Tribal population presently living in the Mal subdivision of Jalpaiguri district belongs to two broad ethnic groups, namely, the Mongoloid who are indigenous tribal people of the Dooars region like Limbu, Garo and Mech; and the Dravidian groups who are migrated from the Chhotonagpur plateau region after the introduction of tea plantation in the second half of 19th century as workers. There are variations of their social and economic activities within the region. Ten major tribal groups have been identified in Mal subdivision arranged as per descending numeric strength: Oraon, Munda, Santal, Lohar, Mahali, Kharia, Tamang, Limbu, Malpaharia, and Mech. There are also variations of their HDI scores based on selected parameters among these tribes. Attempts have been made in this paper to find out their development in the light of statistical techniques through micro level study.
Ethnic group, Development, HDI, Micro-level study
