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 Tripura – At a Glance   Tripura, the third smallest state in the country in terms of area is located at a very strategic location and is India’s gateway to the

South-East Asia and Bangladesh. Surrounded on three sides by Bangladesh, Tripura is endowed with rich and diverse natural resources. The agro-climatic condition prevailing in Tripura in the

form of fertile soil, abundant moisture and sub-tropical climate is ideal and favorable for the production of a large variety of horticultural

crops. As a matter of fact, Tripura is one of the highest CVP (climate, vegetation, precipitation) index zones in the country.

The state, which accounts for 4 percent of the total land area in the North-East Region (including Sikkim), houses 8 percent of the total

population in the NER. Tripura is a primarily rural state with 74 percent of the population residing in rural areas, as compared to the

national average of 69 percent and NER average of 81 percent. Tripura has also recently been recognized as India’s most literate state, as per a assessment conducted by the Govt. of Tripura in

collaboration with the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata. The per capita income of the state stands at INR 71,666 as per the Economic

Review of Tripura 2014-15. It is divided into 8 districts: West, Shepahijala, Khowai, Gomati, South, Dhalai, Unokati and North.

Catalyzing Development in Kathalbari Village – A Concept Note and Analysis

 

Kathalbari, Tripura

This concept note presents a brief analysis of Kathalbari Village, which has been identified by the Honorable MP from Tripura East, Mr. Jitendra Chaudhury under the Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana. Kathalabri, an Autonomous District Council Village in Ambassa block of Dhalai district, is a Scheduled Tribe (ST) dominated village located close to the Longtarai Reserved Forest. For an Adarsh Gram, improved livelihood, better delivery of existing schemes and sanitation facilities are among the most pressing needs. Accordingly, the note also highlights the current situation of financial inclusion, performance of the Rural Livelihood Programmes and the Swacch Bharat Mission in Dhalai district vis-à-vis the rest of the state.  

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An Abundance of Natural Resources in Tripura – The Potential

Rubber is an extremely important and strategic industrial raw material and India imported 360,263 tonnes of natural rubber (NR) in 2013-14.

Tripura is the second highest producer of natural rubber (NR) in the country, only behind Kerala. According to the Tripura Economic Review,

Tripura produced 44,740.17 tonnes of NR in 2014-15. The total area under rubber plantation in the state is 61,231 hectares, which underlines a

yield of 1998 kg/ha/year. The total potential area for plantation is 1,00,000 hectare and this implies that rubber plantations can be further expanded.

Tripura is the largest producer of Jackfruit and the highest largest producer

of pineapple in the country, accounting for 17.16 percent of total jackfruit production and 9.34 percent of total pineapple production in India in 2013-

14 (Source: Indian Horticultural Database 2014). Two varieties of pineapple, the Kew and the Queen, are primarily grown in Tripura and are known for their unique aroma, sweetness and high Total Soluble Solids

(TSS) content. The Tripura Queen Pineapple also received the Geographical Indication (GI) tag as an agricultural good as per Section 2(f)

of the GI Act, 1999, thereby becoming the first good from the state to receive the GI tag.

The ‘Green Gold of the North-East’ i.e. the Bamboo is an important

agroforestry crop that has extensive application in rural industries as well as modern wood and paper industries. Over 40 percent of the total

bamboo bearing area in the country is available in the North-East Region and Sikkim. Tripura has the third highest bamboo bearing area in the

country as a percentage of total geographical area; the state has 3,246km2 area under bamboo, which implies that 30.93 percent of the geographical area of the state is bamboo bearing and only Mizoram (43.85 percent) and

Manipur (41.67 percent) have a greater percentage of bamboo bearing area. Moreover, 62.82 percent of the bamboo bearing area in Tripura is

comprised of pure and dense bamboo, the second highest percentage of pure and dense bamboo plantation in the country.

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Tripura East Lok Sabha Constituency and Dhalai District – An Overview

Tripura has two Lok Sabha constituencies – Tripura East and Tripura West. Tripura East LS Constituency comprises of the entire districts of North Tripura, Unokati, Khowai and Dhalai and parts of Gomati and South Tripura districts. The constituency houses some of the most beautiful tourist destination in the state such as

Unokati and Dumboor Lake as well as the most precious natural resources in the form of bamboo plantations, orange plantations and extensive forest cover.

Dhalai district, which is the largest district in the state in terms of land area, is the most backward district in the state and was also identified as one of the country’s 250 most backward districts by the Ministry of Panchayati

Raj in 2006. The erstwhile district of Dhalai was also the only district in the state, which received grants from the Government of India under the now discontinued Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF). It is a High Priority district under the National Health Mission. It is also the second least populated district in the state with

a total population of 3,78,230. The district is also the least densely populated in the state with a population density of 158 people per sq. km., as compared to the state average of 350 (as per Economic Review of

Tripura 2014-15)

Dhalai District consists of 4 sub-divisions – Gandacherra, Kamalpur, Longtarai Valley and Ambassa – and 8 blocks – Ambassa, Ganganagar, Salema, Durgachowmuhani, Dumburnagar, Raishyabari, Manu and Chhamanu (as per Report to the NCST Chairman May 2015). A predominantly tribal district, it is headquartered at

Ambassa. Kathalbari, the village identified by Honourable MP, Mr Chaudhury under SAGY is in Ambassa block.

Jampui Hills, a hill range in North Tripura district is one of the most important eco-tourism destinations in the state; home to Lusei and Reang tribal communities, the Jampui Hills also host the Orange and Tourism festival every year. Betalongchhip is the highest point in the state at 930 m.

The region also has the Rowa Wildlife Sanctuary and the Dumboor Lake. The Dumboor Lake located in South Tripura is the confluence of the rivers Raima and Sarma. It is also the place where the Gomati originates. The Rowa Wildlife Sanctuary is a botanist’s paradise spread over 86 hectares.

Unokati, which means one less than a crore, is an important Shaiva pilgrimage site located in the Unokati district (part of erstwhile North Tripura district). Located 8 kms from Kailashahar, the district HQ, it is famous for its rock cut carvings of deities and also holds the Ashokashtmi Mela in April every year.  

The districts of Dhalai, Unokati and North Tripura house important incense stick clusters, bamboo and cane crafts clusters as well as bamboo plantations at Ambassa and Salema; part of the Tripura Bamboo Mission, an initiative of the Govt. of Tripura for integrated development of the bamboo sector.

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Locating Kathalbari on the Map – District: Dhalai and Block: Ambassa (Note: map is based on

Census 2011 administrative divisions)                                                                      

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 Kathalbari – An Introduction Kathalbari is an Autonomous District Council (ADC) village located in Ambassa Block and adjacent to the district

HQ. It is located close to the NH 44 and the Jawahar Nagar Railway Station is the nearest railway station.

Population is 2396 according to the Census 2011; Sex Ratio: 953 i.e. 953 females per 1000 males. Population in the age group 0-6 years is 391, which is 16.31% of the total populat ion

Total of 525 Households (HHs) in the Panchayat according to the Panchayat Records 523 families are STs whereas 2 belong to the General category (panchayat records)  

Kathalbari ADC has a Li teracy Rate of 84.49%, as per the District Education Office data, which is lower than the district average of 88% and the block average of 87% The Literacy Rate of Males is 91.28% whereas that of Females is 77.2%

Work Participation Rate (WPR) is 40.4; the WPR of males is 48.3 and that of females is 32.1. 65% of the workers describe their work as Main Work (earning for > 6 months) (Census 2011) 45% of the workers are involved in agriculture as cultivators or agricultural labourers.

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An Adarsh Gram – Focus on the ‘6S’ Model (depending on need assessment and requirements)  

 

 

 

   

1)  Proper  Road  Connectivity  2)  WiFi  and  Broadband  Connectivity  3)  Banking  Services    4)  Seva  Kendras  /  Community  Service  Centres  

Sugam Gram

Swastha Gram

1)  CHC,  AWCs  to  have  Quality  Facilities  2)  Training  for  Frontline  Healthline  Workers  3)  Health  Insurance  and  Health  Card  for  All  4)  Access  to  Clean  and  Safe  drinking  water  

Shikshhit aur Saksham Gram

1)  Development  of  ‘Happy  and  Learning’  Schools  2)  Workshops  and  Activities  for  Students    3)  Career  Counselling  and  Guidance    4)  Skill  Development  &  Vocational  Training  

Swaccha Gram 1)  Toilets  for  Individual  Households  2)  Community  Toilets  at  Public  Places  3)  Drainage  System  for  the  village  4)  Solid  Waste  Management  System  

Samriddha Gram 1)  Modern  Agriculture  and  Animal  Husbandry  2)  Development  of  Local  Market,  Storage  3)  Promotion  of  Local  Industries  4)  Women  Self  Help  Groups  

Sustainable Gram

1) Promotion   of   Renewable   Energy   -­‐   Solar   LED  Street  Lights  

2) 100%  coverage  under  PM  Ujjwala  Yojana  3) Watershed  Management  and  Water  Security    

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Financial Inclusion: Jan Dhan for Everyone?

Today, financial inclusion has emerged as an important socio-economic concept in the context of driving

inclusive development in the country. Moreover, the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), launched on 28th August 2014 with the aim to enhance financial inclusion in the country has led to increased bank account

opening, social security cover and Aadhar seeding with bank accounts in the country. However, a true measure of financial inclusion is not just dependent on the opening of bank accounts but also on penetration of bank branches, credit deposit penetration and the share of zero balance accounts. These factors are taken into

consideration by CRISIL to come up with an Inclusix score for each state and district in the country.

The report titled CRISIL Inclusix Report Volume III released in 2015 ranks Tripura among the top 10 states in the country in terms of financial inclusion. Tripura is the only state in the North-Eastern Region (NER) to figure among the top 10 states and West Tripura (19) is among only 4 districts outside South Indian states/UTs to be

ranked among the top 50 districts in the country. This achievement is made even more impressive by the fact that 27 districts in the NER are ranked among the bottom 50 districts based on their Inclusix score. At the

same time, it is important to highlight the wide gap between West Tripura and Unokati, which is the lowest ranked district in the state at 361 whereas Dhalai is ranked 171. The efforts of Tripura have also been

recognized at the national level as West Tripura received the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration (2013-14) on April 25th 2015 for Total Financial Inclusion achieved through preparation of an e-ROR (Record of Ordinary Residents) database and GIS mapping of bank branches, piloted in Mandwi Block.

A closer analysis of data uploaded on the PMJDY website further affirms Tripura’s position among the best

performing states in the country on financial inclusion. For instance, Tripura has the least zero-balance accounts as a percentage of total accounts in the country at 13.18 percent as compared to the national average

of 24.53 percent and the NER average of 25.15 percent. Similarly, the state is among the top 10 states in the country in terms of Aadhar seeding with bank accounts with Aadhar seeding done for almost 71 percent of the bank accounts. The same figure for the rest of the country is 48 percent. A total of 7,56,412 bank accounts

have been opened up under the PMJDY and the deposit in these accounts stands at INR 370.29 crores (as of 13.07.2016).

An area, which requires significant improvement, is the issuing of RuPay debit cards where Tripura ranks among the bottom 3 states (Meghalaya and Mizoram being the other two states) as only 63.47 percent of the

bank accounts have been issued a RuPay card whereas 81.33 percent of bank accounts have been issued a RuPay card across the country. The agenda notes for the 117th State Level Bankers Committee also presented

the fact that there are 19 unbanked villages (villages with a population of 5000 and above) in the state. 13 of these villages fall in Dhalai (4), North Tripura (4), Khowai (4) and Unokati (1). In Dhalai, the unbanked villages

are Kamalacherra and Lalcherra villages in Ambassa Block and Mainama and Jamircharra villages in Manu block.

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 The SLBC Report 2015 highlights the lack of (VPN/BCA) connectivity/unreliable connectivity, which affects banking operations of the bank and the BC in villages. It also states that there is a lack of financial awareness

among the tribal groups in North part of Tripura.

Stakeholder Analysis at the State Level

To understand the implementation and the role of various stakeholders in the policy in greater depth, a stakeholder analysis1 has been performed under state level scenario for PMJDY. Stakeholders are categorized

by their power and salience in a grid according to the following attributes: • Promoters: Attach a high priority to the reform policy a priority and whose actions can have an impact

on the implementation of the policy • Defenders: Attach a high priority to the reform policy but whose actions cannot have an impact on the

implementation of the policy • Latents: Actions can affect the implementation of the reform policy but who attach a low priority to

this policy

• Apathetics: Actions cannot affect the implementation of the reform policy and who attach a low priority to this policy.

High                                  Defender  (Keep  Satisfied)                                                          Promoter  (Engage  &  Influence  Actively)  

                                       State  Government                                                                                                        State  Lead  Bank  Committee                                        

                                   

Power  

 

                                                           Apathetic  (Monitor)                                                                                                        Latent  (Keep  Informed)  

                                               Local  Bodies                                                                            Lead  District  Manager,  District  Administration                                                                                                                  

     

                       Low                                                                                                        Interest  of  the  Stakeholders                                                                                                          High                                                                                            

The above figure represents the stakeholder analysis for PMJDY. Here, power measures their degree of ability to help or have an impact on your project and interest measures their degree of support or opposition to the project’s goals and objectives.

                                                                                                                                       1  Stakeholder  Analysis  (SA)  is  a  methodology  used  to  facilitate  institutional  and  policy  reform  processes  by  accounting  for  and  often  incorporating  the  needs  of  those  who  have  a  ‘stake’  or  an  interest  in  the  reforms  under  consideration.  With  information  on  stakeholders,  their  interests,  and  their  capacity  to  oppose  reform,  reform  advocates  can  choose  how  to  best  accommodate  them,  thus  assuring  policies  adopted  are  politically  realistic  and  sustainable.  

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S.No Stakeholders Role of the stakeholder Posit ions

1 State Government of Tripura

1. Appointment of Mission Director at State level for State Level

Implementation Committee. 2. Monitoring of financial inclusion campaign in coordination with

SLBC & all the stakeholders. 3.Direct Benefit Transfer of the State schemes in the bank

accounts of the beneficiaries

Defender

2

State Lead Bank

Committee (United Bank of India is the lead

bank for the state)

1. In order to achieve the plan, banks through SLBC have to set up phase-wise and state wise targets for the period of 15th August

2014 to 14th August 2018. 2. SLBC Convener, General Manager, to act as Secretary to State

Level Implementation Committee. 3. SLBCs to complete the allocation of Sub Service Areas (SSAs)

among the banks immediately. 4. Similarly, allocation of wards to the bank branches in the Urban Centres.

Promoter

3 Lead District Manager

1. Lead District Manager (LDM) to act as Secretary to the District Implementation Committee.

2. LDM to coordinate with all the banks in FI implementation in the district.

3. Banks should suitably strengthen their Lead District offices with adequate manpower and infrastructure as lot of responsibilities shall be given to LDMs for achieving the coverage of villages/SSAs,

Urban Wards and opening of accounts, as per time lines. 4. Reporting mechanism will be weekly for state wise and monthly

for district/ward wise by implementing bank at LDM level. 5. In the Urban centres of the district, the Lead District Managers

(LDMs) would be responsible to coordinate with all the available banks in the centre to cover all the households

Latent

4 District

Administration

1.Key role in implementation of FI in the districts

2. District Collector (DC) to act as chairman of District Level Implementation Committee.

Latent

5 Local Bodies

Representatives of local bodies (panchayats in rural areas and municipalities in urban areas) to assist in implementation of FI in

various ways like in organizing camps in opening of accounts, identification of persons for opening of account, in financial literacy campaign etc.

Apathetics

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Swacch Bharat Mission – An Analysis of Tripura’s Performance

The Swacch Bharat Mission (Gramin), launched on 2nd October 2016, seeks to improvise on the erstwhile Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan and Total Sanitation Campaign to increase toilet coverage at the household level in rural areas. Aimed at creating a ‘Swacch Bharat’, the scheme tries to introduce flexibility for state governments in

deciding the implementation policy and mechanisms, taking into account the state specific requirements. This is in line with the Constitutional provision, which lists Sanitation as a State Subject.

As part of the SBM (Gramin), the Government of India allocated a budget of INR 6525 crores and 10 percent of

the allocated budget INR 652.5 crores was given to the NER. In 2016-17, the budgetary provision was increased to INR 9,000 crores and the same for NER increased to INR 900 crores. Since the Baseline Survey conducted in 2012, a total of 12,85,505 toilets (i.e. IHHL) have been constructed in the entire NER over the

period 2013-present. It is important to highlight that 52 percent of the toilets constructed during this period were constructed only last year i.e. 2015-16. When it comes to households with toilets, Sikkim is the only

state in the country, which has achieved 100 percent toilet coverage. Meghalaya, Mizoram and Manipur also figure among the top 10 performing states. When compared to the other states in the NER, Tripura does not

fare as well and in fact only Mizoram has reported a lower reduction in percentage of households without toilet (% of HHs without toilet as per BLS 2012 Data v/s Present % of HHs without toilet). See table below:

Name of State HH Details

entered BLS 2012

Percentage of HHs without Toilets

(BLS-2012)

Total no. of HHs covered after BLS

2012 survey

HHs with Toilets

Present % of HHs without

Toilet

Arunachal Pradesh

1,72,257 64.07% 48,181 1,10,197 36.03%

Assam 56,77,545 61.15% 8,30,366 29,74,360 46.11%

Tripura 6,82,183 45.87% 97,423 4,66,737 31.59%

Nagaland 2,61,232 50.55% 44,071 1,73,263 33.67%

Mizoram 1,12,599 32.05% 12,380 88,901 21.04%

Manipur 4,24,730 53.86% 1,22,173 3,18,154 25.10%

Meghalaya 4,14,604 48.12% 1,20,006 3,35,141 19.16%

Sikkim 55,924 15.61% 10,905 58,098 0%

In Tripura, Unokati has the maximum percentage of HHs without toilet i.e. 41.96% as compared to the total

HHs identified in the district as per BLS 2012, followed by North Tripura at 40.27%. The best performing district in the state is Sepahijala, where only 24.15% of the identified HHs don’t have a toilet (as of

18.07.2016). Dhalai has 28.21 percent of HHs without toilets. In the case of Kathalbari, details of 501 HHs were entered during the BLS 2012 and 382 HHs reported having a toilet. Since then 60 toilets have been constructed and now 59 HHs remain without a toilet.

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Rural Livelihood Mission – Empowering Women, Enhancing Income in Rural Areas

Tripura, a primarily rural state where almost three-fourth of the population resides in rural areas, has a low per capita income at INR 69,705, which is lower than the national per capita income of INR 80,338 for 2013-14. In

this context, providing suitable and sustainable means of rural livelihood assumes a lot of significance in the state. Accordingly, the state government has accorded importance to various programmes such as the Tripura

Rural Livelihood Mission (TRLM), the North East Rural Livelihood Programme (NERLP), the Tripura Bamboo Mission (TBM) and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). Added

to the fact that the state has an abundance of natural resources from bamboo to natural gas to plantation crops such as tea and rubber, Tripura has immense potential in the land based livelihood component. The efforts of the Government of Tripura are being supplemented by various initiatives from external agencies such as the

Indo German Development Corporation Project funded by KfW (German Development Bank) and the Tripura State Initiative (a multi-thematic collaborative intervention initiated by the Tata Trusts and its associate

organization Centre for Microfinance & Livelihood).

Today, SHGs are perceived as a platform for empowering women through financial inclusion and social development. Under the TRLM, the state has identified three intensive districts – Dhalai, Gomati and South Tripura - and six blocks – Ambassa, Dumburnagar (Dhalai), Killa, Matabari (Gomati), Jolaibari and Satchand

(South Tripura). As part of the efforts to bring more women into the fold of Self Help Groups, 1,650 new SHGs have been set up and 874 SHGs have been revived in the state as part of the TRLM whereas there are 6525

pre-NRLM SHGs and all these 9,049 SHGs put together have a total of 92,363 members. Furthermore, these efforts have been complemented by the IGDCP, which has focused on natural resource management projects through the development of Village Development Plans and engaging SHGs and community to explore

alternate means of livelihood thereby moving away from shifting cultivation or the Jhum method of cultivation. Kathalbari is one such village covered under the IGDCP and Kathalbari has a total of 36 SHGs, most of which

are defunct and don’t take up income generating activities.

Enhancing Livelihoods Opportunities – A success story from IGDC Project in Dhalai District

The IGDC Project, which is active in 70 villages across 11 blocks of the erstwhile Dhalai and North districts,

seeks to enhance livelihood opportunities for forest dependent communities in an ecologically sustainable manner. Accordingly, one of their interventions focused on addressing the water scarcity prevalent during

the onset of the dry season. They constructed check dams as a multipurpose water sources across the project area. One such project was taken up in Ashapurna Roaja Para ADC Village in Salema Block. Post the

construction of the check dam, a SHG i.e. Sarkabai SHG took up the activity of Pisciculture with a seed money of INR 10,000 from the IGDCP and the 10 members, all females, all belonging to BPL category and Jhum cultivation families have reported an annual average profit of INR 5,250.

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 Another important point to be highlighted here is that while Tripura is doing well on land based livelihood, it has to go a long way in terms of enhancing livelihood opportunities in the livestock based and non-farm based

livelihood sector. Therefore, initiatives such as the Tripura Bamboo Mission, which focuses on a cluster based approach for integrated development of the bamboo sector in the state, need to be expanded to cover other natural resources and sectors. Also, productivity of resources is another point that needs to be addressed. For

instance, in the graph below, we can see increasing area under rubber production in the state over the last decade. However, at the same time the productivity of 1141 kg per hectare is low as compared to the national

average of 1841 kg per hectare (source: Rubber Board of India). Tripura, being the second largest producer of rubber in the country, after Kerala, should look at increasing the productivity so that the increasing area under

rubber cultivation also results in much greater production of rubber in the state.

As was mentioned in one of the previous sections, Tripura is also very well known for the quality of pineapples cultivated here. However, in the absence of processing and storage facilities, farmers are not able to earn

profits on their produce and often have to resort to distress selling. The existing pineapple juice concentration unit of North Eastern Regional Agricultural Marketing Corporation (NERAMAC) at Nalkata in North Tripura has not been able to cater to the requirement and is almost dysfunctional. This highlights the need for increased

focus on increasing the processing and also setting up storage facilities for the highly perishable resource.

26495 27947 28853 30770 32065 34189 37846 41165 50070 51292

57620 61231 62529 70295

0

20000

40000

60000

80000

2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15

Area under rubber cultivation (Hectare)

Setting up a mini Cold Storage – the Swaniti Experience

Baruipur block within South 24 Parganas is very well known for its fruits and vegetable cultivation. Despite being a horticulture belt, the lack of cold storage facilities has prevented the farmers in the region from earning good returns from their produce. As a result, wastage of fruits and vegetables was very high.

Based on the problem assessment and consultation with the Honorable MP, it was decided to prepare a project proposal for construction of mini cold rooms within the block. The project cost for setting up a cold

room with a capacity of 15-25 MT ranges between Rs 6-10 lakhs. The operation and maintenance will be handed over to the Panchayats, who will be allowed to charge a minimum amount from farmers for storing their products which will be used to cover the operating expenses like power and maintenance for the cold

rooms.