India's workers

Only 39.8 per cent of Indians were workers in 2011; about 60 per cent were non-workers (children, students, the elderly, people doing only household work).

The Census divides workers into two kinds:

• Main workers: those who work for at least 183 days (six months) a year.
• Marginal workers: those who work for less than that.

The work participation rate is higher in the less developed states, such as Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Chhattisgarh, where more people must work, often on farms, just to get by.

What do people work at? In 2011: 54.6 per cent in agriculture (cultivators and farm labourers); 3.8 per cent in household industry; and 41.6 per cent in other work (manufacturing, trade, services).

Agriculture's share fell from 58.2 per cent in 2001: workers are slowly shifting to non-farm work. But most work is still on the farm.