Chandra Manikya Bahadur of the Manikya Dynasty was the king of Tripura from 1862 to 1896.
Biography
Bir Chandra Manikya is regarded as the architect of modern Agartala city. In 1862, he started the urbanisation of the Agartala. In ...
** Ishan Chandra Manikya
** Tanushree Debbarma
See also
* Tipraland
* Habugra
* List of cities and towns in Tripura
* Tripura Industrial Development Corporation
References
Further reading
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External links
; Government
Tripura Government
Tripura Tourism
Public Service Commission
Election Department
General information
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{{Authority control
Tripura,
Northeast India
States and union territories of India
States and territories established in 1972
1972 establishments in India
Tourism in Northeast India
Bengali-speaking countries and territories
Greater Tripura Region