TRIBAL DEVELOPMENT: A NEW ROLE FOR VOLUNTARY AGENCIES

Abstract

Everett Hagen, a twentieth century American Economist, in his theory of ‘transition to economic growth’ has discussed why certain societies are economically backward compared to others. He has also examined the forces which play an important role in their economic upliftment. According to him, primitive societies like tribal societies are backward because of the traits like ‘high need affiliation’ and ‘high need dependency’. When the modern technologically progressive society blocks the progress of these backward groups, exploits them beyond a limit and treats them as a subordinate group, the later feels a strong desire to uplift its economic stature. This motivation eventually leads to entrepreneurship and their development. The current paper tries to empirically test the Hagen’s theory in the context of tribal society of Valsad district in Gujarat. The paper investigates why despite the presence of preconditions for development; tribal societies have not developed as suggested by Hagen’s theory. It also examines the role which the NGOs can play in tribal development. The paper is divided into four parts. The first section introduces the theme and objectives of the paper. The second section discusses the Hagen’s theory in detail. The third section investigates whether the findings of the theory apply to the tribal societies of the selected region or not. The fifth section suggests measures for the development of the tribal regions with special emphasis on the role of Non-Governmental Organizations.