Homchang, Agartala, Agartala (2025)

05/11/2025

In a move of solidarity, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma and Tipra M***a founder Bubagra Pradyot Manikya Debbarma along with other leaders on Wednesday have announced a new political platform called “One Northeast.”

On a press meet at New Delhi’s Constitution Club, the initiative brings together leaders from Meghalaya, Tripura, Nagaland, Assam, and other NE states. Through ONE the leaders have stated it’s time the region spoke with one collective voice and also carry ahead a Pan Northeast political front.

The new political platform aims to speak on protection of Indigenous land, cultural rights, tackle migration and border challenges. Also, it has stated on working for greater national attention for the region’s development.

A joint statement was signed by Bubagra Pradyot Manikya, Meghalaya chief minister Conrad Sangma, former BJP National Spokesperson, Nagaland minister Mmhonlumo Kikon and People's Party founder Daniel Langthasa.

“The idea of us joining for the interest of our next generation is something which maybe uncomfortable for some people. But we have to realise that in 76 years we have failed because we continued to speak the same issues separately. We were divided”, Bubagra Pradyot Manikya wrote later on Facebook.

“Today, young leaders from across our region have come together with one shared vision, to unite our voices and form a single political platform that truly represents the aspirations of our people. Inspired by the legacy of our great leaders, we are taking the first step toward building a strong, collective voice for the North East. Together, we stand for a stronger, more united North East!” CM Sangma also wrote on his social post.

A nine-member committee will design the framework for the new organization within 45-days. The front One Northeast could shift the region’s political balance by creating a unified voice among parties long divided by geography and ethnicity.

The eight NE states often treated as India’s distant frontier send 25 MPs to Parliament. A coordinated regional front like the ONE could reshape Delhi’s approach to issues like development, identity and autonomy.

02/11/2025

In the Mahabharata, Ekalavya stands alone in the forest, bow in hand, a clay idol of Dronacharya before him. No guru’s blessing. No place in the royal court. Only discipline, hunger, and the fierce privacy of practice. His arrows fly straighter than the princes. When Drona hears of him, he does not honour the boy’s skill. He asks for guru Dakshina, a payment for teaching he never gave. Ekalavya, bound by respect to a teacher who never accepted him, cuts off his right thumb and offers it.

It is a story about skill and exclusion, about how power does not always crush the weak with open force. Sometimes it smiles, accepts your offering, and leaves you incomplete. Ekalavya did not lose his thumb because he lacked talent, but because his talent threatened the order that kept him outside.
And in Tripura today, I see that thumb being given away again, quietly, politely on the banners of our own gatherings.

The new academic year begins with the same flutter of nerves and hope. Freshers in stiff new clothes, clutching notebooks, faces half-hidden in shy smiles. A stage is set, mics tested, garlands hung. And overhead, a banner reads: ST Freshers’ Meet. Three letters. A constitutional tag. A legal category pulled from the Schedule of Tribes. A shield meant for court cases, job quotas, and welfare lists, now strung above a cultural event like a borrowed identity we have learned to call our own.

We do not have to reject the ST category. It has its place in law, in policy, in the protections we still need. But the order matters. The name comes first. Imagine walking into a hall under a banner reading -The Tipra Freshers Meet or The Indigenous People of Tripura Freshers Meet, with the bureaucratic category tucked in the corner, small and secondary. The air would feel different. The story would start on our terms.

Guest column by–

02/11/2025

Maharajkumari Pragya Debbarma recalls the activity of Tripura king Maharaja Bir Bikram in America. How Maharaja Bir Bikram envisioned the conservation of Indigenous land also his philanthropic work in the U.K.

30/10/2025

Bubagra Pradyot Manikya on why other parts of India are not educated about Northeast India.

In his speech made in the Tangkhuls Katamnao LONG DELHI YARTHOT, Bubagra Pradyot Manikya spoke about how the people of Northeast India need to come together.

He asserts: “Isn't it also the duty of the Government of India to teach us, to other parts of India about the Northeastern part of India?”.

27/10/2025

There was a 2023 memo from the General Administration (Personnel & Training) Department of Tripura Government notifying Barun Kumar Sahu's placement on compulsory waiting for posting. To this day, any order for posting have not been notified.

Barun Kumar Sahu is one of the senior most Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer of the 1992 batch of Tripura cadre. Since the memo dated. October 3, 2023, Sahu has been kept on compulsory waiting for posting for two years now.

His last assignment was Secretary of the Tripura Human Rights Commission (THRC) of which he was withdrawn after an unanimous resolution passed by the commission on 22nd September 2023. He also served as Principal Secretary of department like the Land Revenue Management, Rural Development, Fire Services, Jails, and Cooperatives.

Sahu is equivalent in seniority to Sriram Taranikanti, present Director of LBSNAA and Shashi Ranjan Kumar, Secretary, UPSC who both are in Central deputation.

The current position of Tripura Government to put Barun Kumar Sahu in compulsory waiting is not clear. Currently, several retired IAS officers who were inducted to the service through promotion still continue to hold key secretary posts continue to get extension.

Based on available information, Barun Kumar Sahu was born and brought up in Asansol, West Bengal, while his parents hail from Giridih, Jharkhand. He also joined the IAS quite young at the age of 23 in 1993. He earned his B.Tech in Computer Technology from IIT Kharagpur.

Apart from his administrative duties, Sahu was also known to publish several books including the 1999 ATop Jhum Hills- Annotated and Translated folksongs on Tripuri tribe of North-eastern India.

The Bureaucracy Review– B Motom Deb Barma, Homchang Chief Editor and Policy Correspondent

26/10/2025

In an effort to preserve the traditional Jaduni Rwchapmung, the Dharmarai-Priti Rani Mukumu Jaduni Ter is set to be held at Maharani Kami, Kamalpur, Dhalai on 1st and 2nd November 2025.

The initiative is to bring more than thirty-Jadu Rwchapnairok (Tipra folk singers) together for performing their musical art. The listed Jaduni Rwchapmung will be Uttar Ragini, Dakhin Ragini, Duna Ragini, Beri, Daspa, Halam, Molsom and Tripura. There will also be showcase of Tipra folk musical intruments like Chongpreng, Sainda, Kham and Sumui.

The festival hopes to revive the Tiprasa Jaduni Rwchapmung folk art of singing and also promote the surviving singers in a bigger stage. Speaking to Homchang, Dr Bijoy Debbarma, organizing member of the Jaduni Ter said: “Focusing on goals to reach to the new generation and also conserving the art form digitally, this is almost like our final chance to bring together these Jaduni folk-singers’ artists.”

The Jaduni Ter will be documenting all the performances of the event and archive them for the future generation. “The primary motivation behind organizing the festival is to have a consortium of the Jaduni art form digitally archive. While there are many variations in the Tiprasa Jaduni art form even amongst the Hodas’ and Panji; there is a concern of losing these nuances,” Dr Bijoy tells on the importance of the initiative.

The initiative is also to honour the memory of Dharmarai Debbarma (1916-2020) who was a prominent social and political activist during and after the Tripura Rajya Gana Shiksha Movement and Priti Rani Barman (1930-2019), a direct descent of the last Dimasa King Govindra Chandra Barman. She also has a collection of poetry to her name.

The organizing committee of the Dharmarai-Priti Rani Mukumu Jaduni Ter and member of the Dharmarai Priti Rai family have invited Tipra folk art enthusiast to join the celebration at Maharani Kami which is located near by Santirbazar at Kamalpur from November 1, 2025.

24/10/2025

Is the divisive force persisting within Tiprasa community spontaneous or fueled externally?

The modus operandi of forces who deliberately attempts to create divide is to first identity the fault lines within the target community.

They have a nuanced understanding of crowd psychology and is equipped with advanced technology and sophisticated application (computer algorithms) to psychograph people and exploit them.

In the Tiprasa Dopha, people offer allegiance to both their 'Hoda' and 'Dopha', with more weight towards the 'Hoda'. Additionally, existence of few surnames which also coincide the linguistic variation (dialectic or accent level), serves as favorable grounds for the divisive forces to function.

Once the force, subversive in nature, discover these vulnerability, they will device plans aimed at magnifying these differences to sow discord by creating "Us versus Them" mentality within the Tiprasa community itself.

They will exploit various inherent difference, like the one of faith or linguistic variation. Small issues will be cunningly tagged with communal colour, escalating into unnecessary hatred and mistrust. This will allow them to keep the Tiprasa people embroiled in trivial internal conflicts and prevent them from discovering the real problem.

A group with a larger population (say Debbarma) can be projected as the enemy with the help of manipulative tactics and create a sense of victimhood within a particular Hoda to alienate them from the Tiprasa identity by shaping a false perception that Debbarma are availing and retaining all the opportunities to themselves.

Weaponisation of the word "Gurpai", is also a part of subversive method which is designed to channeling hatred and frustration to the Debbarma (sometimes even Jamatia, Kalai and Tripura become target), by diverting it from the path that leads to the right station.

Once the subversive forces have these kind of psychologcal weapons in their repertoire, they will then identity Whatsapp groups, pages and people who have a pre-existing bias that resonate with their pitch. Then imposters will be planted in these group who will feed them content aimed at sowing discord within the Tiprasa community by giving boasts and validation to the presumptions of people.

The imposters after repeated narrative feeding, will then consolidate an eco chamber, where even fake stories will be accepted without scrutiny. It works because it aligns with their pre-existing biases. They will outrightly dismiss any counter to the fake news if it's against their belief. Any unrelated incident will also be tweaked to fit into their narrative.

The remedy for this perilous issue is to develop critical thinking and incorporate awareness in socio political discourses. The emotional blindness, political naivety, short sightedness, and psychological immaturity if not removed, the community will head towards fragmentation. Tiprasa people have to develop ability to see beyond the obvious and not be too quick to judge.

23/10/2025

Tiprasa civil society called bandh on Thursday saw picketers at various locations across Tripura including Aguli (Agartala).

The bandh started 6 a.m. in the morning where there was picketing by the civil society volunteers. Movement of vehicles in the national highway was stalled and railway services got halted for the day.

The bandh was called on the demands for detection and deportation, implementation of the Inner Line Permit (ILP) in Tripura and the pending fulfilment of the signed tripartite Tiprasa Accord.

On what has been a long standing demand by major regional parties and civil societies of Tripura, there is still no clear government policy on deportation of illegal immigrants from Tripura. This lack of comprehensive refugee policy especially for dealing with illegal Bangladeshi immigrants remains a big issue.

While the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued an order of 30-day limit to verify credentials of ‘illegal’ immigrants from Bangladesh earlier on May this year; many have opined that Tripura government need to do more on the issue.

21/10/2025

TTAADC WISHES EVERYONE A HAPPY DIWALI

This is an Ad in Homchang

20/10/2025

Tripura chief minister Manik Saha on Sunday issued an apology on calling IPFT an ugrovadi or militant group claiming it was an unintentional mistake or slip of tongue.

Recently, CM Manik Saha was out to campaign for the Bihar election. In a speech, Saha mentioned that Tripura earlier had the problems of insurgency. When stating insurgent groups like NLFT and ATTF existed he also mentioned IPFT as one of the group.

The incident after circulating in social media had garnered wide attention calling out the chief minister's remark. Many have questioned whether it was intentional or not and asked the chief minister to clarify his statement.

Following the wide discussion, CM Saha came out with a statement on his Facebook post saying: “While giving a speech in Bihar, I unintentionally mentioned the name of IPFT while mentioning the ATTF and NLFT. As soon as the matter came to my attention, I contacted the President of IPFT, Shri Prem Kumar Reang, over the phone and sincerely apologized for this unintentional mispronunciation.”

Earlier, IPFT general secretary Swapan Debbarma also issued a press statement asking for clarification. While also informing that he had forwarded the issue to chief minister right after seeing the statement made. Debbarma informed that IPFT will wait for a personal clarification from the chief minister.

The latest controversy came right after the chief minister speech on Hojagiri Ter about the Bru people had settled down. The previous statement also caused an outcry with many asking the chief minister to take back the claims.

19/10/2025

The Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) covers nearly two-thirds of the state about 7,133 square kilometres of hills, forests, and rivers. It is the heartland of the Tipra people, the old kingdom’s spine. Yet, it has no city. Not even Khumulwng, the council’s own headquarters, with its schools, college, hospital, polytechnic, and newly opened cinema hall, qualifies as a town.

On paper, it is still a village. No municipality, no town committee, no urban law. An autonomy of land without a single statutory town. This absence is not a coincidence. It is the result of history - of laws written to protect, and others to contain. What emerges is not just a map but a design: a geography of absence.

In the 1930s, Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya Bahadur began modernising his kingdom. He was visionary for his time, in 1939, he declared roughly 530 square miles (about 1,373 sq km) as reserved forest, and in 1943, he demarcated another 1,950 square miles (around 5,050 sq km) for Indigenous agriculture. These acts, noble in intention, drew an invisible line between the cultivable plains and the forested hills. Baramura, Atharamura, Trishna, Longtharai, these were declared forest zones, sealed off from conversion or expansion. The hills would remain green, but also static.

After 1949, when Tripura merged with India, those lines hardened. The Indian Forest Act (1952) and the Tripura Land Revenue and Land Reforms Act (1960) carried forward the same restrictions. What began as conservation became confinement. Land could not be traded, and townships could not be planned. The forest, once a source of life, became a legal wall. Then came 1947.

Today, the TTAADC governs the largest share of Tripura’s land but none of its towns. It remains the only Sixth Schedule region in the Northeast that is entirely rural by law. Over 90 percent of its revenue comes from state and central transfers, according to the CAG (2019–20).

Guest column by

Full article link at story

Homchang

05/11/2025

02/11/2025

02/11/2025

30/10/2025

27/10/2025

26/10/2025

24/10/2025

23/10/2025

21/10/2025

20/10/2025

19/10/2025

Address

Telephone

Website

Alerts

Contact The Business

Shortcuts

Share

Category