Socio economic culture and quality life of tribal people in Itda Paderu area of Visakhapatnam district

India has 461 tribal groups with a population of 677.68 (8.08%) lakhs, account for about onefourth of the world tribal population (1991 census). The state Andhra Pradesh consists of 33 tribal groups with a population of 4.2 (6.31%) million. A large chunk of tribal population in the state is mainly concentrated in the nine scheduled districts like Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, West Godavari, East Godavari, Warangal, Khammam, Adilabad and Kurnool. The district Visakhapatnam has a tribal population of 3,54,127, which forms 13.4%, out of the total population. The major tribal groups found in the district are Bagata, Kotiya, Kondadora, Nookadora, Konda Kammara, Konda Kapu, Gadaba, Mali, Porja, Mannedora, Khond and Valmiki. Among these tribes, Khond, Porja and Gadaba are considered to be the most primitive tribes. Majority of the tribal population in the district stand below the poverty line and facing the problems like indebtedness, illiteracy, malnutrition and exploitation. The interior tribal’s still live relatively in isolation. Objective: The main objective of this paper is aimed to discuss the socio economic culture and quality life of tribal people in ITDA paderu area of visakhapatnam district, their socio-economic and cultural background. The study was carried out in the ITDA area of Paderu, which falls under Visakhapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh. This paper is prepared mostly on the basis of the qualitative data with intensive fieldwork observations in the Visakha agency area, which falls under the sub-plan area of Paderu ITDA. During the Fifth five-year plan period for tribal development the government has evolved a new strategy of tribal sub-plan. The main objective of the sub-plan strategy is to integrate all the tribal development programmes including education in order to initiate these through a single administrative structure of ITDA. The integrated tribal development, sub-plan strategies are considered to be a landmark in the history of tribal development. The formal education institutions in the Visakha agency area are functioning under the control of the ITDA, Paderu.