MAHARAJA RADHA KISHORE MANIKYA DEBBARMA 1896-1909 (Modern Indian History of Tripura) By- BANIBRATA DATTA

The Reforms which were initiated during the era of Birchandra were carried forwardby his son Radha Kishore. He was a progressive ruler like his father who wanted tomodernise Tripura.

• The King reformed the system of education by introducing many moderntrends.

• The King was very influenced by the European methodology and tried tobring changes based on their way of working. The period witnessed many
reforms in the health department and police department. The agriculturalpolicies of the state were also reformed as most of Tripura’s economy sustainedon its cotton and tea production.

• The King did away with the oppressive control of Dewans who were extractingunfair land revenue. In order to get more revenue from land, many new landreforms were implemented.

• Radha Kishore was known to be a benign ruler. He always encouraged thewelfare of his subjects. The Victoria Memorial hospital in Agartala was builtby him. The restoration work of the palace was undertaken by resources
which were the funds of the taxpayers. The King declared the restored palaceas common property of people of the state as well as the royal family. Hewas a great patron of literature and learning. He profusely assisted RabindraNath in establishing the Santiniketan Vidyalaya. The King gave regular aid toVishwa Bharati and the Bengal Technical Institute which was located in Calcutta.

• The King wanted the population of Tripura to be educated. For this, he
established a free college in Agartala. However, the college had to be discontinued due to the pressure from the British Government.

• The period witnessed a lot of cultural growth regarding which the first literaryconference was held in Agartala.

The King invited Rabindra Nath Tagore to
be a part of this conference. In order to promote literature, he gave liberalgrants to J.C Bose and Hemchandra Banerjee.

• The King was a true Vaishnava and encouraged his subjects to follow Vaishnavism.

(Source: History of Tripura and Assam)