7
First, following the high population presence and the consequential tendencies
for sub-division, the number of operational holdings has doubled from 51
million in 1960-61 to 101 million in 2002-03
2
; second, partly due to the
uneconomic nature of tiny holdings, the area operated has declined from
133 million hectares to 108 million hectares; and third, the average size of
operational holdings has steadily fallen from 2.63 hectares to 1.06 hectares
during the same period (Table 2.1)
3
. The fall in the area operated has been
particularly sharp after the 1990s following the adverse terms of trade,
poor public investment in agriculture and weakening of the critical support
institutions like the extension agencies and agencies for demonstrating the
application of new technologies.
Table 2.1: Certain Key Characteristics of Operational Holdings
1960-61
(17
th
)
1970-71
(26
th
)
1981-82
(37
th
)
1991-92
(48
th
)
2003*
(59
th
)
1. Number of operational holdings (millions)
50.77 57.07 71.04 93.45 101.27
1.1 percentage increase
-
12.40 24.50 31.50
8.40
2. Area operated (million hectares)
133.48 125.68 118.57 125.10 107.65
3. Average area operated (hectares)
2.63
2.20
1.67
1.34
1.06
*: NSSO write that “though the area estimate for 2002-03 gives only area operated during the kharif
season, it ought to be quite close to the area operated during the agricultural year 2002-03; the 48
th
round
survey had found that 99% of the area operated during the agricultural year 1991-92 was operated in the
kharif season” (NSSO 2006, pp.22-23). The year 2003 was a drought year.
Source:
NSSO (2006):
Some Aspects of Operational Landholdings in India
, 2002-03, August, p.16.
Also, the quinquenniumemployment-unemployment surveys conducted
by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) have brought out how,
despite relatively higher growth of employment in the non-farm sectors, the
size of the work force dependent on agriculture has remained high. As the
National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS)
(Chairman: Dr. Arjun K. Sengupta) has analysed it threadbare in its report
on
The Challenge of Employment in India: An Informal Sector Economy
Perspective
(2009), the growth of employment in the organised sector has
been niggardly and the bulk of the work force has been absorbed in informal
sectors due to inadequate skill levels. The NCEUS (2009) sums up this
situation thus: “There is no doubt that a thin layer at the top, urban, male and
2
As indicated in Table 2.1, the year 2003 was a drought year and hence the decline in area may
have been partly due to that phenomenon. Also, the estimates for 2002-03 cover only kharif
season operations. The NSSO (January 2006, Report No.493) has emphasized that kharif
estimates are lower than the total only by about 4% in terms of the number of operational
holdings and 1% in terms of area.
3
Some of these statistics and ideas have been reproduced from an earlier study on Microfinance,
as they are found to be very pertinent here (See Shetty 2012).
