REANGS 53 It is obvious that the dominant non-tribal community will influence the tribal community particularly when the dominant community forms the majority of the population. And it is no wonder that the Reangs of Tripura have changed a lot in their socio-cultural context as a result of the influence of continuous interaction with the dominant Bengali Hindu community there. Industrial urbanization, modern economy and education, administrative machinery, democratic experiments and the concept of welfare have definitely broken the stagnation and isolation in almost all parts of the country. With all these processes, a set of forces has been released which is leading the tribal communities from the "phase of acculturation to that of the accelerated culture mutation."9 These forces may be enumerated as: i) the development of communication within the tribal areas and with the outside world, ii) introduction of monetized economy, iii) the spread of normal and modern institutions, including medical and administrative aids, and iv) introduction of advanced technology to exploit the mineral, forest, power and other industrial resources. All these forces are bringing about significant changes in the tribal areas, but the rate of change evidently differs in the different points of time in the same culture continuum. Modern economy and modern education also have played their role in changing the socio-cultural and economic structure of the Reangs, even though it was not as vivid as it was in the case ofTripuris. It is true that the changes in the case of Reangs are not fast, but the impact of these factors cannot be ignored. There was a time when jhum was universally practised in Tripura. Before the large influx of people from outside started about the middle of the last century the export of cotton, oilseeds and timber was the main source of earning for the hill state of Tripura. Cotton and oilseeds were solely produced in jhum. Timber came from the unreserved forests. But the newly migrated Bengali Hindu settlers in Tripura started settled cultivation which gave a better yield and return. Thus, the tribals also started switching over to settled cultivation from jhum cultivation wherever possible. Likewise the tribals started adopting slowly the modern agricultural technology, namely the use of fertilizers, plant protection chemicals, farm machinery and high yielding varieties of seeds. And it is in Tripura that settled cultivation is coming up the fastest among all the north-eastern states. All the tribal communities in Tripura—Reangs, Jamatias, Noatias—have started adopting