Hill Area Development Programme

Geography glossary

Also called: HADP · Topic: Regional Planning and Sustainable Development in India · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 6 "Planning and Sustainable Development in Indian Context"

Meaning

The Hill Area Development Programme (HADP) was a Fifth Plan (1974-79) programme that made a separate development plan for each of 15 hill districts. Each plan was built around that area's slope, forests, people and local economy. It matters because it is one of India's two classic examples of target area planning (making a separate plan for a region with its own special problem). It showed that steep, fragile hill lands need their own kind of development, not a copy of the plains model.

Explanation

Why HADP was needed (cause → process → result)

  • Growth under national plans was uneven
  • National plans did not reach every region in the same way.

  • Hills, dry lands and tribal belts fell behind.

  • Hills face a terrain problem

  • Steep slopes, thin soil and fragile ecology limit what can be done.

  • Flat-land models do not work on steep slopes. Large irrigated cereal farms are one example.

  • Result: the state made area-specific programmes.

  • HADP was for areas held back by terrain.
  • The Drought Prone Area Programme (DPAP) was for areas held back by climate.

How the plans were made

  • Each plan was matched to four things in the area:
  • topography (the shape and slope of the land)
  • ecology (forests, soil, water and wildlife, and how they depend on each other)
  • society (the people and their way of life)

  • economy (how people earn a living)

  • The idea was to use local resources instead of bringing in outside models.

How local resources were used

  • Horticulture: growing fruit, vegetables and flowers.
  • Plantations: for example, tea in Darjeeling and the Nilgiris.
  • Agriculture, animal husbandry (rearing cattle, sheep and goats) and poultry.
  • Forestry: managing and using forests.
  • Small-scale and village industry.

How "backward hill areas" were later defined

  • National Committee on the Development of Backward Areas (1981)
  • It said all hill areas above 600 m should be treated as backward hill areas if they are not covered by the tribal sub-plan.

  • Tribal sub-plan: a separate share of plan money set aside for areas with many Scheduled Tribe people.

  • Result: height (600 m) became a planning rule for deciding which hill areas count as "backward".

Where it occurs

HADP was an Indian programme of the Fifth Five Year Plan (1974-79). It covered 15 districts:

Area State then State now
All hill districts of Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand (formed in 2000)
Mikir Hills (today Karbi Anglong) Assam Assam
North Cachar Hills (today Dima Hasao) Assam Assam
Darjeeling West Bengal West Bengal
Nilgiris Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu
  • Spatial spread (how the districts are spread across India):
  • The Himalaya in the north: Uttarakhand and Darjeeling.
  • The hills of north-east India: Mikir and North Cachar Hills in Assam.

  • The Western Ghats–Nilgiri knot in the far south: the Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu.

  • Western Ghats Development Programme (1974-75): a similar hill programme that started at the same time as HADP. It covered the hill talukas of the Western Ghats, along the western edge of the Peninsula.

Don't confuse with

  • Drought Prone Area Programme (DPAP): DPAP began in the Fourth Plan (1969-74) and deals with low, uncertain rain. HADP began in the Fifth Plan (1974-79) and deals with steep terrain.
  • Western Ghats Development Programme: it started at the same time (1974-75), but it covered the hill talukas of the Western Ghats. HADP covered 15 named districts. The Nilgiris belong to HADP.
  • Tribal sub-plan: this is money set aside for areas with many Scheduled Tribe people. Under the 1981 rule, hill areas above 600 m count as backward only if they are not under the tribal sub-plan.
  • Integrated micro-watershed development: this was the 1981 Committee's fix for DPAP, not HADP. It now runs as WDC-PMKSY [2].

Prelims Hooks

  • HADP started in the Fifth Plan (1974-79) and covered 15 districts.
  • Place–state pairs: Mikir Hills and North Cachar Hills → Assam; Darjeeling → West Bengal; Nilgiris → Tamil Nadu; hill districts of Uttar Pradesh → now Uttarakhand.
  • Old name → new name: Mikir Hills = Karbi Anglong; North Cachar Hills = Dima Hasao.
  • 1981 National Committee on the Development of Backward Areas: hill areas above 600 m that are not under the tribal sub-plan count as backward hill areas.
  • Trap: DPAP = Fourth Plan, HADP = Fifth Plan. Do not swap them.
  • Tea plantations under HADP: Darjeeling and the Nilgiris.

Mains Points

  • Why hills need their own plans (GS-I):
  • Steep slopes and fragile ecology mean plains models, such as large irrigated cereal farms, fail in the hills.
  • HADP fitted each plan to local topography, ecology, society and economy.

  • It built on what hills do well: horticulture, plantations, forestry, animal husbandry and village industry.

  • Target area planning as a response to uneven growth (GS-I):

  • National plans left hills, dry lands and tribal belts behind.
  • India answered with area-specific programmes: HADP for terrain, DPAP for climate.

  • The 1981 Committee's 600 m rule made height an official test for backwardness. This widened hill planning beyond the first 15 districts.

  • Development with ecological balance (GS-III):

  • HADP relied on local, renewable resources such as forests, fruit, tea and livestock instead of heavy outside inputs.
  • This links it to sustainable development: hill economies can grow without damaging the slopes, forests and soil they depend on.

Related concepts

Read more

Sources

  1. 1Class 12, Ch 6 "Planning and Sustainable Development in Indian Context" (primary)
  2. 2Components of PMKSYpib.gov.in · tier 1