Laying emphasis on skill development, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha on Thursday distributed toolkits for the skill development of Bru migrants settled in the state.
“The prime minister said they (Brus) are our brothers and sisters. Their development should be done. Our Government wants to stay with you. Personally, I want to live with you. We will not do any politics with you. With skill development, there will be self-respect and dignity, and the livelihoods and capabilities of our youth will develop. Our Government is working in this direction,” he said at a distribution ceremony held at the Chailengta Bazar playground in Dhalai district.
“We are working to facilitate different benefits for the vulnerable tribal group under the PM JANMAN scheme. So far, 11 departments have been linked in this scheme. In 2024-25, Rs. 322.6 crore was spent. We have also decided to start three 100-bedded ST hostels and seven 50-bedded hostels. Under the Chief Minister’s Tribal Development Mission, we have launched the Super 100 scheme for the tribals to excel in civil services examinations,” he said.
“Earlier, there were many governments, many small parties, but no work was done. After the BJP-led state government was formed, a quadripartite agreement was signed,” he said, referring to the Bru migrants’ resettlement in the state.
As many as 37,000 Bru families that fled ethnic conflict in 1997 have been resettled in 12 villages in Tripura as per the agreement signed by the Government of India, the state governments of Tripura and Mizoram, and the Bru migrants in January 2020.
The chief minister also virtually inaugurated a new building of Chawmanu Class XII School, a new building of the Chawmanu fire station, a new building for the executive engineer of the rural development department, and the construction of a wayside amenity during the event.
Saha later wrote on X that five skilled youths were sent to Japan and that four more would go at the earliest. “The Opposition keeps on saying that the Government is not giving jobs. I want to tell them that they should listen to my speech and not run negative campaigns,” he further wrote.
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According to the chief minister, 35,000 candidates are training with a special focus on renewable energy, information technology services, artificial intelligence, etc., under the Tripura Skill and Entrepreneurship Policy 2024.
Saha further wrote that out of the 2024-25 budget of over Rs 27,000 crore, the committed expenditure was Rs 17,014 crore. Rs 6,645 crore of this amount—39.06 per cent—was provided for tribal-dominated areas, he added.
The state has kept over 40 per cent of the 2025-26 budget for the development of such areas in the fields of medical, sports, and education, Saha wrote.”The state cannot be developed without the development of the janajati areas,” he added.
