Greater Tipraland

Why in News?

• Chief of a political party of Tripura has recently led a two-day dharna at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, to raise the demand for a “Greater Tipraland”.

Highlights

• The objective is to secure the rights of indigenous communities in the state.
• The party is demanding a separate state of ‘Greater Tipraland’ for the indigenous communities of the north-eastern state.
• They want the Centre to carve out the separate state under Article 2 and 3 of the Constitution.
• Among the 19 notified Scheduled Tribes in Tripura, Tripuris (aka Tipra and Tiprasas) are the largest.
• According to the 2011 census, there are at least 5.92 lakh Tripuris in the state, followed by Bru or Reang (1.88 lakh) and Jamatias (83,000).
• They are demanding a separate state not only for the indigenous people but also for all communities who live in the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) area.
• Economic and social viability rather than political considerations must be given primacy.
• There should be certain clear-cut parameters and safeguards to check the unfettered demands.
• It is better to allow democratic concerns like development, decentralisation and governance rather than religion, caste, language or dialect to be the valid bases for conceding the demands for a new state.
• Apart from this the fundamental problems of development and governance deficit such as concentration of power, corruption, administrative inefficiency etc must be addressed.