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The state of Odisha occupies an important position on the mineral map of India both in terms of deposits and production, which are not only extensive but also equally diverse. The liberalisation of mining and industrial policies has allowed direct foreign investments and setting up of a large number of mining and industrial projects located in strategic areas in India. One of them is the POSCO project spanning two different districts of Odhisa namely Jagatsinghpur and Sundargarh. The Government of Odisha signed a Memorandum of Understanding with South Korean steel giant POSCO (Pohang Steel Company Limited) for a period of five years for setting up of a 12 million tonnes per annum Integrated Steel Plant at Paradip in Jagatsingpur in the district of Odisha on June 22, 2005. The project of such a massive capacity had two important components, the Integrated Steel Plant and the Mining Project. It was primarily proposed that integrated steel plant and private cargo port would be set up in Paradip and the mining area would be in the Khandadhar hills of Sundargarh district. Under this backdrop a team of anthropologists conducted field investigation in those areas to assess the socio-economic impact assessment for the said mega project. Earlier it was proposed that the district and state authorities as well as the POSCO project would look after the viable means of alternative source of livelihood, as the compensation grant based on the market price of the tangible assets was not able to make up the total loss the displaced family or the community had suffered. But unfortunately, this promise was not fulfilled and land acquisition was started. This incidence started agitations and several socio-political movements against the establishment of such a mega project. This paper deals with such movements and their implications on socio-economic life of the people and its fall out on the setting up of the establishment of the million-dollar project.

Keywords: POSCO project, Integrated Steel Plant, South Korean steel giant, Mining, Mineral map

Socioeconomic Status (SES) is a collective measurement of the social and economic factors such as amount of income, type of education, occupation, place of residence of an entity as compared to others in civilisation.While income, education, and occupation are commonly used as SES indicators, it is important to recognise that SES is a multidimensional construct that can also include other factors such as wealth, social capital, and access to resources and opportunities. It impacts the availability of different resources, food security, nutritional safety, patterns of livelihood, etc. It also forecasts the behavioural and psychological aspects of a sample namely, attitude, perception, economic motivation, adoption, aspiration level, etc. The current research investigates the socio-economic status of the Kumaoni population to relate it with their adoption of different practices which were typically for their higher returns, food, nutritional enrichment, etc. This study was performed in the Haldwani and Almora districts of Uttarakhand during 2020-21. 50 participants were randomly selected. Certain factors such as age, education, occupation, marital status, landholding, land size, farming experience, annual income, sources of drinking water, sanitation, house, cooking fuel, etc., were selected to determine the Socioeconomic status (SES). The data and information were collected using a structured interview by interviewing the participants personally. The study presents that the participant’s average age was 36 years and agriculture was the only occupation of 22% of the participants whereas others had secondary occupations such as driving, shop keeping, etc. Overall, the study showed that 30% of the participants belonged to the low SES group and 18% to the the high SES group.

Keywords: Kumaon region, Socio-economic variables, Hill farmers, Socioeconomic status, Uttarakhand, Metabolic Syndrome.