NOTES FOR THE TEACHER
CHAPTER 2: SECTORS OF THE INDIAN ECONOMY
An economy is best understood when we
study its components or sectors. Sectoral
classification can be done on the basis of
several criteria. In this chapter, three
types of classifications are discussed:
primary/secondary/tertiary; organised/
unorganised; and public/private. You can
create a discussion about these types by
taking examples familiar to the students
and relate them to their daily life. It is
important to emphasise the changing
roles of sectors. This can be highlighted
further by drawing attention of the
students to the rapid growth of service
sector. While elaborating the ideas
provided in the chapter, the students may
need to be familiarised with a few
fundamental concepts such as Gross
Domestic Product, Employment etc. Since
the students may find this difficult to
understand, it is necessary to explain to
them through examples. Several activities
and exercises are suggested in the chapter
to help the students understand how a
person’s activity could be placed —
whether in the primary, secondary or
tertiary, organised or unorganised, and
public or private sector. You may
encourage the students to talk to various
working people around them (such as
shop owners, casual workers, vegetable
vendors, workshop mechanics, domestic
workers etc.) to know more about how they
live and work. Based on such information,
the students can be encouraged to develop
their own classification of economic
activities.
Another important issue to be
highlighted is about the problems caused
by the changes in the roles of sectors.
The chapter has taken the example of
unemployment and what the government
can do to solve it. The declining importance

18

of agriculture and growing importance of
industry and services should be related
to the experience of the children by taking
more examples that they may observe in
their day-to-day life. Information derived
from the media could be used for this
purpose. You may encourage the students
to bring important cuttings and stories
from newspapers, which could be
prominently displayed in storyboards, and
encourage the class to discuss these
issues. While discussing the unorganised
sector, the key issue of protecting the
workers engaged in the sector should be
highlighted. You may also encourage the
students to visit persons and enterprises
in the unorganised sector and get a first
hand experience from real life situation.

Sources for Information
The GDP data used in this chapter
pertaining to Gross Domestic Product at
Factor Cost by Industry of Origin at
2004-05 prices is taken from Economic
Survey 2011. It is a valuable source of GDP
and other information relating to the Indian
economy. For evaluation purposes,
particularly to develop the analytical ability
of learners, teachers can refer to Economic
Survey to get data for different years.
The employment figures are based on
data taken from the five-yearly surveys
on employment and unemployment
conducted by the National Sample Survey
Organisation (NSSO). NSSO is an
organisation under the Ministry of
Statistics, Planning and Programme
Implementation, Government of India.
The website you can log onto is:
http:/mospi.nic.in. Employment data is also
available from other sources such as
Census of India.

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CHAPTER 2

SECTORS
OF THE INDIAN ECONOMY
SECTORS OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES
Let us look at these pictures. You will find that people are
engaged in various economic activities. Some of these are
activities producing goods. Some others are producing
services. These activities are happening around us every
minute even as we speak. How do we understand these
activities? One way of doing this is to group them (classify
them) using some important criterion. These groups are also
called sectors.

2015-2016

at different
We begin by looking
ities.
kind of economic activ

There are many activities that are
undertaken by directly using
natural resources. Take, for
Primary
example, the cultivation of cotton. It
(Agriculture)
takes place within a crop season. For
Sector
the growth of the cotton plant, we
depend mainly, but not entirely,
on natural factors like rainfall,
sunshine and climate. The product
of this activity, cotton, is a natural
product. Similarly, in the case of an
activity like dairy, we are dependent
on the biological process of
the animals and availability
Tertiary
(Service) of fodder etc. The product
here, milk, also is a natural
Sector
product. Similarly, minerals
and ores are also natural
products. When we produce
a good by exploiting natural
produces
resources, it is an activity of
natural
the primary sector. Why
goods
primary? This is because it
forms the base for all
other products that we
subsequently make. Since
most of the natural
helps to develop products we get are from
Secondary other sectors
agriculture, dairy, fishing,
(Industrial)
forestry, this sector is also
Sector
called agriculture and related
sector.

produces
manufactured
goods

20

The secondary sector covers
activities in which natural products
are changed into other forms through
ways of manufacturing that we
associate with industrial activity. It is
the next step after primary. The
product is not produced by nature
but has to be made and therefore
some process of manufacturing is
essential. This could be in a factory, a
workshop or at home. For example,
using cotton fibre from the plant, we

spin yarn and weave cloth. Using
sugarcane as a raw material, we make
sugar or gur. We convert earth into
bricks and use bricks to make houses
and buildings. Since this sector
gradually became associated with the
different kinds of industries that came
up, it is also called as industrial sector.
After primary and secondary, there
is a third category of activities that falls
under tertiary sector and is different
from the above two. These are
activities that help in the development
of the primary and secondary sectors.
These activities, by themselves, do not
produce a good but they are an aid
or a support for the production
process. For example, goods that are
produced in the primary or secondary
sector would need to be transported
by trucks or trains and then sold in
wholesale and retail shops. At times,
it may be necessary to store these in
godowns. We also may need to talk to
others over telephone or send letters
(communication) or borrow money
from banks (banking) to help
production and trade. Transport,
storage, communication, banking,
trade are some examples of tertiary
activities. Since these activities
generate services rather than goods,
the tertiary sector is also called the
service sector.
Service sector also includes some
essential services that may not directly
help in the production of goods. For
example, we require teachers, doctors,
and those who provide personal
services such as washermen, barbers,
cobblers, lawyers, and people to do
administrative and accounting works.
In recent times, certain new services
based on information technology such
as internet cafe, ATM booths, call
centres, software companies etc have
become important.

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ferent categories,
grouped into three dif
e
ar
,
gh
ou
th
,
es
iti
Economic activ
e examples.
nt. Let us look at som
de
en
ep
rd
te
in
ly
gh
hi
are

TABLE 2.1 EXAMPLES OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES
EXAMPLE
Imagine what would happen if farmers
refuse to sell sugarcane to a particular
sugar mill. The mill will have to shut
down.

WHAT DOES THIS SHOW?
This is an example of the secondary or
industrial sector being dependent on
the primary.

Imagine what would happen to cotton
cultivation if companies decide not to
buy from the Indian market and import
all cotton they need from other
countries. Indian cotton cultivation will
become less profitable and the farmers
may even go bankrupt, if they cannot
quickly switch to other crops. Cotton
prices will fall.
Farmers buy many goods such as
tractors, pumpsets, electricity ,
pesticides and fertilisers. Imagine what
would happen if the price of fertilisers
or pumpsets go up. Cost of cultivation
of the farmers will rise and their profits
will be reduced.
People working in industrial and service
sector need food. Imagine what would
happen if there is a strike by
transporters and lorries refuse to take
vegetables, milk, etc. from rural areas.
Food will become scarce in urban areas
whereas farmers will be unable to sell
their products.

LET’S WORK THESE OUT
1. Complete the above table to show how sectors are dependent on each other.
2. Explain the difference between primary, secondary and tertiary sectors using
examples other than those mentioned in the text.
3. Classify the following list of occupations under primary, secondary and tertiary sectors:
•
Workers in match factory
•
Tailor
•
Money lender
•
Basket weaver
•
Gardener
•
Flower cultivator
•
Potter
•
Milk vendor
•
Bee-keeper
•
Fishermen
•
Astronaut
•
Priest
•
Call centre employee
•
Courier
4. Students in a school are often classified into primary and secondary or junior and
senior. What is the criterion that is used? Do you think this is a useful classification?
Discuss.

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COMPARING THE THREE SECTORS
The various production activities in the primary, secondary
and tertiary sectors produce a very large number of goods
and services. Also, the three sectors have a large number of
people working in them to produce these goods and services.
The next step, therefore, is to see how much goods and services
are produced and how many people work in each sector. In
an economy there could be one or more sectors which are
dominant in terms of total production and employment, while
other sectors are relatively small in size.

How do we count the various goods and
services and know the total production in
each sector?
With so many thousands of goods and services produced,
you might think this is an impossible task! Not only would
the task be enormous, you might also wonder how we can
add up cars and computers and nails and furniture. It won’t
make sense!!!
You are right in thinking so. To get around this problem,
economists suggest that the values of goods and services
should be used rather than adding up the actual numbers.
For example, if 10,000 kgs of wheat is sold at Rs 8 per kg,
the value of wheat will be Rs 80,000. The value of 5000
coconuts at Rs 10 per coconut will be Rs 50,000. Similarly,
the value of goods and services in the three sectors are
calculated, and then added up.
Remember, there is one precaution one has to take. Not
every good (or service) that is produced and sold needs to be
counted. It makes sense only to include the final goods and
services. Take, for instance, a farmer who sells wheat to a
flour mill for Rs 8 per kg. The mill grinds the wheat and sells
the flour to a biscuit company for Rs 10 per kg. The biscuit
company uses the flour and things such as sugar and oil to
make four packets of biscuits. It sells biscuits in the market
to the consumers for Rs 60 (Rs 15 per packet). Biscuits are
the final goods, i.e., goods that reach the consumers.

...BUT I SHOULD BE PAID THE
FULL VALUE OF THE WHEAT
THAT I PRODUCE !

22

Why are only ‘final goods and services’ counted? In
contrast to final goods, goods such as wheat and the wheat
flour in this example are intermediate goods. Intermediate
goods are used up in producing final goods and services.
The value of final goods already includes the value of all
the intermediate goods that are used in making the final
good. Hence, the value of Rs 60 for the biscuits (final good)
already includes the value of flour (Rs 10). Similarly, the

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value of all other intermediate goods
would have been included. To count
the value of the flour and wheat
separately is therefore not correct
because then we would be counting
the value of the same things a number
of times. First as wheat, then as flour
and finally as biscuits.
The value of final goods and
services produced in each sector
during a particular year provides
the total production of the sector
for that year. And the sum of
production in the three sectors gives
what is called the Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) of a country. It is the
value of all final goods and services
produced within a country during a
particular year. GDP shows how big
the economy is.
In India, the mammoth task of
measuring GDP is undertaken by a
central government ministry. This
Ministry, with the help of various
government departments of all the
Indian states and union territories,
collects information relating to total
volume of goods and services and their
prices and then estimates the GDP.

Historical Change in Sectors
Generally, it has been noted from the
histories of many, now developed,
countries that at initial stages of
development, primary sector was the
most important sector of economic
activity.
As the methods of farming
changed and agriculture sector began
to prosper, it produced much more
food than before. Many people could
now take up other activities. There
were increasing number of craftpersons and traders. Buying and
selling activities increased many times.
Besides, there were also transporters,

administrators, army etc. However, at
this stage, most of the goods produced
were natural products from the
primary sector and most people were
also employed in this sector.
Over a long time (more than
hundred years), and especially
because
new
methods
of
manufacturing were introduced,
factories came up and started
expanding. Those people who had
earlier worked on farms now began
to work in factories in large numbers.
People began to use many more
goods that were produced in factories
at cheap rates. Secondary sector
gradually became the most important
in total production and employment.
Hence, over time, a shift had taken
place. This means that the importance
of the sectors had changed.
In the past 100 years, there has
been a further shift from secondary to
tertiary sector in developed countries.
The service sector has become the most
important in terms of total production.
Most of the working people are also
employed in the service sector. This is
the general pattern observed in
developed countries.
What is the total production and
employment in the three sectors in
India? Over the years have there been
changes similar to the pattern
observed for the developed countries?
We shall see in the next section.

LET’S WORK THESE OUT
1. What does the history of developed countries indicate
about the shifts that have taken place between sectors?
2. Correct and arrange the important aspects for calculating
GDP from this Jumble.
To count goods and services we add the numbers that
are produced. We count all those that were produced in
the last five years. Since we shouldn’t leave out anything
we add up all these goods and services.

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PRIMARY, SECONDARY AND TERTIARY
SECTORS IN INDIA
Graph 1 shows the
production of goods
and services in the
three sectors. This
is shown for two
years, 1970-71 and
2010-11. You can
see how the total
production has
grown over the forty
years.

Graph 1 : GDP by Primary, Secondary and
Tertiary Sectors

LET’S WORK THESE
OUT
Answer the following questions by
looking at the graph:
1. Which was the largest producing
sector in 1970-71?
2. Which is the largest producing
sector in 2010-11?
3 . Can you say which sector has
grown the most over forty years?
4. What was the GDP of India in 2011?

rison between
What does the compa
1 show?
1970-71 and 2010-1
we draw
n
What conclusions ca
?
from the comparison
t.
ou
d
Let’s fin

Rising Importance of the
Tertiary Sector in Production
Over the forty years between 1970-71
and 2010-11, while production in all
the three sectors has increased, it has
increased the most in the tertiary sector.
As a result, in the year 2010-11, the
tertiary sector has emerged as the
largest producing sector in India
replacing the primary sector.

24

Why is the tertiary sector becoming
so important in India? There could be
several reasons.
First, in any country several
services such as hospitals,
educational institutions, post and
telegraph services, police stations,
courts, village administrative offices,
municipal corporations, defence,
transport, banks, insurance
companies, etc. are required. These
can be considered as basic services.
In a developing country the
government has to take responsibility
for the provision of these services.
Second, the development of
agriculture and industry leads to the
development of services such as

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transport, trade, storage and the like,
as we have already seen. Greater the
development of the primary and
secondary sectors, more would be the
demand for such services.

Graph 2 : Share of Sectors in GDP (%)

Third, as income levels rise, certain
sections of people start demanding
many more services like eating out,
tourism, shopping, private hospitals,
private schools, professional training
etc. You can see this change quite
sharply in cities, especially in big cities.
Fourth, over the past decade or so,
certain new services such as
those based on information and
communication technology have
become important and essential. The
production of these services has been
rising rapidly. In Chapter 4, we shall
see examples of these new services
and the reasons for their expansion.
However, you must remember that
not all of the service sector is growing
equally well. Service sector in India
employs many different kinds of
people. At one end there are a limited
number of services that employ highly
skilled and educated workers. At the
other end, there are a very large
number of workers engaged in
services such as small shopkeepers,
repair persons, transport persons,
etc. These people barely manage to
earn a living and yet they perform
these services because no alternative
opportunities for work are available
to them. Hence, only a part of this
sector is growing in importance. You
shall read more about this in the next
section.

Where are most of the people
employed?
Graph 2 presents percentage share of
the three sectors in GDP. Now you can
directly see the changing importance
of the sectors over the forty years.

A remarkable fact about India is
that while there has been a change
in the share of the three sectors in
GDP, a similar shift has not taken
place in employment. Graph 3
shows the share of employment in
the three sectors in 1970-71 and
2009-10. T h e p r i m a r y s e c t o r
continues to be the largest
employer even now.

Graph 3 : Share of Sectors in Employment (%)

Why didn’t a similar shift out of
primary sector happen in case of
employment? It is because not
enough jobs were created in the
secondary and tertiary sectors. Even

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though industrial output or the
production of goods went up by
more than nine times during the
period, employment in the industry
went up by around three times. The
same applies to tertiary sector as
well. While production in the service
sector rose by more than 14 times,
employment in the service sector
rose around five times.
As a result, more than half of the
workers in the country are working
in the primary sector, mainly in
agriculture, producing only a
quarter of the GDP. In contrast to
this, the secondary and tertiary
sectors produce three-fourth of the
produce whereas they employ less
than half the people. Does this mean
that the workers in agriculture are
not producing as much as they
could?
What it means is that there are
more people in agriculture than is
necessary. So, even if you move a few
people out, production will not be
affected. In other words, workers in
agricultural sector ar e under employed.
For instance, take the case of a
small farmer, Laxmi , owning about
two hectares of unirrigated land
dependent only on rain and
growing crops like jowar and arhar.
All five members of her family work
in the plot throughout the year.
Why? They have nowhere else to go
for work. You will see that everyone
is working, none remains idle, but
in actual fact their labour effort
gets divided. Each one is doing
some work but no one is fully
employed. This is the situation of
underemployment, where people
are apparently working but all
of them are made to work less
than their potential. This kind of

26

underemployment is hidden in
contrast to someone who does not
have a job and is clearly visible as
unemployed. Hence, it is also
called disguised unemployment.
Now, supposing a landlord,
Sukhram, comes and hires one or
two members of the family to work
on his land. Laxmi’s family is now
able to earn some extra income
through wages. Since you do not
need five people to look after that
small plot, two people moving out
does not affect production on their
farm. In the above example, two
people may move to work in a
factory. Once again the earnings of
the family would increase and they
would also continue to produce as
much from their land.
There are lakhs of farmers like
Laxmi in India. This means that even
if we remove a lot of people from
agricultural sector and provide them
with proper work elsewhere,
agricultural production will not
suffer. The incomes of the people who
take up other work would increase
the total family income.
This underemployment can also
happen in other sectors. For
example there are thousands of
casual workers in the service
sector in urban areas who search
for daily employment. They are
employed as painters, plumbers,
repair persons and others doing
odd jobs. Many of them don’t find
work everyday. Similarly, we see
other people of the service sector
on the street pushing a cart or
selling something where they may
spend the whole day but earn
very little. They are doing this
work because they do not have
better opportunities.

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LET’S WORK THESE OUT
1. Complete the table using the data given in Graphs 2 and 3 and answer the question
that follows.

TABLE 2.2 SHARE OF PRIMARY SECTOR IN
GDP AND EMPLOYMENT
1970-71

2010-11

Share in GDP
Share in employment

What are the changes that you observe in the primary sector over a span of forty
years?
2. Choose the correct answer:
Underemployment occurs when people
(i) do not want to work
(ii) are working in a lazy manner
(iii) are working less than what they are capable of doing
(iv) are not paid for their work
3. Compare and contrast the changes in India with the pattern that was observed for
developed countries. What kind of changes between sectors were desired but did
not happen in India?
4. Why should we be worried about underemployment?

How to Create More
Employment?
From the above discussion, we can see
that there continues to be considerable
underemployment in agriculture.
There are also people who are not
employed at all. In what ways can one
increase employment for people? Let
us look at some of them.
Take the case of Laxmi with her
two-hectare plot of un-irrigated land.
The government can spend some
money or banks can provide a loan,
to construct a well for her family to
irrigate the land. Laxmi will then be
able to irrigate her land and take a
second crop, wheat, during the rabi
season. Let us suppose that one
hectare of wheat can provide
employment to two people for 50 days
(including sowing, watering, fertiliser

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Gur Making in
Haryana

application and harvesting). So, two
more members of the family can be
employed in her own field. Now
suppose a new dam is constructed
and canals are dug to irrigate many
such farms. This could lead to a lot of
employment generation within the
agricultural sector itself reducing the
problem of underemployment.

rate of interest. If the local bank gives
her credit at a reasonable rate of
interest, she will be able to buy all these
in time and cultivate her land. This
means that along with water, we also
need to provide cheap agricultural
credit to the farmers for farming to
improve. We will look at some of these
needs in Chapter 3, Money and Credit.

Now, suppose Laxmi and other
farmers produce much more than
before. They would also need to sell some
of this. For this they may be required to
transport their products to a nearby
town. If the government invests some
money in transportation and storage of
crops, or makes better rural roads so
that mini-trucks reach everywhere
several farmers like Laxmi, who now
have access to water, can continue to
grow and sell these crops. This activity
can provide productive employment to
not just farmers but also others such as
those in services like transport or trade.

Another way by which we can
tackle this problem is to identify,
promote and locate industries and
services in semi-rural areas where a
large number of people may be
employed. For instance, suppose
many farmers decide to grow arhar
and chickpea (pulse crops). Setting
up a dal mill to procure and process
these and sell in the cities is one such
example. Opening a cold storage could
give an opportunity for farmers to
store their products like potatoes and
onions and sell them when the price
is good. In villages near forest areas,
we can start honey collection centres
where farmers can come and sell wild
honey. It is also possible to set up
industries that process vegetables and
agricultural produce like potato,
sweet potato, rice, wheat, tomato,
fruits, which can be sold in outside
markets. This will provide
employment in industries located in
semi-rural areas and not necessarily
in large urban centres.

Laxmi’s need is not confined to
water alone. To cultivate the land, she
also needs seeds, fertilisers,
agricultural equipments and
pumpsets to draw water. Being a poor
farmer, she cannot afford many of
these. So she will have to borrow money
from moneylenders and pay a high

What groups of peop
le do
you think are unemplo
yed
or underemployed in
your
ar ea ? Ca n yo u th
in k of
some measures that
could
be taken up for them
?

Do you know that in India 46.9 per
cent of the population belongs to the
age group 5-29 years? Out of this,
only about 52 per cent are attending
educational institutions. The rest are
not— they may be at home or many
of them may be working as child
2015-2016

labourers. If these children are to
attend schools, we will require more
buildings, more teachers and other
staff. A study conducted by the
Planning Commission estimates that
nearly 20 lakh jobs can be created in
the education sector alone. Similarly,
if we are to improve the health
situation, we need many more doctors,
nurses, health workers etc. to work
in rural areas. These are some ways
by which jobs would be created and
we would also be able to address the
important aspects of development
talked about in Chapter 1.
Every state or region has potential
for increasing the income and
employment for people in that area.
It could be tourism, or regional craft
industry, or new services like IT. Some
of these would require proper
planning and support from the
government. For example, the same
study by the Planning Commission
says that if tourism as a sector is
improved, every year we can give
additional employment to more than
35 lakh people.
We must realise that some of the
suggestions discussed above would
take a long time to implement. For
the short-term, we need some quick
measures. Recognising this, the
central government in India made a
law implementing the Right to Work
in 200 districts of India and then
extended to an additional 130

districts. The remaining districts in
rural areas were brought under the
act with effect from 1 April, 2008. It is
called National Rural Employment
Guarantee Act 2005 (NREGA 2005).
Under NREGA 2005, all those who
are able to, and are in need of, work
are guaranteed 100 days of
employment in a year by the
government. If the government fails in
its duty to provide employment, it will
give unemployment allowances to the
people. The types of work that would
in future help to increase the
production from land will be given
preference under the Act.

LET’S WORK THESE OUT
1. Why do you think NREGA 2005 is referred to as ‘ Right to work’ ?
2. Imagine that you are the village head. In that capacity suggest some activities that
you think should be taken up under this Act that would also increase the income of
people? Discuss.
3. How would income and employment increase if farmers were provided with irrigation
and marketing facilities?
4. In what ways can employment be increased in urban areas?

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DIVISION OF SECTORS AS ORGANISED AND
UNORGANISED
Let us examine another way of classifying activities in the economy. This looks
at the way people are employed. What are their conditions of work? Are there
any rules and regulations that are followed as regards their employment?

Ka n ta

nds her office from
Kanta works in an office. She atte
s her salary regularly
9.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. She get
ition to the salary,
at the end of every month. In add
as per the rules laid
she also gets provident fund
also gets medical and
down by the government. She
s not go to office on
other allowances. Kanta doe
y. When she joined
Sundays. This is a paid holida
tment letter stating
work, she was given an appoin
work.
all the terms and conditions of

Kamal

Kamal is Kanta’s neighbour.
He is a
da ily wa ge lab our er in a
nea rby
grocery shop. He goes to the
shop at
7:30 in the morning and works
till 8:00
p.m. in the evening. He gets
no other
allowances apart from his wa
ges. He
is not paid for the days he
does not
work. He has therefore no leave
or paid
holidays. Nor was he given any
formal
let ter say ing tha t he ha
s bee n
employed in the shop. He can be
asked
to leave anytime by his emplo
yer.

differences in
Do you see the
s of w or k
th e co n d it io n
and Kamal?
between Kanta
Kanta works in the organised
sector. Organised sector covers those
enterprises or places of work where
the terms of employment are regular
and therefore, people have assured
work. They are registered by the
government and have to follow its
rules and regulations which are
given in various laws such as the
Factories Act, Minimum Wages Act,
Payment of Gratuity Act, Shops and
Establishments Act etc. It is called

30

organised because it has some formal
processes and procedures. Some of
these people may not be employed by
anyone but may work on their own
but they too have to register
themselves with the government and
follow the rules and regulations.
Workers in the organised sector
enjoy security of employment. They
are expected to work only a fixed
number of hours. If they work more,
they have to be paid overtime by the
employer. They also get several other
benefits from the employers. What are

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these benefits? They get paid leave,
payment during holidays, provident
fund, gratuity etc. They are supposed
to get medical benefits and, under the
laws, the factory manager has to
ensure facilities like drinking water
and a safe working environment.
When they retire, these workers get
pensions as well.
In contrast, Kamal works in the
unorganised sector. The unorganised
sector is characterised by small and
scattered units which are largely
outside the control of the government.
There are rules and regulations but
these are not followed. Jobs here are

low-paid and often not regular. There
is no provision for overtime, paid
leave, holidays, leave due to sickness
etc. Employment is not secure. People
can be asked to leave without any
reason. When there is less work, such
as during some seasons, some people
may be asked to leave. A lot also
depends on the whims of the
employer. This sector includes a large
number of people who are employed
on their own doing small jobs such
as selling on the street or doing repair
work. Similarly, farmers work on their
own and hire labourers as and when
they require.

LET’S WORK THESE OUT
1. Look at the following examples. Which of these are unorganised sector activities?
(i) A teacher taking classes in a school
(ii) A headload worker carrying a bag of cement on his back in a market
(iii) A farmer irrigating her field
(iv) A doctor in a hospital treating a patient
(v) A daily wage labourer working under a contractor
(vi) A factory worker going to work in a big factory
(vii) A handloom weaver working in her house
2. Talk to someone who has a regular job in the organised sector and another who works in the unorganised
sector. Compare and contrast their working conditions in all aspects.
3. How would you distinguish between organised and unorganised sectors? Explain in your own words.
4. The table below shows the estimated number of workers in India in the organised and unorganised
sectors. Read the table carefully. Fill in the missing data and answer the questions that follow.

TABLE 2.3 WORKERS IN DIFFERENT SECTORS (IN MILLIONS)
Sector
Primary
Secondary
Tertiary
Total
Total in Percentage

·
·
·

Organised
2
9
17
28

Unorganised
54
76

Total
242
63
93
100%

What is the percentage of people in the unorganised sector in agriculture?
Do you agree that agriculture is an unorganised sector activity? Why?
If we look at the country as a whole, we find that ———% of the workers in India are in the
unorganised sector. Organised sector employment is available to only about ———% of the
workers in India.

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How to Protect Workers in
the Unorganised Sector?
The organised sector offers jobs that
are the most sought-after. But the
employment opportunities in the
organised sector have been expanding
very slowly. It is also common to find
many organised sector enterprises in
the unorganised sector. They adopt
such strategies to evade taxes and
refuse to follow laws that protect
labourers. As a result, a large number
of workers are forced to enter the
unorganised sector jobs, which pay a
very low salary. They are often
exploited and not paid a fair wage.
Their earnings are low and not
regular. These jobs are not secure and
have no other benefits.
Since the 1990s, it is also common
to see a large number of workers
losing their jobs in the organised
sector. These workers are forced to
take up jobs in the unorganised
sector with low earnings. Hence,
besides the need for more work, there
is also a need for protection and
support of the workers in the
unorganised sector.

Who are these vulnerable people
who need protection? In the rural
areas, the unorganised sector mostly
comprises of landless agricultural
labourers, small and marginal
farmers, sharecroppers and artisans
(such as weavers, blacksmiths,
carpenters and goldsmiths). Nearly
80 per cent of rural households in
India are in small and marginal
farmer category. These farmers need
to be supported through adequate
facility for timely delivery of seeds,
agricultural inputs, credit, storage
facilities and marketing outlets.
In the urban areas, unorganised
sector comprises mainly of workers in
small-scale industry, casual workers
in construction, trade and transport
etc., and those who work as street
vendors, head load workers, garment
makers, rag pickers etc. Small-scale
industry also needs government’s
support for procuring raw material
and marketing of output. The casual
workers in both rural and urban
areas need to be protected.
We also find that majority of
workers from scheduled castes, tribes
and backward communities
find themselves in the
unorganised sector. Besides
getting the irregular and low
paid work, these workers also
face social discrimination.
Protection and support to
the unorganised sector
workers is thus necessary
for both economic and
social development.

When factories close down, many
once regular workers are found
selling goods or pushing a cart or
doing some other odd job

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LET’S RECALL
With so many activities taking place around us, one needs to use the
process of classification to think in a useful manner. The criterion for
classification could be many depending on what we desire to find out.
The process of classification helps to analyse a situation.
In dividing the economic activities into three sectors — primary,
secondary, tertiary — the criterion used was the ‘nature of activity’. On
the basis of this classification, we were able to analyse the pattern of total
production and employment in India. Similarly, we divided the economic
activities into organised and unorganised and used the classification to
look at employment in the two sectors.
What was the most important conclusion that was derived from the
classification exercises? What were the problems and solutions that were
indicated? Can you summarise the information in the following table?

TABLE 2.4 CLASSIFYING ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES
Sector

Criteria used

Primary,
Secondary,
Tertiary

Nature
of activity

Most important
conclusion

Problems indicated and
how they can be tackled

Organised,
Unorganised

SECTORS IN TERMS OF OWNERSHIP: PUBLIC
AND PRIVATE SECTORS
Another way of classifying economic
activities into sectors could be on the
basis of who owns assets and is
responsible for the delivery of services.
In the public sector, the government
owns most of the assets and provides
all the services. In the private sector,
ownership of assets and delivery of
services is in the hands of private
individuals or companies. Railways or
post office is an example of the public
sector whereas companies like Tata
Iron and Steel Company Limited
(TISCO) or Reliance Industries
Limited (RIL) are privately owned.
Activities in the private sector are
guided by the motive to earn profits.

To get such services we have to pay
money to these individuals and
companies. The purpose of the public
sector is not just to earn profits.
Governments raise money through
taxes and other ways to meet expenses
on the services rendered by it. Modern
day governments spend on a whole
range of activities. What are these
activities? Why do governments spend
on such activities? Let’s find out.
There are several things needed by
the society as a whole but which the
private sector will not provide at
a reasonable cost. Why? Some of
these need spending large sums of
money, which is beyond the capacity

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of the private sector. Also, collecting
money from thousands of people who
use these facilities is not easy. Even if
they do provide these things they
would charge a high rate for their
use. Examples are construction of
roads, bridges, railways, harbours,
generating electricity, providing
irrigation through dams etc. Thus,
governments have to undertake such
heavy spending and ensure that
these facilities are available for
everyone.
There are some activities, which
the government has to support. The
private sector may not continue their
production or business unless
government encourages it. For
example, selling electricity at the cost
of generation may push up the costs
of production of goods in many
industries. Many units, especially
small-scale units, might have to shut
down. Government here steps in by
producing and supplying electricity
at rates which these industries can
afford. Government has to bear part
of the cost.
Similarly, the Government in India
buys wheat and rice from farmers at
a ‘fair price’. This it stores in its
godowns and sells at a lower price to
consumers through ration shops. You
have read about this in the chapter
on Food Security in Class IX. The

government has to bear some of the
cost. In this way, the government
supports both farmers and
consumers.
There are a large number of
activities which are the primary
responsibility of the government. The
government must spend on these.
Providing health and education
facilities for all is one example. We have
discussed some of these issues in the
first chapter. Running proper schools
and providing quality education,
particularly elementary education, is
the duty of the government. India’s size
of illiterate population is one of the
largest in the world.
Similarly, we know that nearly half
of India’s children are malnourished
and a quarter of them are critically ill.
We have read about Infant Mortality
Rates. The infant mortality rate of
Odisha (53) or Madhya Pradesh (56)
is higher than some of the poorest
regions of the world. Government
also needs to pay attention to aspects
of human development such as
availability of safe drinking water,
housing facilities for the poor and food
and nutrition. It is also the duty of
the government to take care of the
poorest and most ignored regions of
the country through increased
spending in such areas.

SUMMING UP
In this chapter we have looked at ways of
classifying economic activities into some
meaningful groups. One way of doing this
is to examine whether the activity relates to
the primary, secondary or tertiary sectors.
The data for India, for the last thirty years,
shows that while goods and services
produced in the tertiary sector contribute
the most to GDP, the employment remains
in the primary sector. We have also seen

34

what all can be done for increasing
employment opportunities in the country.
Another classification is to consider whether
people are working in organised or
unorganised sectors. Most people are
working in the unorganised sectors and
protection is necessary for them. We also
looked at the difference between private and
public activities, and why it is important for
public activities to focus on certain areas.

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EXERCISES
1. Fill in the blanks using the correct option given in the bracket:
(i) Employment in the service sector _________ increased to the same extent
as production. (has / has not)
(ii) Workers in the _________ sector do not produce goods.
(tertiary / agricultural)
(iii) Most of the workers in the _________ sector enjoy job security.
(organised / unorganised)
(iv) A _________ proportion of labourers in India are working in the unorganised
sector. (large / small)
(v) Cotton is a _________ product and cloth is a _________ product.
[natural /manufactured]
(vi) The activities in primary, secondary and tertiary sectors are_________
[independent / interdependent]
2. Choose the most appropriate answer.
(a) The sectors are classified into public and private sector on the basis of:
(i) employment conditions
(ii) the nature of economic activity
(iii) ownership of enterprises
(iv) number of workers employed in the enterprise
(b) Production of a commodity, mostly through the natural process, is an
activity in _________ sector.
(i) primary
(ii) secondary
(iii) tertiary
(iv) information technology
(c) GDP is the total value of _________ produced during a particular year.
(i) all goods and services
(ii) all final goods and services
(iii) all intermediate goods and services
(iv) all intermediate and final goods and services
(d) In terms of GDP the share of tertiary sector in 2010-11 is _________
(i) between 20 to 30 per cent
(ii) between 30 to 40 per cent
(iii) between 50 to 60 per cent
(iv) 70 per cent

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3. Match the following:
Problems faced by farming sector
1. Unirrigated land
2. Low prices for crops
3. Debt burden
4. No job in the off season
5. Compelled to sell their grains to
the local traders soon after harvest

Some possible measures
(a) Setting up agro-based mills
(b) Cooperative marketing societies
(c) Procurement of food grains by government
(d) Construction of canals by the government
(e) Banks to provide credit with low interest

4. Find the odd one out and say why.
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)

Tourist guide, dhobi, tailor, potter
Teacher, doctor, vegetable vendor, lawyer
Postman, cobbler, soldier, police constable
MTNL, Indian Railways, Air India, SAHARA Airlines, All India Radio

5. A research scholar looked at the working people in the city of Surat and found
the following.
Place of work
In offices and factories registered
with the government

Nature of employment

Percentage of working people

Organised

15

Own shops, office, clinics in
marketplaces with formal license

15

People working on the street,
construction workers, domestic
workers

20

Working in small workshops
usually not registered with the
government
Complete the table. What is the percentage of workers in the unorganised
sector in this city?
6. Do you think the classification of economic activities into primary, secondary
and tertiary is useful? Explain how.
7. For each of the sectors that we came across in this chapter why should one
focus on employment and GDP? Could there be other issues which should be
examined? Discuss.
8. Make a long list of all kinds of work that you find adults around you doing for a
living. In what way can you classify them? Explain your choice.
9. How is the tertiary sector different from other sectors? Illustrate with a few
examples.
10. What do you understand by disguised unemployment? Explain with an example
each from the urban and rural areas.
11. Distinguish between open unemployment and disguised unemployment.
12. “Tertiary sector is not playing any significant role in the development of Indian
economy.” Do you agree? Give reasons in support of your answer.

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13. Service sector in India employs two different kinds of people. Who are these?
14. Workers are exploited in the unorganised sector. Do you agree with this view?
Give reasons in support of your answer.
15. How are the activities in the economy classified on the basis of employment
conditions?
16. Compare the employment conditions prevailing in the organised and unorganised
sectors.
17. Explain the objective of implementing the NREGA 2005.
18. Using examples from your area compare and contrast that activities and functions
of private and public sectors.
19. Discuss and fill the following table giving one example each from your area.
Well managed organisation

Badly managed organisation

Public sector
Private Sector
20. Give a few examples of public sector activities and explain why the government
has taken them up.
21. Explain how public sector contributes to the economic development of a nation.
22. The workers in the unorganised sector need protection on the following issues :
wages, safety and health. Explain with examples.
23. A study in Ahmedabad found that out of 15,00,000 workers in the city, 11,00,000
worked in the unorganised sector. The tot al income of the city in this year
(1997-1998) was Rs 60,000 million. Out of this Rs 32,000 million was generated
in the organised sector. Present this data as a table. What kind of ways should
be thought of for generating more employment in the city?
24.

The following table gives the GDP in Rupees (Crores) by the three sectors:
Year

Primary

1950

80,000

Secondary
19,000

Tertiary
39,000

2011

8,18,000

12,49,000

28,18,000

(i)

Calculate the share of the three sectors in GDP for 1950 and 2011.

(ii)

Show the data as a bar diagram similar to Graph 2 in the chapter.

(iii)

What conclusions can we draw from the bar graph?

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