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Odisha (previously known as Orissa), being socio-economically backward but culturally sound, is one of the important states in Eastern India. Out of 30 districts 9 are considered as tribal districts (according to Location Quotient value) and of the total population (41,947,358 in 2011) a significant share (22.1%) goes to tribal people (8,145,081in 2011). This tribal group of Odisha has special significance because they are one of the most backward and geographically isolated communities. That’s why their life style and economy is confined to the direct utilization of natural resources, pre-agricultural level of technology and specific indigenous type of work. But now with the emergence of industry and market economy, the age-old relationship between tribes and nature has disturbed. Keeping this in backdrop, the present study tried to explore the changing scenario of socio-economic condition in the tribal areas of Odisha. In this regard, various socio-economic indicators have been analyzed and compared for representing district-level patterns of quality of life and finding out the variation among the Primitive tribal households in the study area. In addition, Mayurbhanj has also been taken as a case study to represent the socio-economic condition and quality of life at the block level. It may be pointed out in this context that out of 30 districts in Odisha, according to Location Quotient value Mayurbhanj is the highest tribal concentrated district. The overall objective of this study is to obtain a better understanding of disparities and variations in socio-economic status in Odisha as well as in Mayurbhanj and also find out some remedial measures to overcome the problems to bring the Primitive tribal community in the main stream of the society. Maps have been prepared on the above-mentioned indicators based on secondary data using Arc-GIS 9.3. From the analysis of the health-related indicators it is clear from the analysis that the quality of life in the district has improved remarkably over the years but socio-economic disparities in terms of caste and gender continue to be a major problem mostly in tribal and backward areas.
Jana et al. (Sun,) studied this question.