Rural Society of the Mountain Region: Road Access and Economy

DOI

10.2991/assehr.k.210918.057How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Agriculture, Road, Rural Economy, Rural Society, Tourism

Abstract

Accessibility of roads plays an important role in the overall socio-economic transformation of the rural society of the mountain region. This paper focuses on exploring the influences of road accessibility in the economy of the rural social structure of the mountain region. The research is located in the Mustang district of Nepal which represents the rural social structure of the mountain region of Nepal. This article is guided by a qualitative research approach. Both primary and secondary data are used. Primary data are collected through the case study method, and secondary data are collected through the content analysis method. The content analysis method is used to analyze both primary and secondary data. The rural road has played a vital role to change the traditional agrarian and pastoral subsistence type of economy in the rural structure of the mountain region. The rural people of the Mustang district of Nepal which represents the rural social structure of the mountain region of Nepal shifted to market-oriented economic activities. But the economic activity of the Mustang area is also highly dependent on the nearby cities, Pokhara, Beni, etc. for example; the flow of internal tourists is highest during the period of vacations in nearby cities. These facts are analogous to the argument of the dependency theory. Similarly, as stated by Immanuel Wallerstein in World-systems theory, Pokhara has developed as a core and Beni as semi-periphery and Jomsom as a periphery after the opening of Beni Jomsom Road. The exploitation of the local products (apples are transported to Pokhara before the harvesting period) is increasing. In contrast, cheap labor exploitation by the core is not seen but labor in the periphery (Jomsom) is supplied from mostly semi-periphery (Myagdi district and another nearby area). These facts are only partially concurrent to the explanation of world-system theory.

Copyright

© 2021, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Shukra Raj Adhikari
AU  - Wasino Wasino
PY  - 2021
DA  - 2021/09/18
TI  - Rural Society of the Mountain Region: Road Access and Economy
BT  - Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Education & Social Sciences (ICESS 2021)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 310
EP  - 314
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.210918.057
DO  - 10.2991/assehr.k.210918.057
ID  - Adhikari2021
ER  -