India's Development Strategy for Arunachal Pradesh Tribes
“The starting point for the project is the recognition that tribal people, contrary to perceptions of them as guardians of tradition, are also initiators of change.”1
As we have already observed, up until the twentieth century the tribals of Arunachal Pradesh lived in virtual isolation and autonomy from the nearly all forms of outside influence. The first recorded contact with the British colonial authority was not until 1897, and this was only a brief encounter which lasted two days and had little direct effect. The first attempt by outsiders at setting up a permanent outpost in the Arunachal Pradesh region was carried out in 1948 by the Assam Rifles.2 This intrusion was promptly brought to an end when the Apa Tanis attacked and, subsequently, drove the Assamese contingent out. But this action was to signify a new era for the tribals, as their centuries of isolation were about to come to an end.