Utilisation of Idle Manpower in India's Economic Development

Abstract

D URING THE FIRST HALF of this century, India's total working force increased from I I7 to I42 million. The working force in agriculture also increased by about 25 million (from 73 to 98 million) while that in nonagricultural occupations remained about the same as at the beginning of the century, increase of non-agricultural employment in urban areas having been counter-balanced by decrease in rural areas.' In i955-56, the working force in agriculture was estimated at iio million or 72.4 percent of the total population; that in mining, manufacturing, and handicraft trades, i6 million or io.6 percent of the total; that in commerce, transport and communications, ii.6 million or 7.7 percent of the total; in professions and liberal arts, government services, domestic service and other services, I4.8 million or 9.3 percent of the total.2 The relative dependence on agriculture for gainful employment has not declined in the country as a whole, notwithstanding the decline in the area of cultivated land per capita. Except in Bombay, West Bengal and Mysore, it has indeed increased.3 The shift of occupation from agricultural to non-agricultural sector has been only 3 percent since I9II.4 The secondary and tertiary sectors of the economy have not grown rapidly enough to make an impact on the primary sector; nor has the primary sector itself yielded surpluses, creating conditions favourable for expansion in the other sectors. The net output per worker in agriculture and allied pursuits is only one-fifth of that in mining and factory establishments and one-third of that in trade and services. These trends are a clear index of the serious and growing problem of pressure of population on land. From the long term point of view, further increases in the working force in agriculture should be kept to the minimum. It is roughly estimated that about 40 percent of India's population now engaged in agriculture should be removed from farming so as to make cultivation more economic; and the proportion of the agricultural labour force to the