Chief Minister Manik Sarkar has lost his biggest electoral battle with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) winning the state-election and ending the 25-year-long regime of the Communist party. Manik Sarkar's no-frills image was not enough to power the CPM government through for polls.
Tripura, as of now, has the highest unemployment rate in India. According to the Employment-Unemployment Survey for 2015-16 by Labour Bureau, Tripura has an unemployment rate of 19.7 percent. Tripura ranked 22 in India on the Ease of Doing Business rankings for 2017.
Tripura also features in the bottom plank for per capita income, ranking 24 of 36 states and union territories, showed India’s Economic Survey report for 2017-18.
With an income of Rs 71,666 per person in 2014-15, Tripura ranked below the national average of Rs 86,454, between backward states like Rajasthan (Rs 75,201) and Madhya Pradesh (Rs 56,182), as per an analysis by India Spend.
Enlisting key areas in Tripura that need addressing, state’s Economic Survey 2015-61 said, “High rate of poverty, low per-capita income, low capital formation, inadequate infrastructural facilities, geographical isolation, communication bottleneck, inadequate exploitation, inadequate use of forest and mineral resources, low progress in industrial field and high unemployment problem.”
Agriculture is the main source of employment for 64% of the state’s population but 60% of the state is forestland, and barely 27% of Tripura’s undulating land is available for farming. The CPM government has also not been able to implement the Seventh Pay Commission in the state.
Healthcare was boasted about during CPM’s election campaign, however, according to rural health statistics from 2016, of the 80 specialist doctors needed in Tripura’s state hospitals, only one was in position, according to latest.
Also, where BJP’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan might find prominence is, while Tripura’s open defecation rate is 3.5%, nearly 40% of its population still does not have access to “improved sanitation”, toilets where waste is disposed without human contact.
However, along with uplifting certain areas, BJP has the dual responsibility of maintaining the already developed avenues. Tripura has a literacy rate of 87.8% and is the fifth-most literate state in the country as per the 2011 Census. The state’s sex ratio, at 960 females per 1,000 males, is above the national average of 942.
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