Quality of Life in the Himalayan Region

This book contains a collection of 1.3 invited research papers on the broad topic of Quality of Life in the Himalayan region, authored by reputed academicians from the Universities and Research Institutes of north-western India. The introductory chapter by the Editor of the book elucidates the concept of quality of life and profiles the status of quality of life in the individual states of the region. Among the contributed papers, four take the well-known indicators of quality of life like education, health, economic growth and development programmes to evaluate the well-being of the people in the states, particularly Himachal Pradesh. These are followed by articles on quality-of-life-enhancing phenomena like fairs, festivals, folklore, gender issues, forest management through institutions such as village deity committees etc. some of the papers look at promotion of the people’s well-being, particularly villagers, from rather novel perspectives such as nature-women continuum and nature-culture complex. Some of the articles in fact seek to break fresh ground in identifying social, cultural and religious institutions and practices peculiar to this region which contribute to the enhancement of quality of life in rather subtle ways. Thus, the papers not only enlighten one on the status of quality of life of the hill people, but also provide new insights into the region-specific factors promoting people’s well-being. It is hoped that this book will stimulate further research and thus complement the efforts being made to improve the lives of the Himalayan people.