Narendra Chandra Debbarma

Narendra Chandra Debbarma was a politician from Tripura and president of the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT). He was named for the Padma Shri posthumously in 2023 in the field of public affairs, from Tripura ^[1].

Broadcaster and union leader

Debbarma was born on 28 August 1942 in Khowai district and graduated from the University of Calcutta in 1962 ^[2]. He worked in the state’s food and civil supplies department and then at All India Radio, retiring as station director in Agartala on 31 August 2002 ^[2]. During his service he led the Tripura Upajati Karmachari Samiti, an association of tribal employees ^[2].

A writer on Kokborok and autonomy

He wrote on land, autonomy and the Constitution, including Towards Greater Autonomy ^[2]. He translated Tagore’s Balaka poems into Kokborok as Takhumsabodol, wrote Koklam, a handbook of spoken Kokborok, and as a research officer contributed to a book on the customary laws of several Tripura communities ^[2].

In politics

After retiring he served as additional chief executive officer of the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council ^[2]. He contested the 2008 assembly election from Charilam without success, and in 2009 founded the IPFT, which sought a separate state made up of the council’s areas ^[2]. After the 2018 election the IPFT joined the BJP in forming the state government, and he served as revenue minister, and later also forest minister, from 9 March 2018 until his death ^[2]. He died on 1 January 2023 ^[2].