Roman script to replace Bengali

The recently-elected tribal council in the northeastern Indian state of Tripura which governs a third of its population says it will no longer use the Bengali alphabet for the regional language, Kokborok, but will instead use Roman script.

The BBC correspondent in the region says tribal parties in Tripura, especially those supported by the Baptist church, want to use Roman script to break away from what they call the Bengali cultural domination of Tripura.

Dozens of people have been killed in the recent escalation of violence between Bengali-speaking settlers and indigenous tribespeople.

Observers say the party governing the tribal council the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) largely won the election last month because of the violent tactics employed by the separatist group, the National Liberation Front of Tripura.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service