A socio-economic study of slum dwellers in Ranchi City, Jharkhand, India

Abstract

The socio-economic condition of the slum dwellers is generally poor because of the lack of basic social amenities; functional skills, proper education, source of the income, hygiene and health resources. However, slum dwellers directly or indirectly play an important role in nation-building. This paper attempts to show the socio-economic conditions of slum dwellers and its reasons and to suggest suitable measures to improve their living conditions. Data was collected from 300 respondents by primary survey method where respondents were selected by statistical simple random sampling method. There were found that people living in slums had very poor living conditions. Due to bad hygienic condition and health statuses of households were also not in a satisfactory level. The occurrence of diseases was very high among the studied population and it was concluded that people living with low socio-economic conditions were to face different health and hygiene problems. Since these people are the stock of the potential human resources it can be developed through skill development programmes initiated by the government and through appropriate public action relating to social provisions and redistribution social facilities. Lastly, this paper suggests the effective measures to minimize the problems and raise the living conditions of the slum dwellers in Ranchi.