SSC
As per Census 2011, about what percentage of India's total workforce was engaged in agriculture and allied activities?
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Answer: Option D — 54.6 per cent
Detailed Solution
According to Census 2011, about 54.6 per cent of India's total workforce was engaged in agricultural and allied sector activities. This figure has been widely quoted in government documents, such as the Department of Agriculture's annual reports and the Economic Survey.
Census 2011 data on agricultural workers:
- Total workers: about 481.9 million.
- Cultivators: about 118.8 million.
- Agricultural labourers: about 144.3 million.
- Together, cultivators and agricultural labourers numbered about 263 million.
For the first time, the number of agricultural labourers was greater than the number of cultivators. This showed a shift from farming one's own land to working on others' land for wages.
Agriculture and the economy:
Although more than half of the workforce depended on agriculture, the sector's share in India's Gross Value Added (GVA) is only about 18 per cent. This shows low productivity and disguised unemployment in agriculture (more people working on farms than are actually needed).
India has the second largest area of arable land in the world, after the United States.
Most farmers are small and marginal, owning less than 2 hectares. The average size of landholdings has been falling over time.
Recent trends:
Surveys after 2011, such as the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), show that the share of workers in agriculture has declined somewhat, to around 45 per cent, as more people move to construction, services and industry.
Definitions used in the Census:
- Cultivator: a person who works on land owned or held by them, growing crops.
- Agricultural labourer: a person who works on another person's land for wages in money or kind.
- Allied activities include livestock rearing, forestry and related work.
Why not the other options?
- ✗42.3 per cent is lower than the Census 2011 figure.
- ✗68.2 per cent is too high for 2011; the share was close to 70 per cent decades earlier.
- ✗35.4 per cent is too low.
Quick tip
Remember: Census 2011 = 54.6 per cent of workforce in agriculture and allied sectors; agricultural labourers outnumbered cultivators for the first time.
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Agriculture in India — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Agriculture in India, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers agriculture in India: cropping seasons (kharif, rabi and zaid), major food and cash crops and their leading producer states, irrigation, the Green, White, Blue and other agricultural revolutions, and allied activities such as animal husbandry and fisheries. Questions usually ask which crop belongs to which season, which state is the largest producer of a crop, and which revolution relates to which product. For example, the White Revolution relates to milk and was led by Verghese Kurien, and the Blue Revolution relates to fisheries. Producer rankings can change from year to year, so check the latest data for those questions. Practise the agriculture in India questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.