Rourkela, located in the northern part of Odisha, is the third largest city of the state with a total population of 2,70,000. Odiya is the native and widely spoken language and the literacy rate is over 86 percent. Sadri is also spoken amongst the local tribal groups of Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Assam. In the Sadri Language, Rour means Our and Kela / Kila means Village, and Rourkela can be interpreted as “Our village. The city is located at an altitude of 719 feet and is encircled by the three rivers: Brahmani, Koel, and Sankha and a range of hills. Rourkela is referred to as Ispat Nagar or as the Steel City of Odisha, since this is the first city in India to house the 1.8 million ton integrated steel plant of the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL).The Rourkela Steel Plant was established with the help of the German businesses Krupp and Demag. By the late 1950s and early 1960s, Rourkela had become the largest German colony outside Germany. Rourkela was situated on the Howrah-Mumbai rail track of the Bengal Nagpur Railway. The habituated area around the railway station of Rourkela was declared as an urban town in the year 1931. The census report of 1931 reveals that the population of Rourkela at that time was 493. The city comes under Sundargarh district which as per the 2011 census has a population of 2.1 million and a literacy rate of 73 percent. 42 percent of the population is part of the workforce. 50 percent of the workers are employed in the agriculture sector, 3 percent in the household industry and 47 percent in other services, trade, commerce and industries. Minerals available in the district include Iron Ore, Manganese Ore, Lead Ore, Limestone, Dolomite, Quartz, fire clay, coal and bauxite. Major exportable items are steel, sponge iron, yarn and cement.
