Main Article Content
Abstract
The basic objective of the paper is to examine the relationship between changes in the occupation and socio-economic condition of vulnerable section of the society like Scheduled Tribes (ST) of India in the post- reform period. It is assumed that in the post liberalisation period, though there is witness of several changes in the consumption culture and emergence a new form of elite middle class both in urban and rural areas, the socio-economic condition of large section of ST population of the country is not improved. In the present paper, a sample of 384 ST households of hill districts of Assam has been considered to examine the shifting pattern in occupation and their socio-economic condition in the post liberalisation period. The paper which is both descriptive and analytical in nature is based on both primary and secondary data. An index has been developed to measure the socio-economic condition. Descriptive and non-parametric statistics like Mann Whitney U test have been used to analyse data and test hypotheses. The test results reveal that there is significant associationship between shifting in occupation, area of settlement and socio-economic condition of the ST households of the study area.