Tripura and Amit Shah: A fact check

On May 7, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah claimed Tripura had the highest rate of crime against women in the country, and 25 per cent of the literate population of the state was unemployed. He attributed this to the government, led by the CPI(M) and Manik Sarkar

All of Shah's statements are not consistent with the facts. Tripura is at eighth position on the list of crime against women among 29 states and seven Union Territories (UTs), according to the 2015 report of the National Crime Records Bureau. The measure is of crimes against women reported per 100,000 female population. Tripura recorded 68.2, above the national rate of 53.9, in 2015. Delhi (184.3) had the highest rate of violence against women, followed by Assam (148.2) and Telangana (83.1). 

The BJP president also said 919 cases of crime against women were reported in 10 months in Tripura. While it was not clear which months Shah was referring to, a study by the Tripura Police shows the number of such crimes against women reported between January and November 2016 declined 20 per cent to 977 cases, from 1,221 cases in 2015. However, Shah's assertion that 25 per cent of the state's literate population is unemployed is close to the truth. Of every 1,000 graduates in the state, 228 are unemployed, according to the fifth Annual Employment-Unemployment Survey (2015-16) by the Union ministry of labour and employment. That means 22.8 per cent of graduates are unemployed.

Tripura is the fourth worst state in terms of unemployment among graduates in the country.