AGRICULTURAL INTENSIFICATION AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHANGE IN NORTH EAST INDIA: A CASE STUDY OF THE NISHI (SOCIAL-CHANGE, TRIBE, MIGRATION)

This research deals with the processes that have structured economic alternatives in the foot-hills of North East India, and the factors that have determined the choice of one alternative over another. The socio-economic changes that have swept across the hitherto isolated part of India are attributed to a complex of inter-related multiple causatives. The main aim of this research is to identify the direct and indirect causal relationships between these factors and change.;The study is based on the theory that new means of integration are attributed to a complex chain of multiple causation and that such change is facilitated by features present within the social system itself. These elements are the interrelated ones of atomism and of the loosely structured features of the social system, which render the social system more flexible and therefore more responsive to change.;The data for this research was collected during 1982-83 from two villages located in the mountainous Union Territory of Arunachal Pradesh, bordering the plains of Assam. Due to the proximity of the inter-state boundary, the inhabitants of the two villages have come into contact with peoples of other ethnic groups. This process of inter-ethnic contact as well as the development oriented programs of the government, have resulted in a host of inter-related changes affecting the social and economic aspects of the society. Furthermore, the causal factors that have stimulated these changes have had a stronger influence on those who have migrated from the traditional hill villages down to the foothills than on those who remained behind.