Union Tribal Welfare Minister assured support for tribal development: Bikash Debbarma

Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram has said that the Centre would do all possible to help and take steps for the development and welfare of the tribals in Tripura and their inhabited areas, said Tripura’s Tribal Welfare Minister Bikash Debbarma.

Tripura Minister Debbarma on Friday said that he met Union Minister Oram in New Delhi and discussed various schemes and plans about the development of tribal areas and welfare of the indigenous people.

He said that the Union Minister assured him of all possible help, support and guidance for the all-round development of the tribal areas and welfare of the tribal people.

"I have highlighted the issues related to roads, electric and water supply, and modern education facilities in the tribal inhabited areas," Minister Debbarma told the media.

He said that the Union Minister stressed that steps were undertaken to bring all tribals into the mainstream of development.

Debbarma said that the BJP government in Tripura wants to provide equal developmental opportunities to both tribals and non-tribals.

The ruling BJP has an alliance with two tribal based parties – Tipra Motha and Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) to obtain electoral benefits from the tribals.

The TMP, headed by Pradyot Bikram Manikya Debbarma, a former royal scion, has been governing the politically important Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC), which has a jurisdiction on over two-thirds of Tripura's 10,491 sq km area and is home to over 12,16,000 people, of which 90 per cent are tribals. Of Tripura's 60 Assembly seats, 20 are reserved for the tribals.

Tripura Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha earlier said that ambitious projects and schemes worth Rs 1,400 crore, funded by the World Bank, are currently underway in the state to improve the socio-economic conditions of indigenous tribes, adding that previously, no government had thought about their welfare.

The Rs 1,400 crore would be utilised under the Tripura Rural Economic Growth and Service Delivery Project (TRESP) to further enhance the livelihoods and overall socio-economic status of Janajati (tribal) people.

CM Dr Saha said, "We must take a pledge that the works which were not fulfilled and not done yet have to be taken up after discussion in the coming year, and we must move forward to develop the state."

Tribals constitute one-third of the total population of four million in Tripura, and they always play a vital role in all spheres of the northeastern state, including electoral politics.