8
educated, has acquired capabilities to power a fast growing economy leaving
behind a huge mass to eke out a precarious living in the so called informal
economy” (p.42).
And within the agricultural sector, “change in the composition of work
force has been relatively unfavourable with rising shares of unpaid family labour
and casual workers” (
ibid
, p.65). These, in turn, are reflected in comparatively
low labour productivity and low earnings per household in agriculture. At the
aggregate level, a distinct manifestation of this is to be seen in a continuous
decline in the share of agriculture in the country’s gross domestic product
at factor cost current prices. This share of agriculture including livestock
has steeply declined from 35.2% in 1972-73 to as low a figure as 16.0% in
2004-05 and then to 15.3% in 2010-11. Along with agriculture, if forestry and
fishing activities are also included, its share in GDP has similarly receded
from 40.3% in 1972-73 to 17.4% in 2012-13, whereas this sector’s share
in the country’s total work force (usual principal and subsidiary status –
UPSS) has declined but rather more slowly from 73.9% in 1972-73 to 56.5%
in 2004-05 and further to 53.2% in 2009-10 (Table 2.2). Thus, more than
Table 2.2: Share of Agriculture in GDP and Employment
(In percentages)
Year
Share in GDP at factor cost Current Prices
Share of Agriculture and
Fishing in the Country’s
Workforce (NSSO Data)
Agriculture
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing
1972-73
35.2
40.3
73.9
1993-94
24.5
28.7
63.9
1999-00
21.1
24.6
60.2
2004-05
16.0
19.0
56.5
2005-06
15.8
18.8
-
2006-07
15.3
18.3
-
2007-08
15.6
18.3
-
2008-09
15.2
17.8
-
2009-10
15.2
17.7
53.2
2010-11
15.3
18.0
-
2011-12
-
17.5
-
2012-13 (AE)
-
17.4
AE = Advance Estimates
Note:
There is a fractional difference in the coverage of economic activities in the NSSO and for GDP. Under
NSSO, forestry is covered under “agriculture”, whereas for GDP, it is kept separate. Data in col. (3)
correspond to Col. (4) in the table.
Source:
Central Statistical Organisation (CSO),
National Accounts Statistics
, Various Years and National
Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO),
Employment and Unemployment Situation in India
,
Various Rounds.
