Half of Arunachal Population Still Make Living Out Of Forest

A bird’s eye view of Tawang city of Arunachal Pradesh

Itanagar, Jan 8 :  Even though the Arunachal Pradesh government has launched a ‘Green Arunachal’ campaign to protect its greenery, a recent Census report has found that half of the state’s population is still dependent on forest for their livelihood.

Over 68 per cent of the total population in the state use firewood for cooking as well as a source of income by selling it in the market, according to the census conducted in 2011.

The report, which was released here recently at a seminar organized by the Directorate of Census Operations, found that only about 29.2 per cent people in the state have LPG connections, compelling them to search alternative fuel sources.

About 65.7 per cent households in the state enjoy electricity connections.

The report found that 38 per cent of the population still had no latrine, though the number had reduced by 5.7 per cent from the 2001 Census.

However, 18.8 per cent use pit latrine facility which was 25.8 per cent earlier.

On the drinking water front, 65.5 per cent of households are having tap water connections, while 13.1 per cent depend on hand pumps and 5.7 per cent are having well water provisions for their daily use.

The report said that 14 per cent people in the state have two-wheelers and 7.9 per cent four-wheelers, which has increased from 6.8 per cent and 2.4 per cent respectively recorded in 2001.

Another interesting data was that 68.3 per cent households have their own houses, and 22.6 per cent of people live in rented houses.

While access to telephones has increased dramatically from a lowly 9.2 per cent to 48.3 per cent, the number of television set owners has increased by above 14 per cent.

However, the number of radio set owners has decreased by 17 per cent as compared to previous data recorded in 2001.

The overall crime graph in Arunachal Pradesh has also seen a decrease by six per cent this year in comparison to the previous year’s crime record in the state.

In 2011, around 2,355 crimes were recorded, which was five per cent less than the 2,539 cases in 2010.

Crimes like murder, crime against women and extortion have marginally increased across the state, rape and kidnapping cases being an exception.