States / Tripura

Background

Tripura, one of the north-eastern states of India, is the third smallest state in the country. It is bordered by Bangladesh to the north, south, and west, and Indian states of Assam and Mizoram to the east. According to the 2011 census, its population is 36.74 lakhs, out of which 26.17% live in urban areas and 73.83% live in rural areas. The percentage of population of SC is 17.82% and ST is 31.76%. Tripura is connected with the rest of the country through the National Highway 8 and has five mountain ranges- Boromura, Atharamura, Longtharai, Shakhan and Jampui Hills.

The state has 8 districts, 58 blocks and 1039 gram panchayats. The Tripura Panchayat Act 1993 was implemented by giving more powers to the panchayat and by enabling them to function as institutions of self-governance. Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council ( TTAADC) Act 1979 launched by the Indigenous people of Tripura, under the provision of the 6^th scheduled plays an important role in empowering the Indigenous people. The broad objective behind setting up the Autonomous District Council is to hand over certain administrative and legal authority to the council in order to bring all round development of the backward people so as to protect and preserve their culture, customs and traditions.The Tripura Livelihood Mission (TRLM) has been working in three districts comprising of six resource blocks for creation of the community network and for scaling up the mission in other blocks and districts of the state. It aims at empowering the rural poor and women of the state socially and economically.

PRI-CBO Convergene project

MoU for the PRI-CBO Convergence project in Tripura was signed on 15^th December 2016 with 13 gram panchayat in Matabari block and 16 village council (VCs) in Killa block, 6 mentors and 2 professionals from Kudumbashree NRO. After a workshop in Agartala in May 2017 a decision was taken to saturate Matabari block, implementing the project in all the 36 GPs. To match the scale of the project 5 more mentors were brought in Matabari block. Currently 11 mentors & 2 professionals are working in the project in Tripura. PRI orientation and LRG identification are two stepping stones of the project in Tripura. The orientation of the panchayat members on the project and its objectives, happened both in district, block and GP/VC level; simultaneously potential CBO members were identified to become Local Resource Group Members (LRGs) & given a three day training on how to work as foot-soldiers of this project. The LRGs then, as a part of their assignment, had to interact with every SHG in their Village Organization (VOs) to impart their newfound knowledge. The next activity in the timeline of the project was Participatory Assessment of Entitlements (PAE) in which the LRGs organized a meeting with every SHG, individually, to discuss about their entitlements through a ribbon exercise, facilitated by mentors. After doing PAE in every SHG the VOs had to make Entitlement Access Plan (EAP) in which they prepare their demand regarding each of the centrally sponsored schemes. Now that the CBOs were well-informed about their entitlements and have a plan in place to access them the LRGs started to mobilize the CBO members to participate in Gram Sabhas in their respective panchayats through door-to-door campaign, rallies and meetings. As a result of this campaign considerable number of womenfolk turned up for the first time in gram sabha which was a spectacle for the panchayats itself. The Entitlement Access Plans were submitted to the panchayats in these gram sabhas, and almost everywhere the panchayats promised to do everything in their power to actualize them. At the same time all the VOs in the two blocks were given a two day activity-driven training to strengthen its subcommittees.

Phase 2 started in September 2018 across 12 blocks in 3 districts- Matabari, Killa, Amarpur and Tepania in Gomati district; Ambassa, Salema, Durga Chowmuhani and Dumburnagar in Dhalai district; Jolaibari, Hrishyamukh, Rajnagar and Satchand in South Tripura district. LRG identification and selection was done out of which 1404 LRGs were trained to work with their respective GP/VCs. 

Project impelementation status in Tripura as of June 2020