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Eternal India
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structions; trade and commerce; transport, storage and communica-
tions; and other services, has gone up. In mining and quarrying and
transport; storage and communications the increase in proportion is
only marginal. A majority of the States and UTs exhibit an increase
in the proportion of workers engaged in mining and quarrying.
Among the major states, in Bihar, Punjab and West Bengal the pro-
portion of main workers in mining and quarrying declined. In Punjab
the absolute number is very small being only 1,164 in 1981 and 564
in 1991. In Bihar, however, the absolute number of workers in this
category has declined from 338,243 in 1981 (310,780 males and
27,463 females) to 322,741 in 1991 (300,485 males and 22,256
females). In all other major states (each with a population of 15
million and above) the absolute number has increased.
"The total number of workers in household industry in India,
excluding Assam and Jammu & Kashmir, has declined from 7.61
million in 1981 to 6.74 million in 1991 showing a decline of 11.45 per
cent over 1981. The decline is noticed in almost all the states,
particularly among males. The corresponding figures for males are
5.57 million in 1981 and 4.52 million in 1991, the decline being of the
order of 18.78 per cent. In case of-females, however the number of
workers in household industry has increased from 2.05 million in
1981 to 2.22 million in 1991 reflecting an increase of 8.48 per cent.
Among the major states (with a population of 15 million and
above), only in Orissa and West Bengal the number of workers in
this sector has increased. In both these states, the number has
increased both among males and females. Among females the
absolute number of main workers in household industry has in-
creased in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Orissa, Rajasthan,
Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. Whether machine
made goods are replacing the products of household industry is
worth investigating".
Industrial classification of main workers
The break up of main workers by nine-fold industrial catego-
ries. It shows the percentage distribution of main workers into the
nine industrial categories as per the 1981 and the 1991 Censuses.
The classification adopted now is comparable to those used in the
previous censuses. These are not the same as the first digits of the
three or five digit National Industrial Classification (NIC 1987).
The statement below shows the increase in total number of
main workers and the distribution of increase by industrial catego-
ries.
"The distribution of occupation can be viewed from another angle, the self-employed, the wage earner and the capitalist. The bulk of the working population
(74 percent) is self- employed. The wage earner accounts for about 25 per cent of the work force. The remaining one percent of the work force is the capital owning
classes who make their living from exploiting their capital. (Source : Census of India 1991. Final Population Totals. Paper 2 of 1992)".