The State of Economy during the Crisis of COVID-19
By: Dr. Arun Kumar Nayak
Tags: Trade, Covid 19, Indian Economy, Economy, Tripura

The COVID-19 epidemic has devastated the economy across the world including India. It is well known that India is a developing country and at this stage, its economy is passing through demand depression and high unemployment. It is too leading to a slowdown in the supply-side, further badly impacting the economy and wellbeing of millions. The worst affected is the unorganized sector, where millions lost their jobs. The shocking news is that the GDP of India has shrunk by 23.9 percent in the first quarter of the Financial Year 2020–21. GDP has shrunk from Rs 35.35 lakh crore in the first quarter of 2019–20 to Rs 26.90 lakh crore in the first quarter of 2020–21, showing a contraction of 23.9 percent as compared to 5.2 percent growth in the first quarter of 2019–20. The worst-hit sector is the construction, which contracted by 50 percent. The hotel industry is contracted by 47 percent, manufacturing by 39.3 percent, and mining by 23.3 percent. Agriculture is the only sector, which has survived the slump, registered a growth of 3.4 percent.

Besides the Government of India initiatives, the federating units (states) too in their respective domain have been addressing their state economies and the issue of unemployment on their own level. In this context, the article explains how the Government of Tripura has been engaging itself during the period of COVID-19 in accelerating the economy of the state as well as the nation. On 15th August 2020, on the occasion of Independence Day, the Chief Minister of Tripura said that the Government of Tripura has been working persistently to make Tripura an economically “Atmanirbhor” (independent state) for the last 28 months. He said that the per capita income of the state has been enhanced from Rs. 100,444 in 2017–18 Financial Year to Rs.1,23,630 in 2019–20 Financial Years. The GDSP has been enhanced from 43,688 crores in 2017–18 Financial Year to Rs. 55.354 crore in 2019–20 Financial Year. The state’s export has increased from Rs.6.46 crore in 2017–18 to 30.34 crore with the introduction of a single-window system.

In the year 2018, the President of India, Ramnath Kovind inaugurated a 73.71 km stretch of National Highway (NH-8) (Udaipur to Sabroom) in Tripura, which is stretched from Guwahati (Assam) to the bordering town Sabroom (Tripura) via Agartala. He said that it has improved the facility of transportation, communications within the state, and simultaneously accelerate the pace of Act East Policy. He too emphasized that the increasing roads and railways connectivity across the Northeast in general and Tripura, in particular, will certainly get direct road connectivity to Chittagong port and southeast Asian nations. In the year 2019, Sabroom also got connected with train services with the initiative of the Government of India, which connects to Guwhati via Agartala. These initiatives will definitely boost the economy of the state Tripura in the coming days.

The revised protocol approved five new ports of call between the two nations. These are Dhulian, Maia, Kolaghat, Sonamura, and Jogigopha on the Indian side and Rajshahi, Sultanganj, Chilmari, Daudkandi, and Bahadurabad on the Bangladesh side while two more extended Ports of Call were also included at Tribeli (West Bengal), Badarpur (Assam) on the Indian side and Ghorasal, Muktarpur on the Bangladesh side. As per the revised protocol, a 93 km stretch of River Gomti in Tripura’s Sepahijala district connecting Sonamura on the Indian side and Daudkandi in Bangladesh and the Rajshahi-Dhulian route would be in effect. On the one hand, Sonamura-Daudkhandi the route is expected to improve connectivity between Tripura, Bangladesh, and nearby Indian states, and on the other, the Rajshahi-Dhulian route is expected to augment infrastructure in Bangladesh and reduce export costs from India. According to a survey conducted by the Bangladesh authorities, 89.5 kilometers out of the 90 km of the Sonamura-Daudkandi protocol route falls in Bangladesh and the remaining 500 meters falls in India.

It is well known that India and Bangladesh share a good history of border trade since 1999 and the new route on River Gomti would provide greater scope and potential for the state. Tripura imported materials worth an estimated value of Rs 500 crores before lockdown and this new route will surely give new avenues to border trade through the state. The operation of the project will start soon as it is in its trial phase. The trial run of the inland waterways protocol route between India and Bangladesh was started on 3rd September 2020 with a boat carrying 50 metric tonnes of cement from Bangladesh and it arrived on 5th September 2020 at Sonamura in Sepahijala district of Tripura, which is 60 kilometers from the capital city of Agartala. In this regard, the Chief Minister of Tripura said that the project would boost Indo-Bangla bilateral trade. It will make Tripura a key trade hub in the northeast region and predicted that the export volume would increase from Rs 30 crores to Rs 400 crores and the state would import goods worth Rs 2,000 crores in one year. Currently, goods worth Rs 645 crores are imported.

About the Author:

Dr. Arun Kumar Nayak, a trained political scientist pursued his Ph.D. from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, now working as Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science, Govt. Degree College, Santirbazar, Tripura, His wide interests of the research includes dynamics of development, polity, governance, and public policy. He has been writing extensively on these issues and many of his articles were published in reputed national and international journals.

Originally published at https://www.aspiringindia2020.com on September 6, 2020.

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