Previous Year Question

The Primary Sector has remained the largest employment-providing sector in India. NCERT's chapter on the Indian economy clearly states that despite the rising share of the tertiary sector in production, a similar shift did not occur in employment and the primary sector continued to be India's largest employer.

The largest share of employment within the primary sector is associated with agriculture and allied activities. According to NCERT's comparative data for 2017-18, more than half of the country's workers were then employed in the primary sector, mainly in agriculture, even though the sector's contribution to GVA was much lower than its share in employment.

This difference also points to an important problem in the Indian economy. Because more people may be engaged in agriculture than are actually required, underemployment or disguised unemployment can occur—meaning that some workers can be moved out of agriculture without significantly reducing total output. NCERT explains disguised unemployment in agriculture in this context.

It is important to remember that the largest producing sector and the largest employing sector need not be the same. According to NCERT, by 2017-18 the tertiary sector had become the largest producing sector, while the primary sector remained the largest sector in terms of employment.