The villages of Alirajpur are the first in Madhya Pradesh to be affected by the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP). They are all Adivasi communities with a mixed economy based on agriculture (on titled land as well as forest encroachments), forest produce, herding, and fishing. The cash component of the economy is relatively minor and these communities have strong cultural ties with the forest and river. As tribal communities they have a social system marked by egalitarianism (there are no landless people in these villages) and a strong sense of community.