9
half of the country’s work force is dependent on agriculture but they share
only about 17% of the country’s GDP. The resultant large and widening
disparities in the per worker earnings in agriculture and non-agricultural
sectors stare at us as a blatant aspect of inequalities in the national economy.
Growing Disparities in Per Capita Agricultural and Non-Agricultural
Incomes
The per capita income disparities cited above are reflected in the per
capita sectoral GDP worked out for the past four decades, as depicted in Table
2.3. These show that the ratio of per capita non-agricultural GDP to agricultural
GDP has steadily risen over the past four-decades period. As per the latest
estimates, the per capita agricultural incomes constitute only about 18.5% of
the per capita non-agricultural incomes against around 25% in 1999-00 or in
1970-71.
Table 2.3: Distribution of GDP as Between Agricultural and Non-Agricultural
Sectors (At Current Prices
)
Year
Total GDP
(
`
Crore)
Agricultural
GDP
(
`
Crore)
Non-
agricultural
GDP
(
`
Crore)
Non-
agricultural to
Agricultural
GDP ratio
Per Capita GDP
(Rupees)
Non-agricultural
to Agricultural
Per Capita GDP
ratio
Agriculture
Non-
agricultural
1970-71 44382
18620 25762
1.38
460
1801
3.92
1980-81 136838
48426 88412
1.83
959
4957
5.17
1993-94 817961 234566 583395
2.49
4337
19093
4.40
1999-00 1847273 455302 1391970
3.06
7833
31105
3.97
2004-05 2971465 565427 2406039
4.26
8782
42482
4.84
2010-11 7266967 1306942 5960025
4.56 20300 105232
5.18
2011-12 8353495 1465753 6887742
4.70 22766 121612
5.34
2012-13 9461979 1643145 7818834
4.76 25522 138051
5.41
Source:
CSO, National Accounts Statistics, Per Capita figures estimated by EPWRF.
As highlighted earlier, the farm sector has faced many adverse
consequences from the above mentioned structural disabilities. The continued
dependence of rising population and labour force on limited and non-
expanding land base has resulted in a continuous decline in the availability
of land per agricultural worker. Apart from the sharp decline in the average
size of holding, there has been a growing marginalisation, with the increases
in the number of operational holdings occurring only under the size class of
marginal holdings. In 2002-03, as per NSSO data, as much as near 70% of
operational holdings were marginal holdings (of below 1 hectare) as against
39.1% in 1960-61 (Table 2.4).
