Before closing the chapter on insurgent outfits, a reference in passing has to be made to 'Sengkrak' which was floated by Mr Ratnasen Reang and late Mr Ananta Reang in the year 1960 with support from a section of the tribal elite of Agartala town. The purpose of the outfit, born originally in Kanchanpur subdivision of North Tripura, was to prevent influx of non-tribal Bengali refugees from the then East Pakistan (present Bangladesh) by force. The outfit however failed to gain a worthwhile following and after the death of Ananta Reang in an encounter with police near Kanchanpur in 1967 it ceased to exist. Mr Ratnasen Reang who is still alive said in an interview with local daily 'Dainik Sambad' that violence was not the answer to Tripura's problems. He also described Tripura's current insurgency as 'politically sponsored'.
Tripura is a tiny state in the remotest corner of Northeastern India,
stretched in between 22.56' 24.32' north latitudes and
91.09' and 92.10' east longitudes.the total geographical
area of the state is 10,492 square kms out of which 60%
are hilly lands with only 17.35% 'deep forest cover'
according to the latest assessment of 'Forest Survey of
India ' authority in 1997. The state has a long and porous
856 km long border with Bangladesh, 109 km long border
with neighbouring Mizoram and 53 km long border with
neighbouring state of Assam and on the map it looks more
like an enclave within Bangladesh.
Formerly a princely state, ruled by Hindu rulers of Manikya dynasty,
Tripura merged with the Indian union on October 15, 1949
as a 'C' category state and became a union territory on
1st July 1963. Tripura attained full-fledged statehood on
21st January 1972 along with Meghalaya and Manipur as part
of the second reorganisation of Northeast implemented by
Mrs Indira Gandhi.
At present Tripura comprises 4 districts, 15 subdivisions and 38 blocks. The state also has an Autonomous District Council (ADC) for tribals spread over 7,132.56 square kms or 68.10% of the state's total geographical area.
Tripura had a population of 27,57,205 comprising 8,53,345 tribals (30.95% of the total) and 4,51,116 (16.36% of the total) scheduled caste (non-tribal) according to the census conducted in 1991. The literacy rate was 60%. But according to the 'Provisional Population Totals-2001' officially released by Mr Krishnadhan Nath, Director of Census Operations in Tripura the population of the state on March 1stst this year stood at 31,91,168 -a growth of
4,33,963 persons over the 1991 population.
In terms of percentage the population of the state
has grown by 15.74% during the decade as against the
national average growth of 21.38% over the same period.
The literacy rate in Tripura according to the
just-released census enumeration is 73.66% as against the
national average of 65.38%. In Northeastern region Tripura
stands second only to Mizoram (88.49%) in literacy. The
density of population in Tripura is 304 per square km as
against the national average of 324. In 1991 population
density in Tripura was 263 as against 267 at the national
level. However, the total population figure announced by
the census department here has triggered a major
controversy as ' mid year 2000 estimated population ' of
Tripura was 38,27,052 as recorded in the 'economic
review-2000' of the Tripura government, tabled in the
budget session of the assembly in February-March this
year. Besides, decadal growth rate of population in
Tripura had always been higher than national average till
1991. The decadal growth of population in 1961 was
recorded at 76.86% over 1951 mainly because of ceaseless
influx of refugees from erstwhile east Pakistan (now
Bangladesh), in 1971 the decadal growth of population
slowed down to 36.28%, in 1981 the growth rate was
recorded at 31.91% while in 1991 the decadal growth rate
was 34.30%. The overall growth rate of population per
decade was always higher by 8-10% than the national
average.
mso-spacerun: yes"> The tribal-non-tribal break up of the population will take at least one more year to be finalised and announced. All the political parties in the state have questioned the authenticity of the census figures saying the enumerators failed to visit rebel-infested interior areas and returned ficticious figures, sitting at home. They have demanded a complete recensus in Tripura. The state CPI(M) party organ 'Daily Desher katha' in its edition dated 28.03.2001 has also described the growth rate of population as 'abnormally low'. However, the Director census Mr. Krisnadhan Nath claimed at his enumerators visited all 2206 census blocks and collected authentic figures. He attributed the low growth to successful implementation of family welfare programmes and growing consciousness among the people. He made the comments in a press-meet held yesterday. However, following a decision of the state cabinet the census department has undertaken a fresh enumeration to ascertain the authenticity of the figures already computed and released.
The statistics on militancy-related deaths and casualties is difficult to
come by in Tripura because of inadequate dissemination of
official information and total lack of a viable
information-gathering network in the rebel-infested rural
and hilly areas. This leaves one with no other alternative
but to rely on official data tabled in the state assembly
at face value. According to figures furnished in the state
assembly by Chief minister Mr. Manik Sarkar who also holds
the home portfolio altogether 1718 persons including
women, children and members of security forces died in
militancy related violence from April 10, 1993 to 28th
February -2001. Apart from this, altogether 1961 persons
were kidnapped by militants between April 10, 1993 and
31st May 2000. According to figures tabled by the Chief
minister, out of the kidnapped persons mentioned above 47
were untraced for more than two years. It shows that they
were either killed by militants or died of diseases during
captivity.
The militancy-related casualties also include near total collapse of the
education system and health services in the interior
areas. The teachers most of whom are non-tribal Bengalis
can not visit schools for fear of killing or abduction by
m ilitants. The state of the education can be realised from
t fact that between 1st April 1993 and 15th February
2000 twenty teachers and non-teaching employees of schools
were killed by the militants, as per statistics given in
the state assembly by education minister Mr. Anil Sarkar
last year. During the same period 58 teachers and
non-teaching employees were kidnapped by the militants and
out of them six are
yet to return alive when the answer was given in the state
assembly by Mr. Anil Sarkar last year.