TRIPURA BORDER HAATS IN THE POST-COVID ERA

Commerce

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic not only imposed a catastrophic threat on the health and life security of the human race but has also shattered down the global economies to an unutterable state. The imposition of global lockdown to tackle the spread of the deadly virus suspended all the day-to-day activities resulting in loss of jobs and creating an acute shortage of income opportunities. The lockdown also hampered the export-import process between nations as all the international borders were sealed to prevent the spread of the virus. Following this, the borders between India and Bangladesh were also sealed which hindered the regular export-import process between the Indian States with Bangladesh. Amongst all the North-Eastern states of India that share an international boundary with Bangladesh, Tripura is the most to suffer due to its geographical position and isolation from its very mainland. Tripura shares the largest international border (856 km) with Bangladesh which is higher than any other North-Eastern State (Assam-263 Km, Meghalaya-443 Km, Mizoram-318 Km) sharing a border with Bangladesh. This largest sharing of the international border has made Tripura depend a lot on Bangladesh to fulfill its necessities through imports. Following this improved trade relations, two Border Haats evolved up in between Tripura (India) and Bangladesh both of which are proving to be a boon for those residing in the remote border areas. But the sudden outbreak of the pandemic has put these haats in a standstill position. Thus, the present paper is an attempt to highlight the problems faced by the Tripura vendors operating in the two border haats of Tripura along with some possible measures that can be adopted to resume trade in these haats after the pandemic situation.

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