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Eternal India
encyclopedia
PEOPLE
1991 Census to net the workers more effectively, particularly those
working as unpaid workers on farm or family enterprise” were
added in the questionnaire itself. This was done to remind the
enumerators that a large number of workers who work on farms or
in family enterprises as unpaid workers tend to be omitted and that
they should be netted by probing whether any such person is there
in the household. Most of such workers usually happen to be
women. There was also special emphasis on capturing, the female
workforce. The enumerators and supervisors were trained on the
need to probe into the economic activities being carried out by the
females. A set of economic activities in which women are com-
monly involved were identified in consultation with organisations
like UNIFEM and universities and included in the instructions to
enumerators. The increase in the female work participation rate in
1991 is to be viewed in the light of the above efforts.
Due to better canvassing more females might have been netted
as workers in the 1991 Census. However, the effect has not been
uniform in all the sectors. Since the male workforce is not generally
affected very much by the emphasis on netting unpaid workers in
farm or family enterprise, or by the mounting of special efforts to
net female workforce in a better manner, it would be worthwhile to
examine the decadal differences in growth rate of male and female
workforce by industrial categories and identify sectors wherein the
female workforce has grown much faster compared to male
workforce. This may probably be used broadly to identify industrial
categories wherein much more efforts would be required to net
female workforce in future.
A comparison of male and female growth rates indicates that
improvements in female work force have been noticed in categories
i, iii, v, ix i.e cultivators, livestock, forestry, fishing, hunting and
plantations, orchards and allied activities; manufacturing, process-
ing, servicing and repairs (both household and non-household); and
other services.
The Registrar General and Census Commissioner has this ob-
servation to make on the WPR:
"While comparing the WPR of two censuses, it is essential to
keep in mind that the WPR is a very crude measure. It is affected
by the age structure of the population. A set of age specific work
participation rates would be a better index. This would be available
towards the end of 1993. In a period of declining fertility, the
proportion of younger age population (0-14) to total population
declines and that of population in working age group 15-59 in-
creases. This results 'in an apparent increase in the WPR in the
later census than what would have resulted if the age structure had
remained the same. Since the pace of decline in fertility has not
been uniform and has been different in different states, great
caution is to be exercised in interpreting the apparent decline or
increase in WPR of the 1991 census over that of the 1981 census.
“The apparent increase in male WPR in the States of Goa,
Gujarat, Kerala, Mizoram, Punjab and West Bengal and the Union
Territories of Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu, Lakshadweep
and Pondicherry may be partly due to fertility decline. Though the
changing age structure would have affected female WPR also, the
improvements in canvassing in the 1991 census, resulting in better
netting of female workers could get confounded with the effect of
the change in age structure during the decade 1981-91. The appar-
ently small decline in male WPR in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu may
also be due to fertility decline. When the age specific rates are
available we may probably find a bigger fall in male WPR in each
age group.
"The female work participation rate has increased in most of
the States and UTs during 1981-91. The increase is, however,
sharper (2.5 percentage points or more) in the case of Gujarat,
Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Mizoram, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu,
Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Dadra & Nagar Haveli.
"There are nine States and UTs where the female work partici-
pation rate has declined during the decade 1981-91. The sharpest
decline is in Arunachal Pradesh where the rate declined by 8.18
percentage points from 45.67 in 1981 to 37.49 in 1991. The decline
is also significant in Sikkim where the female work participation
rate declined by 7.20 percentage points from 37.61 per cent in 1981
to 30.41 per cent in 1991. The female work participation rate in
Punjab has declined by only 1.76 percentage points; but this decline
is quite significant as the work participation in Punjab was quite
low even in 1981 (6.16 per cent)
Increasing proportion of females in workforce
"As noted earlier, in the country, excluding Assam and Jammu
& Kashmir, the female work participation rate has increased in
1991 over 1981 both in rural and urban areas. So has the proportion
of marginal workers to total population. What is very important is
that of the total workforce (both main and marginal) in the country
in 1991, excluding Assam and Jammu & Kashmir, 28.57 per cent
are female workers. In 1981, the corresponding percentage was
25.89. Even among the main workers, the proportion of female
workers in the country, excluding Assam and Jammu & Kashmir,
has increased from 20.30 per cent in 1981 to 22.56 per cent in 1991.
In other words, the female contribution to workforce has increased
during the decade.
"The proportion of male main workers returned as cultivators
has declined in 1991 in all the States and Union Territories except
Nagaland and Sikkim. The proportion of male main workers re-
turned as agricultural labourers has increased in all the States and
Union Territories except Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh,
Tripura, West Bengal, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu and
Pondicherry. In fact during the decade the number of cultivators in
the country, excluding Assam and Jammu & Kashmir, has in-
creased only by 17.11 per cent from 91.49 million in 1981 to 107.14
million in 1991. The number of agricultural labourers in the country,
excluding Assam and Jammu & Kashmir, has increased during
1981-1991 by 33.04 per cent from 55.44 million in 1981 to 73.75
million in 1991. The proportion of agricultural labourers has in-
creased in a majority of the States and UTs but declined in Goa,
Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Tripura, West Bengal, Dadra & Nagar
Haveli, Daman & Diu and Pondicherry. States and UTs where the
proportion of agricultural labourers has increased by more than two
percentage points, in descending order of the magnitude of increase
are Sikkim (4.50), Andhra Pradesh (4.08), Uttar Pradesh (2.96),
Tamil Nadu (2.91), Rajasthan (2.68), Arunachal Pradesh (2.64),
Meghalaya (2.53) and Karnataka (2.14). Interestingly Madhya
Pradesh and Rajasthan which are adjoining States show different
pattern. In the case of Madhya Pradesh the proportion has declined
during 1981-91. In 1991 the proportion of agricultural labourers of
23.51 per cent is quite close to the national average of 26.44 per
cent, while in Rajasthan where the proportion of agricultural la-
bourers (10.00 per cent) is much below the national average, the
proportion increased by a significant margin of 2.68 percentage
points during the decade from 7.32 per cent in 1981 to 10.00 per cent
in 1991.
"At the national level the proportion of main workers in indus-
trial categories iv, vi, vii, viii and ix zi.e mining and quarrying; con-