A Micro level Study of Socio-Economic and Health Status of Great Andamanese and Onges of Andaman Island

The Present study looks at the issue of development of tribes from what Amarh;a Sen has called the "Capability Approach". The approach is "people centric", that !sit says that economic growth of a nation or a region makes no sense unless and until the needs and requirements of the poorest of the poor are not taken care of People/ tribes should be allowed to choose what they are capable of and then enjoy the outcomes. The greatest hurdle in achieving this is illiteraClJ and ill health. Thus looked at from the perspective of capability approach the paper attempts a comparison between the statuses of two tribes which exhibit different levels of socio-economic development.