Ecology, Ethnology And Nutrition

The social & economic development of the weaker sections is an avowed objective of the Government. The larger sections, the tribals, are characterised by their rurality, illiteracy, economic backwardness and social deprivation. Their standard of living, nutritional norms and ?physical quality life index? (PQLI) are also highly deplorable. Thus in the qualitative dimensions of the population problem, there is a steady deterioration of the physical and mental caliber of our human resources. A low level of adaptive functioning, lack of modern knowledge, social custom, infection, or environmental insufficiency of food leads to malnutrition which gives a large pool of survivors who come to function in sub-optimal ways. Thus between death and normalcy, there exists a twilight zone of morbidity, poor physical stamina, low productivity etc. which needs our focus for bringing about any desired change or to launch any development programme among them. The tribals are, by and large, children of Nature, their life-style being conditioned by their eco-system. The present study will give an insight into the problems and interrelationship between undernutrition, social environment and work-output among the Kondh tribals and the Tibetan refugees, rehabilitated at the background of their discrete identity and domiciliary occupation in alien environments.