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Introduction: In this era of globalization, planners often fail to understand the importance of community specific nutritional intervention among children due to dearth of study specifically among the lesser known communities in tribal dominated Indian state like Arunachal Pradesh. In order to find out the present condition of nutritional status in such lesser known tribal groups in the state, this present cross-sectional study was conceptualized to assess the nutritional status by using anthropometric indices in the Sartang and Miji tribal children in Arunachal Pradesh, India. Methods: A total of 452 children aged five to 18 years living in rural areas of West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh, India were considered for the present analysis. The international standards were used to collect height and weight data and height for age and BMI for age percentile were calculated. Results: The results revealed that the prevalence of stunting (< - 2 SD height for age) was higher among the Sartang male (34.0%) and female (46.3%) compared to Miji male (26.7%) and female (23.1%), respectively. Conversely the prevalence of overweight (percentile of BMI for age > 85) was also higher among the Sartang male (19.1%) and female (27.8%) compared to Miji children. It may be due to the alteration of traditional food habits, consumption of regular fast food and increasing less socioeconomic equity and higher inequality in both the communities. Conclusions: Therefore, undernutrition as well as over nutrition are prevalent among studied children perhaps correlated with rapid change in their food habits and lifestyle in the early age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying and understanding the factors affecting fertility and mortality is important to maintain a balanced, healthy, and prosperous population. The present study is an attempt to understand the reproductive profile of two lesser-known tribes of Arunachal Pradesh, India - the Miji and the Sartang, and to comprehend the relationship between fertility and mortality. The study able to establish a range of factors affecting fertility and mortality. The average age at marriage is below the legal age of marriage for both the populations and affecting fertility. The educational status of the mother and age at first conception is also found to affect the fertility. However, occupation, religion, and uses of birth control measures show no impact on fertility in this study. The maximum prenatal mortality is found in the form of miscarriage. However, the study could not establish any factor influencing prenatal mortality except antenatal checkups. The study also found the impact of mortality on fertility in the form of reproductive compensation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marriage is universal in all human societies. However, the universality of marriage does not mean that marriage system is same in all societies; much variation has been found across the cultures depending on belief system of any particular society. Marriage system symbolizes the basic social values, norms and world view of the whole community, because of which, the study on marriage has occupied the centre stage of anthropological research for a long time. It has provided not only the major field of enquiry, but also the central concept to generations of anthropologist for writing and analyzing the behavioural and organizational dimensions of human society. The present study has been an another attempt to understand the human society through the marriage system of the Sakachep of Saitsama village in Meghalaya. The whole study revolves around the marriage system of the "Sakacheps", trying to understand their traditional marriage pattern as well as the changes. It has been observed that changes are mostly occurring due to Christianity and matrilineal "Pnars", who are living amongst patrilineal "Sakacheps" in Saitama village. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]