Agricultural Labour in India Its Characteristics as Revealed by National Sample Survey

Ranjan Kumar Som

A G R I C U L T U R A L labour consti-

tutes the most impor tant single element in the ga in fu l l y employed

popula t ion i n I nd ian agr icu l ture . Dara on the p ropo r t i on of agr icul­

tura l labour to the ga in fu l l y employ­ed populat ion and to total popula­t ion , and the p ropor t ion of gain­f u l l y employed to total popu la t ion , derived f r o m Census of Ind ia 1951. the Ag r i cu l t u ra l Labour Enqu i ry (A L E) of 1950-51 and the three Nat iona l Sample Survey (N S S) rounds over the per iod 1952-55 are presented in Table 1.

Theoret ica l ly , the ga in fu l ly em­p loyed popu la t ion includes employ-ers, employees and own-account workers and unpa id household lab­our engaged in product ive occupa­tions. The same number of the total ga in fu l l y employed could be obtained by deduct ing the number of persons der iv ing their earnings f r om non-gainfu l sources f r o m the total number of earners and earn ing dependents. The Census (1951) p ropor t ion of ga in fu l l y employed was der ived by the latter method in the Nat iona l Sample Survey Report No 14, Some Characteristics of the Economically Active Papulation. The Report found that the Census p ropor t ion of ga in fu l l y employed was an underestimate, ma in l y due to the omission of earn ing depen­dants, especially females engaged in household enterprises, f r o m the ga in fu l ly employed category in the Census. Th is was subsequently con f i rmmed in the Census publ ica­t ion. Census of I nd ia Paper No 3, 1955. Economic Classif icat ion by Age G r o u p . 1951, Census, Ut tar Pradesh : " the obvious inference is that some workers have been enumerated as non-earning de-

pendents in these States" (Mysore, West Bengal , U P ) .

DIFFERENT CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS

In the Ag r i cu l t u ra l Labour Enqu­i r y , "ea rne rs " and "he lpe rs " have been taken to constitute the gainfu l ly employed. Thus def ined, the ga in-f u l l y employed include a negl ig ib le p ropo r t i on of "earners " and "he lp­ers" engaged in non-product ive oc­cupations. The p ropo r t i on of agr i­cu l tu ra l labour to tota l popu la t ion in

the rura l sector was estimated at 10 per cent in the N S S rounds and at 13 per cent in the A L E. S imi ­la r ly the p ropor t ion of agr icu l tu ra l labour to the ga in fu l l y employed popu la t ion was 44-47 per cent in the N S S rounds and 49 per cent in the A L E. The Census al l - India propor t ions were even lower than the N S S a l l - Ind ia proport ions. The over-est imation of the propor­tions in the A L E is not unusual fo r a survey oriented to the coverage of a par t i cu la r subject. The discre­pancy between the Census, the A L E and the N S S estimates may then to sought in the differences of con­cepts and def in i t ions adopted and the procedures fo l lowed,

In an ar t ic le by Danie l and Al ice Thorner on " A g r i c u l t u r a l Manpower in I n d i a ; Labourers " publ ished in the Economic Weekly of November 9, 1957, the agr icu l tura l labour po­pulat ion was estimated f rom the Census by add ing to the number of 'seI f -support ing ' and 'earning dep­endent' labourers depending on agr icu l ture f o r their p r ima ry means of l i ve l ihood, the number of per sons (presumably sel f -support ing only, since the Census does not give the " o w n ' ' secondary means of l ivel i ­hood of the earn ing dependants) hav ing agr icu l tura l labour as their secondary means of l ive l ihood. The total number of persons fo l lowing di f ferent act ivi t ies calculated on this basis w i l l be greater than the total number of ga in fu l l y employed. There is, thus, a logical diff iculty in adopt-ing their approach.

EARNERS AND HELPERS

Table 2 gives the percentage dis­t r ibu t ion of persons in three econo­mic status groups obtained f rom the Census, the A L E and the N S S rounds. The def in i t ions were the same for the Census and the N S S; the term "ea rne r " was used in the M S S for the "se l f - suppor t i ng " i n the Census. In the A L E, "an earn­er was taken as one who had earn-ed income however meagre it might be. Helpers are those who assist earners w i thou t earn ing independ­ently any income themselves" (Rural Manpower and Occupational Struc­ture, Government of I nd i a . The "earners " i n the A L E would thus

include the earning dependants, pre-suming, of course, that the income need not necessarily be in the f o r m of cash earnings or wages. In Table 2. the p ropor t i on of "he lpe rs " in the A L E is seen to be of the same order as that of the earning depen­dents in the N S S, Notwi ths tanding the def in i t ions adopted, the "he l -pers" a long w i th the "earners" ' may be taken to constitute the ga in fu l ly employed in the A L E. "Ea rne rs " in the A L E may be taken to be synonymous w i th Census "self-sup­p o r t i n g " and N S S "earners " , and the "he lpers " in the A L E wi th "ea rn ing dependants" in the Census and N S S. (The Census propor­t ion of earning dependants is much lower than that i n the A L E and N S S for reasons expla ined earl ier. The preference of the Thorners for using the A L E estimate f o r "earn­ers" alone as the nearest equivalent to the Census totals f o r self-support­ing and earn ing dependants taken together does not, therefore, seem just i f ied.

The second Agr i cu l t u ra l Labour Enqu i ry was conducted in 1956-57 along w i th the 11th and 12th rounds of the N S S. Th is Enqu i r y adopt­ed the concept of act iv i ty status fo r classifying the popula t ion into gain­fu l ly employed and others. The re­sults of this enqui ry when avai lable for study should throw much more light on the prob lem.

HOUSEHOLD SIZE

Table 3 shows the average size of agr icu l tura l labour households and the total popula t ion obtained f r om the N S S 4th r o u n d (Apr i l -Sept ­ember 1952) . The average size of the agr icu l tu ra l labour household was estimated at 4,26 for a l l - Ind ia , 4.27 for the ru ra l and 4,14 fo r the urban sector. The First A L E (1950-51) estimated the average size of the agr icu l tura l labour household in rura l areas at 4.3, almost the same as in N S S 4 th round .

INDEX OF INERTIA

The Nat ional Sample Survey Re­por t No 11 introduced an Index—-the Index of I n e r t i a — f o r measuring the ratio of the number of ga in fu l l y employed persons having the same occupat ion as the household occupa­t ion to the total number of emp loy -

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where h ( i ) = number o f p r inc ipa l

earners of households ( = number of households) ;

e(i) = total number of ga infu l ly employed persons; and

e ( i i ) = number of ga infu l ly em­ployed persons w i th the same occupation as the household occupat ion.

Th is Index of Iner t ia for agr icul ­tural labour and for al l households is given in Table 4.

The chance that an employed per­son belonging to an agr icu l tura l labour household w i l l also be an agr icu l tura l labourer was about 81 per cent in the rura l .sector and 74 per cent in u r b a n : the corresponding chance for al l households was 70 per cent in the rura l and 57 per cent in the urban. There was thus a greater degree of occupat ional im­mob i l i t y w i t h i n the agr icu l tu ra l lab­our household than all households.

AVERAGE DAYS OF WORK

The average number of work ing days in the p r ima ry occupat ion and in all occupations of persons w i th agr icu l tu ra l labour as their p r imary occupation have been shown by sex and two interpenetrat ing samples in Table 5 for the. ru ra l and urban sec­tor, along wi th those for all gain­fu l l y employed persons. Agr icu l tu ­ra l labourers work for comparat ively less days than the general popula­t ion—about 24 per cent less in the ru ra l and 38 per cent less in the urban sector. The d ispar i ty is higher for females compared w i th males.

The average number of work ing days per month in all occupations for agr icu l tura l labour and the total ga in fu l ly employed popu la t ion is given by sex for six ru ra l popula­t ion zones i n Table 6 f r o m N S S 6th round , May-August 1953. There is good deal of var ia t ion between the ru ra l popula t ion zones in regard to the number of wo rk ing days fo r agr icu l tura l labour. The nor th zone shows the highest number of days (20) and the south zone the lowest ( 1 4 ) . The order of the rura l zones in regard to w o r k i n g days general ly

fo l lows the pat tern obta in ing in the Agr i cu l tu ra l Labour Enqu i ry , 1950-51 (Agricultural Labour Enquiry, Volume / — A l l - I n d i a ) . Whi le male agr i cu l tu ra l labour records a month­ly average of 24 work ing days in the nor th zone, female agr icu l tura l lab­our has the highest number (12 days) in the north-west and west zones. Agr i cu l tu ra l labourers al­ways have less wo rk i ng days than the total ga in fu l l y employed, except in the east zone.

INTENSITY OF EMPLOYMENT

The intensity of employment was recorded in the N S S 7th round (October 1953-March 19541 in terms o f—no w o r k ; less than quar­ter ; quar te r ; ha l f , three quar te r ; f u l l ; leave, rest and vacat ion. The results f o r agr icu l tura l labour and al l ga in fu l l y employed are shown in Table 7 for a l l - Ind ia ru ra l popula­tions.

As compared to 69 per cent of the ga in fu l ly employed populat ion hav ing fu l l intensity of employment, on l y 45 per cent of agr icu l tura l labourers had fu l l intensity of em­ployment in 1953-54. The d ispar i ty was even wider in the case of fe­male agr icu l tura l labour. Corres­

pond ing ly , the propor t ion of agr i ­cul tural labour w i th less than fu l l intensity of employment , for exam­p l e wi th quarter or less intensi ty, was higher than that of the total ga in fu l ly employed : 22.7 per cent of agr icu l tura l labourers, as com­pared wi th 12.8 per cent of the gainfu l ly employed, had intensity of quarter or less in the rura l areas.

REASONS FOR UNDER-EMPLOYMENT

I n the N S S 7th round, data o n the reasons fo r under-employment for those w i th less than fu l l intensity were also collected. This in forma­t ion is given in Table (8) fo r al l Ind ia ru ra l and urban sectors. 47.8 per cent for the rura l ga in fu l l y em­ployed but a much higher propor­t ion, 60,1 per cent, for ru ra l agr i ­cu l tura l labour were under-employ­ed due to economic reasons—lack of mater ials and equipment , fa l l in demand, slack season, off-season, etc. Agr i cu l tu ra l labour is obvious­ly affected much more by economic reasons fo r under-employment than the rest of the ga in fu l l y employed. In the urban sector, the p ropor t ion of persons suf fer ing f r o m under­employment due to economic causes was 55.0 per cent for the total

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ed persons for any par t i cu la r house­hold occupat ion. In this Index, the p r inc ipa l earners of the household whose occupat ion is taken as the household occupat ion are left out both f r o m the numerator and the denominator.

Thus for households w i th house­hold occupation i . Index of Iner t ia

1 Census of I nd ia 1951. Paper No 3. 195.1 2 " A g r i c u l t u r a l Labour Enqu i ry , ru ra l manpower and occupational struc­

t u re " , 1954. 3 Nat ional Sample Survey General Report No I on the First Hound, 1952.

4 Nat ional Sample Survey Report No 14. "some characteristics of the eco­nomical ly active popu la t ion . " 1958-59.

5 Nat ional Sample Survey Report No 16. "Repor t on employment and un­employment " , 1959.

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ga in fu l l y employed and 64.7 per cent for agr icu l tu ra l l abou r -—the d ispar i ty being much less than in the rura l sector.

A V E R A G E I N C O M E

In the. N S S 7th round , data on average income were also collected for the dif ferent occupations. The average incomes f r o m p r i m a r y occu­pations are given in Table (9) for rura l and urban sectors. The aver­age month ly income wan Rs 16.4 for ru ra l agr icu l tu ra l labour as com­pared w i th Rs 37.5 for the total ru ra l ga in fu l ly employed : the income of the. agr icu l tura l labour in the rura l areas was thus less than hal f of the total ga in fu l ly employed. The dis­par i ty was less in the case of fe­males. In the urban sector, agri­cu l tura l labourers had a month ly in­come of Rs 17.1 as compared wi th the income of Rs 64.7 for the total ga in fu l l y employed, the income of the agr icu l tura l labour thus being less than one-third that of the total ga in fu l l y employed. Here also as in the rural areas, the d ispar i ty in in-come between the female agr icu l tu­ral labour and the female total gain­fu l ly employed was relat ively much less. The reason for this may lie in the faet that the p ropor t ion of agr icu l tura l labour among ga in fu l ly employed females (30.6 per cent in the rural sector and 23.3 per cent in the urban, according to N S S 7th round) is much more than that among males (18.4 per cent in the ru ra l and 7.7 per cent in the u rban ) .

In the First A I. E (1950-51) , the average annual income per fami ­ly in rura l areas came to Rs 147 ( Agr icu l tura l Labour Enqui ry . Fol l -A l l - l nd ia . " Government of Ind ia . 1 9 5 4 ) i e. an average, monthly in­come of Rs 37.25: this income was derived f rom all occupations, p r i n ­cipal or subsidiary, by agr icu l tu ra l labour in agr icu l tu ra l labour house­holds. D i v i d i ng this by the average number of agr icu l tura l labourers in the household ( 2 . 0 ) . the average monthly income per agr icu l tura l lab­our comes to Rs 18.62. The distr i ­but ion of this income according to source is shown below :

The average income per agr icul­tural labourer in agr icu l tura l labour households obtained f r om the first A L E ( 1950-51) may be compared w i th the average income per agr i ­cul tural labourer in al l households ( whether the main source of income in the households is f rom agr icu l tu­ral labour or not) obtained f rom the N S S (1953-54) above. These two measures of the average income per agr icu l tura l labour were not really meant to be comparable: the N S S data cover the whole "universe" of agr icu l tu ra l labour in villages whi le the A L E data relate to agr icu l tura l labour in agr icu l tura l labour house­holds only.

It is well known that quite a sub­stantial part of rural agr icu l tura l labour populat ion is in households whose main occupation is derived from other sources: in the 4th round — (Apr i l -September 1952) of the N S S. fo r example of the total agr icu l tura l labour in ru ra l Ind ia , 76.7 per cent f o r three- four th) came f rom households whose main occupation was agr icu l tu ra l labour and the remain ing 23.3 per cent f rom other households: 12.0 per cent were f r om households wi th other agr icu l tura l and related occu­pations.

Agr i cu l tu ra l labour coming f rom other than agr icu l tura l labour house­holds ( fo r example, fanner, cult i­vator, share-cropper households ) are expected to be predominant ly males. The greater weightage to adult male agr icu l tura l labour which gels higher wages than adult females or chi ld­ren, in households other than agri-labour households could lead to

Employment in Public Sector TOTAL employment in the publ ic

sector in 28.983 establishments, excluding the rai lways, rose f rom 50.00.762 at the end of September 1959 to 50.77,504 at the end of Dec-ember 1959. an increase of 67.712.

The increase in employment in Central Government establishments was 12.382. quasi-Government estab­l ishment- 25.579 and Local Bodies 34.878.

There was an increase of 2.982 in the number of persons employed in the Services—educational, medical and health. legal and communi ty . This health, legal and communi ty . This included an increase of 928 persons in educational and scientif ic services.

The manufactur ing industr ies re­corded a gain of 2.808 persons which was chiefly accounted for by an in­crease of 1.150 persons engaged in the manufacture of electric machin­ery and appliances and 890 persons employed in the manufacture of chemicals and chemical products. Establishments concerned wi th the m in ing of crude petroleum and natural gas reported an increase of 843 persons.

The construct ion activit ies under the Central Government registered a gain in employment of 741 persons.

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households, compared to that in agr icu l tura l labour households, even when the wage of agr icu l tura l lab­ourers remains the same fo r each of the ca tegor ies -adu l t male, adult female and chi ld—separately.

Thus the average month ly income per agr icu l tura l labour in agr icul ­tural labour households was Rs 11.95 f r o m agr icu l tu ra l wages and Rs 14.17 f r o m agr icu l tura l and non-agr i cuhura l wages taken together.

a higher average income per agr i ­cul tural labour in these households as also in all households taken to­gether. This could be a plausible explanat ion fo r the h igher income per agr icu l tura l labourer in all

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October 15, 1960 THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY

THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY October 15, 1960

October 15, 1960