Abstract
Sustainable development of a mountainous region is highly complex for its location specificity. The Western Ghats, a well-known hill-forest region has emerged as a highly developed region with the highest per capita income, infrastructure availability and decreasing and increasing importance of primary and secondary sectors respectively. The region has also recorded a higher rate of urbanization, industrialisation and literacy- especially female literacy- and female work participation. Hence, its development as a hill-forest region is at stake.