Kokborok

• Over 260 people were detained in Tripura recently during a 12-hour statewide strike called by the Twipra Students’ Federation (TSF) to press for the introduction of Roman script for Kokborok, state’s indigenous lingua franca.
• Tripura’s script debate centring on Kokborok is several decades old.

ABOUT KOKBOROK LANGUAGE

• It belongs to Tibeto-Burman family of languages and has close affinity with other language family like Bodo, Garo, Dimasa etc.
• Kokborok was first recognised as an official state language of the state in 1979.
• It is also declared as official language of Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council.
• The language is spoken by many of Tripura’s 19 tribal communities as their first language.
  • Tripura has nearly 30 per cent of its 37 lakh population from the tribal communities.
• It is recognised as an official language in the state under its three-language policy and is accepted as a medium of communication by other tribal communities of the state, but it does not have a script.
• The government set up two commissions under former legislator Shyama Charan Tripura and linguist Pabitra Sarkar to decide the script for it.