Paper short abstract:

The development process adopted in Independent India has not achieved the goal of developing the 'underdeveloped' like the tribals inspite of special treatment to them. The gap between the 'developed' and 'underdeveloped' continues which is focused in this paper critically.

Paper long abstract:

Tribal people at the time of Independence were economically backward and underdeveloped. So one of the avowed commitments of the Government of Independent India has been to bring about the all-round development of tribal and other underdeveloped people and raise their level of development at par with the 'developed' section of the society. Towards the fulfilment of this national goal there are constitutional safeguards, and special provisions in policy measures and plan programmes in the nature of preferential discrimination and affirmative action. Despite these efforts, a cursory observation shows that the underdeveloped, precisely the tribals, have not come at par with the 'developed' section except a few families from among them. The gap that existed at the beginning of the introduction of initiatives for their development still exists after more than 60 years of specific attention to them; and in some cases the gap has widened. The present paper is an attempt to understand the continuity of the gap between the 'developed' and the 'underdeveloped' along the axes of education, livelihood and health with Arunachal Pradesh of Northeast India as case study.