A Study on Occupational Diversification and its Economic impact on Tribal People in Dindigul District, Tamil Nadu

Abstract

Tribal people constitute 8.6 percent of India's total population, Majority of the tribal population in Tamil Nadu live in hilly ranges viz., Eastern Ghats, Western Ghats and the discontinuous hill tractsadjoining the plains and the hills. These tribes live in forests. Paliyan in Kodaikkanal and Dindigul districts form an exception to this general trend and are found to live in the plains. The current study analysed occupational diversification and economic impact on tribal people in Dindigul district, Tamil Nadu. Along with the other backward castes tribals economy is affected by poor physical environment, ignorance of efficient technique of exploiting natural resource and lack of capital for investment. The results of the study shows there is direct relationship between occupational diversification and economic development in the tribal economy. The study showed that income, expenditure and savings of tribal people increased due to the occupational diversification. The authorsuggests that the government should encourage the tribal people for their occupational diversification and help them financially for their social and economic betterment.