Livelihoods and Tourism in Netarhat, Jharkhand: A Geographical Analysis

ABSTRACT: Netarhat, one of the famous tourist destinations in Jharkhand has been inhabited by many indigenous tribal populations. The quality of living in this tribal dominated region is still primitive in nature. Like the other tourist destinations in India, the livelihood of the residents of Netarhat is slowly changing. Though, modernization has started to affect their employment and income but it is not comparable to national or state level. The region has been suffering from poverty since distant past. Low level of literacy, agro-based economy, low income opportunities are responsible for their poor living condition. So, the main focus of this paper is to present a glimpse of livelihood conditions of Netarhat. About 25% of the families of the entire area have been randomly surveyed through personal interview and focus group discussions. The result which has come out from this survey is truly amazing such as the large concentration of dependent population, high rate of illiteracy, the dominance of primary activities a gro-based economy (subsistence agriculture) with low returns, poor housing condition and almost no household has any toilet facility. Therefore, it is necessary to bring them back to the main stream of modernization by making suitable measures otherwise they will gradually be deprived of different developmental and societal aspects. Therefore, this paper is being discussed about the livelihood characteristics of Netarhat