Socio-Economic Analysis of Slum Dwellers A Case of Cuttack District, Odisha

The socio-economic condition of the slum dwellers does not allow them to live a healthy life. They do not have access to sanitation and they cannot get a safe water supply. They have to live in adverse conditions due to poor social, economic, and health facilities. The main purpose of this study was to find out the socio-economic condition of slum dwellers in Cuttack, Odisha. To analyse the socio-economic conditions three objectives have been considered that is to study the changing pattern of social needs of slum dwellers, to examine the change in magnitude of the economic condition of slum dwellers, and to study the employment opportunity and livelihood of the slum dwellers in the study area. Data were collected from 100 households in five slums of the city where respondents were selected by simple random sampling method. To analyse the hypothesis this study used a partial t-test to calculate the significance of the variables namely annual income, food expenditure, health expenditure, education expenditure, and distance covered for bringing water. The study found that people living in slums are in a very vulnerable state. No doubt their economic conditions were improving but bad hygienic conditions and the health status of households were also not at a satisfactory level.