Socio-Economic conditions of the mining workers from the Bellary-Hospeth-Sandur iron ore mining region, Bellary District, Karnataka: An empirical study

Among all the human development activities, mining creates a differential impact on various categories of a region, men and women, young and old, the rich and the poor. In Bellary-Hospet-Sandur mining region, the socio-economic issues have become increasingly important in the recent years. To know the socio-economic status of the mining workers, adequate information is the pre-requisite to determine the standard of living and quality of life of the mining workers in the mining area. For the present study, 45 workers from 22 active mining companies are interrogated and their opinions are recorded through questionnaire. The required data on socio-economic parameters namely, age and sex composition, religion, social, economic and health status, labor engagement pattern, and perception on local environment have been collected through random sampling.

The study witnessed that 75.6 per cent of workers suffered from deterioration of their health. About 35.6 per cent, 37.8 per cent and 26.6 per cent of workers suffering from asthma and diarrheal, skin & eye burning and fever, cold & cough diseases respectively. The study shows that local people are economically benefited. Out of 45 workers, 34 (75.6%) responded that their main source of income is mining. The remaining 8 (17.8%) workers stated that their family availed income from the agricultural sector and only 3 workers income was from private sources.