Role of Village Industries in Socio-Economic Development of Tribal People in Arunachal Pradesh with special reference toWest SiangDistrict:An Empirical Study

Abstract

Arunachal Pradesh, the 13th geographically largest frontier State of India covering an area of 83,743 sq. km. in hilly terrain of Eastern Himalayas having a population of 13,82,611 persons as per 2011 Census has 3,863 villages with 77.33% of its population living in rural areas (2011 census) and 43% below Poverty Line where illiteracy still prevails. In the state, there is hardly any scope for employment in the private sector as there are few private enterprises. Scope to establish large scale industry is extremely narrow primarily because of its hilly terrain. In the job market, there is only Government sector which is over saturated. In the State the rich is very rich and the poor are very poor. The difference is growing day by day. It is therefore necessary to create more employment opportunities in villages by utilizing local resources, local skills so that people can get work in their villages itself. This would also reduce the rural-urban migration. The State has rich natural resources for industrialization. The emphasis on hill area development emerged from the growing concern over inter-regional disparities, inequalities, rural poverty. The State is still comparatively peaceful in the North East region. To maintain and achieve more peaceful condition, the government should generate employment; setting up micro enterprises is one of the best options. The surest way for self-employment, poverty alleviation, women empowerment can be achieved with the effective function and development of Village Industries in the State. Many researchers have worked in the country but very few works have been done in the context of North East states including Arunachal Pradesh. In view of their thinking and also in present context of liberalization and globalizations of the economy the objectives of the research is to access the present scenario of Village Industries and its financial aspects, to evaluate its relevance in the socio-economic development, to search the problems faced by the sector for its growth and development and also to seek the probable solutions and future prospects of the sector in the development process of the State. Till today, there is no such intensive research considered to study the enormous scope of the development of KVI in this hilly State of Arunachal Pradesh. A special reference of theWest Siang district will be made in doing the empirical study).