Food consumption is one of the principal reasons of human exposures to pesticides. The research analyses the relation between pesticide contaminations and their possible adverse health impacts. Rice grain and soil samples were collected from seven blocks of Bargarh district, Odisha. Gas Chromatography‐Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS) was used for the analysis and characterization of various pesticides present in rice grain as well as in soil samples. The identified pesticide residues in rice grain samples were found to be in the sequence of ∑DDT > chlorpyrifos > chlorothalonil > vinclozolin > chlorthal‐dimethyl > endosulfan‐1 > lindane. Detected pesticide concentrations were found to exceed the Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) set by the Codex Alimentarius International Food Standards with DDT having the highest concentration of 29.27 mg/kg (which is 292 times the MRLs) and lindane with the least concentration of 4.35 mg/kg (which is 435 times the MRLs). Estimated average daily intake (EADI) was found to be higher for DDT and lower for lindane. The Health Risk Index (HRI) for DDT was higher and lower for chlorothalonil in all the samples. Results of one‐way ANOVA reflected no significant differences in variance between the concentrations of pesticides in rice grain samples. Result showed that the residual levels of ∑DDT in soil ranged between 7.8 and 29.3 mg/kg which was the maximum concentration among all the pesticides. Lindane and chlorthal‐dimethyl showed the least concentration ranging between 1.2–4.2 and 1.6–4.1 mg/kg, respectively. DDT had the highest bioconcentration factor (BCF) ranging between 1 and 4. Lindane and endosulfan‐1 had the lowest BCF ranging between 1 and 2. BCF value of other pesticides were found between the range of 1 and 4. Bioconcentration factors of pesticides in rice and soil samples indicated that pesticides in soil could get accumulated in rice. It was observed that the health risk associated with the consumption of rice could be because of its contamination by the pesticides in the study area or of the biomagnification of pesticides from the soil. It is necessary to spreading the awareness regarding safer use, storage and disposal of pesticides should be given utmost importance at the moment as an attempt to reduce or eliminate the environmental contaminations caused by them. National authorities should enforce proper rules and regulations in order to monitor and control the vigorous use of chemical loaded pesticides in agriculture and various other fields. It would be even better to substitute the chemical pesticides with the organic component‐based Bio‐pesticides as a safer option for the mankind and its environment.

This study was performed to evaluate the carcinogenic health risk of pesticides used in agricultural field in rural pockets of eastern India. The analysis of pesticide residue in rice grain sample was performed by Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GC‐MS). It was observed that for pesticide DDT, the HR values was ranging between 0.5 to 3.2 and for lindane HR was 0.4 to 1.1, respectively. The DDT and Lindane exhibited HR values >1 in some sampling sites which revealed the carcinogenic effects and HR <1 in some sampling sites which revealed non carcinogenic effects of same pesticide. These results revealed a clear indication of potential carcinogenic health risk to human health through consumption of contaminated rice in some areas of Bargarh district. DDT has a long half‐life, so it persists in the environment for a longer period of time and induces carcinogenic risk to human health predominantly than other pesticide lindane. A case study on cancer prevalence in Bargarh district was also carried out to support the findings of quantitative analysis. The primary data collected from the cancer affected area by personal questionnaires method to the person concern and the secondary data collected from the Bargarh District Head Quarters Hospital's register. The cancer death reported by the from the year 2015 to 2021 was 320, 380, 293, 323, 278, 409, 346 in the year of 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 respectively, with the total number of 2349 cases. From the questionnaire data, it was observed that the occurrence of male and female cancer cases was 51.75% and 48.25%, respectively. Therefore, it was concluded that there was no significant difference in gender wise cancer prevalence. The most affected age group was 51–60, that is, 26.92% followed by 41–50, that is, 23.42%. Therefore, it was concluded that the middle‐aged adults (40–60) were more vulnerable to the cancer than young adults (3–40) and old adults (60–100). The most prevalent cancer was breast (22.72%) followed by stomach (14.33%).