Socio-

Socio-economic Profile of
the Shifting Cultivators
of Tripura

Indraneel Bhowmik

23rd November 2007 ITTO Pre-Project Workshop @ Prajna Bhavana,

Agartala
The discourse

Introduction & Information

Sample Profile

Socio-economic indicators

Observations &

Concluding Remarks

23rd November 2007 ITTO Pre-Project Workshop @ Prajna Bhavana,

Agartala
Rehabilitation process………….some measures
•The first attempts at rehabilitation -1930-31.

70,400 acres (11264 ha)- Kalyanpur Reserve in the

Khowai subdivision

•First Five Year Plan- special emphasis to the tribal

welfare programmes.

•Colonisation of the jhumias- pilot project at Belonia sub-

division in 1953.

•More than 49000 families rehabilitated through settled

agriculture till Ninth Five Year Plan

•Rubber based rehabilitation- success

23rd November ITTO Pre-Project Workshop @
2007 Prajna Bhavana, Agartala
 Extent of Jhum cultivation in Tripura

Area under Shifting Cultivation

1. Task – Force Ministry of Agriculture, 1983 223 km2

2. Satpathy etal,,Ministry of Rural Development, 2003 1080 km2
3. National Remote Sensing Agency, 2003 395.26 km2
a) Abandoned Jhum 110.37 km2
b) Current Jhum 284.89 km2
4. Forest area under Jhum (1987-1997) * 600 km2
5 Forest Cover affected by Jhum #
a) Dense Forest 221 km2
b) Open Forest 163 km2

Source- Tiwari 2005

Notes: * - Forest Survey of India, 1999; # - State of Forest Report 2003, National Forestry Commission, 2006
23rd November 2007 ITTO Pre-Project Workshop @ Prajna Bhavana,
Agartala
 JHUM CULTIVATORS IN TRIPURA
District North Dhalai West South Tripura
Tripuri 552 5197 5785 2024 13558
Reang 4518 3252 81 1328 9178
Noatia 0 21 59 47 127
Chakma 578 860 0 400 1838
Halam 269 236 182 399 1086
Jamatia 0 221 103 94 418
Mog 17 14 1 208 240
Garo 4 1 32 0 37
Lushai 1434 39 0 0 1473
Kuki 9 1 10 0 20
Munda 2 0 80 0 82
Uchai 0 0 0 12 12
Orang 4 0 20 0 24
Bhil 1 0 0 0 1
Khasia 3 0 16 0 19
Santhal 0 2 1 6 9
Others 1 10 149 2 153
Total 7392 9854 6520 4520 28286
Source- Compiled from the survey undertaken by the Dept. of Forests, Govt. of Tripura
Notes- Others include non-tribals and unidentified groups
 Progress in Rehabilitation Projects
 Considerable decline from in the last two decades- 55049 households in
1987
 Success of the rehabilitation schemes undertaken by
 Tribal Welfare Department
 TRP & PGP Department
 Autonomous District Council
 Tripura Rehabilitation Plantation Corporation (TRPC)
 Forest Department
 Agricultural Department
 Tripura Forest Development Plantation Corporation (TFDPC)
THE PRESENT SCENARIO
• The Tripuri and the Reang community are the largest of the shifting
cultivators
• Maximum concentrations of shifting cultivators are seen in the Chawmanu,
Damboornagar, Mungiakami and Dasda RD Blocks.
• Some non-tribals in the West Tripura district have adopted shifting cultivation
as a means of livelihood.
Sample Profile
The sample size of 344 : selected through purposive random
sampling covering all the four districts of the state.
– spread over eight forest division
– twelve rural development blocks &
– 91 villages/paras.

Community-wise distribution of the sample

Community North Dhalai West South Total
Tripuri 0 51 23 75 149
Reang 71 39 0 27 137
Jamatia 0 0 0 18 18
Chakma 1 9 0 13 23
Noatia 0 0 0 2 2
Munda 0 0 2 0 2
Lusai 3 0 0 0 3
Mog 0 0 0 5 5
Garo 0 0 0 5 5
Total 75 99 25 145 344
Source- Field Survey, 2007
 Age distribution of the sample population
Age Group
North South Dhalai West Tripura
(Years)

<6 57 (15.32) 62(9.78) 59(13.05) 24(24.49) 202(12.98)

6-14 74(19.89) 163(25.71) 102(22.57) 22(22.45) 361(23.20)

15 – 40 193(51.88) 306(48.26) 223(49.34) 48(48.9) 770(49.48)

41 – 60 40(10.75) 94(14.82) 61(13.49) 2(2.04) 197(12.66)

> 60 8(2.15) 9(1.42) 7(1.55) 2(2.04) 26(1.67)

Total 372(100) 634(100) 452(100) 98(100) 1556(100)

The average family size- 4.52 for the state;

highest 4.96 in the North Tripura district &
23rd November lowest in the West Tripura district, 3.92
2007
Occupation structure of the samples- Tripura
Occupation Primary Secondary

JHUM 465 (52.60) 378 (43.10)

Agriculture 41 (4.64) 9 (1.03)

Agricultural Labour 5(0.57) 2 (0.23)

Day Labour 300 (33.94) 454 (51.76)

Business 40 (4.52) 16 (1.82)
Service 10 (1.13) 0
Others 23 (2.60) 18 (2.06)
Total 884 (100) 877 (100)

Figures in parenthesis indicate percentage

 Incidence of occupation in the four districts (in percentage)

Primary Secondary

Occupation Dhalai North South West Occupation Dhalai North South West

JHUM 94.35 95.59 7.77 11.76

JHUM 0.82 6.03 85.07 0

Agriculture 1.61 0 9.58 0

Agriculture 0.82 0 1.87 0
Agricultural
0 0 1.30 0 Agricultural
Labour 0 0 0.53 0
Labour
Day Labour 0 0.49 70.21 62.75
Day Labour 94.25 90.45 9.33 44.44

Business 0.81 0.98 7.77 13.73 Business 2.04 2.01 1.87 0

Service 1.21 1.47 1.04 0 Service 0 0 0 0

Others 2.02 1.47 2.33 11.76 Others 0 1.51 1.33 55.56

Total 100 100 100 100

Total 100 100 100 100
23rd November 2007
 Income Characteristics
Per capita income & Average Income per house hold among the sample (in Rs.)
(Current Price)

Per capita income Average Annual Income per

household
North 3122.85 15489.33 (5917.10)
Dhalai 3693.25 16862.12 (10535.67)
West 2724.49 10680.00 (4868.86)
South 7942.78 35214.83 (17677.41)
Average for State 4370.84 19563.07
Source: Field Survey, 2007
Figures in parenthesis indicate the standard deviation

NSDP Statistics for Tripura

Per Capita income in 2003-04 (P)
Current Price- Rs. 29357
Constant Prices-Rs. 11136
23rd November 2007 ITTO Pre-Project Workshop @ Prajna Bhavana,
Agartala
 Expenditure Profile
Per capita expenditure & Average expenditure per house hold among the sample (in Rs.)
Average Annual expenditure per
Per capita expenditure
household
North 3376.64 16748.13 (9143.41)
Dhalai 3528.45 16109.70 (5744.53)
West 2841.43 11138.40 (4908.19)
South 8547.62 37633.26 (16738.64)
Average 4573.54 20407.37
Source: Field Survey, 2007
Figures in parenthesis indicate the standard deviation
• Expenditures are higher than income in the three districts of North, West and South
Tripura.
•Food contributes to 33 percent of the total expenditure, followed by transport, 12
percent.
•Average annual expenditures on health, clothing and housing are almost same and
each accounts for 11 percent of the total.

•Expenditure for fodder is very nominal (1%) because the livestock animals generally
graze in forest lands and at times when fodder is obtained from the nearby jungles

• Education is not a major head of expenditure, only 4 percent is spent on it.

• Entertainment and others, each account for 6 percent of the aggregate expenditure
Forest Product Used by the Sample Households
District Fuel Fodder Fruits Others
West 25 0 25 0
(100) (100)
South 138 18 89 84
(95.17) (12.41) (61.38) (57.93)
North 75 4 60 2
(100) (5.33) (80) (2.67)
Dhalai 99 2 99 0
(100) (2.02) (100)
Total 337 24 273 86
(98.79) (4.94) (85.34) (15.15)
Source: Field Survey, 2007
Figures in parenthesis indicate percentage

Forest product as fuel is found among 99 percent; though it is marginally

less in South district.
Fruits from forest are used by 85 percent of the households.
23rd November ITTO Pre-Project Workshop @
2007 Prajna Bhavana, Agartala
 Level of Education
Education
Age Illiterate Primary Class Matriculatio H.S Total
VIII n
6-14 51 (14.13) 308 2 361 (100)
15-40 433 (56.23) 267 57 12 1 770 (100)
41-60 154 ( 78.17) 38 4 1 197 (100)
61& 20 (76.92) 4 2 26 (100)
above
Total 658 (48.60) 617 (45.59) 65 (4.80) 13 (0.96) 1 1354 (100)
Source: Field Survey, 2007
Figures in parenthesis indicate percentage

• 48.60 percent of the respondents are illiterate and 45.59 percent has
studied till the primary level.
• There is only one person who has qualified in the Higher Secondary
level and just 1(one) percent of the sample are matriculates.

23rd November ITTO Pre-Project Workshop @

2007 Prajna Bhavana, Agartala
 Category of Ration Cards among the Sample Households
Ration cardholder
District
APL BPL Antardaya Annapurna A&B Nothing Total

7 14 1 3 25
West 0 0
(28) (56) (4) (12) (100)
31 84 11 2 8 7 143
South
(2.16) (58.74) (7.69) (1.39) (5.59) (4.89) (100)
7 37 19 12 75
North 0 0
(9.33) (49.33) (25.33) (16) (100)
5 52 23 99
Dhalai 0 0 19 (19.19)
(5.05) (52.52) (23.23) (100)
50 187 54 2 8 41 342*
Total
(14.62) (54.68) (15.79) (.29) (2.34) (11.99) (100)
Items from Ration (TRIPURA) Obtained by the Samples
Total Items from Ration
Households Wheat Rice Kerosene Sugar Pulses Others
344 6 287 308 198 3 192
Total 1.74 83.43 89.53 57.55 0.87 55.81
percentage
23rd November 2007 Source: Field Survey, 2007
Observations….a few
Housing-
Mud in South district; bamboos, tin, straw, thatch
in other districts
Sanitation-
Mostly Temporary in nature; permanent facilities,
to an extent in South districts
Pulse Polio- most popular government
programme

23rd November 2007 ITTO Pre-Project Workshop @ Prajna Bhavana,

Agartala
Concluding Remarks
 Differential character of the jhumias across
state
 Situation in the South and West district
comparatively better
 Area specific approach needed to address
the problem
 Extensive & exhaustive resource mapping be
undertaken along with capacity building of the
jhum cultivators for alternative vocation

23rd November 2007 ITTO Pre-Project Workshop @ Prajna Bhavana,

Agartala
 Thank You

23rd November 2007 ITTO Pre-Project Workshop @ Prajna Bhavana,

Agartala