The natural
corollary of ever increasing gap between aggregate Demand (Needs) and Supply
(Production of household) is vicious circle of poverty. As a result of all this
the region today is in the grip of acute poverty. Majority of population of the
district lives below the poverty line and is miles away from the quality life.
Traditional lifestyle coupled with culture of silence has added to the sorrow
of the people. As the level of awareness is very low, the benefits of public
welfare schemes and governmental policies are not able to trickle down the
benefits to the low strata in the district. This is about history of
poverty in this district. In the name of poverty and poor people few middlemen
and contractors have become the actual source of siphoning off the governmental
funds and benefits.
Thus in a nut shell we can conclude that, in the name
of development, the forest economy of the district received a serious jolt. The
government hasn't come up with any other alternative plan for
sustainable livelihood for the people of the district. Thus the population
which was dependent on the forest had to pay a very heavy price for this model
of development and industrialization Nothing specific is done by
public functionaries and government till date to redress the grievances’ of the
affected people. The inroads of market forces due
to globalization and liberalization have further distorted
the cultural fabric of the district and the cultural identity of the tribal and
other ethnic groups is under crisis. The homogeneous culture dissipated by
the globalization and liberalization which rides on the
wings of mass media have eclipsed the century old local culture. The historyabout India is same as in this case. Thus
the globalization and liberalization have attacked the life
of the people on various fronts and have caused irreversible damages.
There was a
paradigm shift in the economic pattern of the district in the last two decades
as. With the onslaught of globalization and proliferation of market
forces, this change in economic pattern is accelerated to a great extent. This
paradigm shift came into being when Government gave the forests on lease to
contractors and big corporate houses to extract timber and other non timber
forest products. For example Paptu group was given the lease of cutting bamboo
trees. These contractors and corporate houses in nexus with local
administration and using money and muscle power over exploited the natural
resources the forests. There was large scale deforestation which is not new in
the history of India that too in the name
of industrialization and development.