ABSTRACT
Eleven Indian states -Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura and Uttarakhand -have entire, major or minor parts of their territory in the hilly and mountainous region of the Himalayas. The geopolitical marginality of these states is exacerbated by isolation caused by relatively low levels of transport and communication connectivity. Globalisation may lead to reduction in isolation but, at the same time, may make the local population highly dependent on other areas, both for income and for products. A large number of rivers flow in and from these states with high potential for hydropower generation. Some of them have mineral resources of high value. The area under forests is large in most of the Himalayan states: over 70 percent in Manipur, Mizoram and Sikkim and 60 to 70 percent in Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Tripura and Uttarakhand, as against only 23 per cent for the country as a whole.
