Globalization and the Indian Himalayan States: Mitigating or Accentuating Marginalization?

Abstract

Globalization is often seen as a secular and equalising process and as such is expected to bring marginalized areas and communities into the mainstream of economic and social activities by enabling them to link with other areas and wider markets through the use of the comparative advantage provided by their special resource endowments. The geo-political marginality of Himalayan states is exacerbated by isolation caused by relatively low levels of transport and communication connectivity. Thus the natural and man-made factors combine to marginalize these areas. And when they are inhabited by tribal and ethnic communities, as happens quite often, they also suffer from cultural marginalization. This paper brings into focus the process of globalization taking place in eleven hill states of the Indian Himalaya. The hills of west-Bengal (Darjeeling hills) could not be included in the analysis due to data constraints.