Industrialisation in India

How Indians work (2018–19):

Agriculture employs the most people, but now earns only a small share of the national income; services earn more than half. In developed countries, by contrast, very few work in agriculture.

By type of employment:

• self-employed (own farm, shop or trade): over 52 per cent;
• regular salaried workers: about 24 per cent;
• casual labourers (daily wage work): about 24 per cent.

The organised sector means units employing ten or more workers throughout the year, registered with the government, and following labour laws. Over 90 per cent of work in India is in the unorganised or informal sector: small shops, farms, home workers, street vendors, construction labourers.

Social effects of a small organised sector:

• Jobs depend on personal relations: you get work through relatives, caste or village contacts, not open recruitment.
• Few people have secure jobs with pensions, paid leave and health benefits. About two-thirds of those secure jobs are in government.
• Few workers join unions, so they have little power to bargain.
• Workers from different backgrounds rarely mix.

Large public-sector plants did create mixed communities: the Bhilai steel plant is credited with bringing people from all regions of India together.

The big fact: few Indians have secure jobs with benefits.