KARNATAKA - of Planning Commission

ConcernsComparable with all-India trends, Karnatakais experiencing a structural change in thecomposition of its State Domestic Productwith the share of the primary sector decliningin favour of the tertiary sector and theintermediary secondary sector remainingalmost constant. Employment, however, isstill primary sector oriented, with secondaryand tertiary sectors contributing relativelylower proportions. Though the economy hasgrown at a moderate compound growth rateof around 6 per cent during the decade, thegrowth of the primary sector has increasedonly marginally, (by less than one per cent)and it is the secondary and tertiary sectorsthat have fuelled this growth in the state.Another area of concern is the lowparticipation of women in the secondary andtertiary sectors. Women are found largelyin unskilled low-end jobs like agriculturelabour, household industries etc. Womenconstitute nearly 60 per cent of agriculturallabourers. There is a disparity in the relativeagricultural wages between men and womenbesides disparity in real and nominal wages.This further pushes women into a povertytrap.Karnataka has the second largest percentageof children living in poor households, ruraland urban, among the four southern states.While government has initiated manyprogrammes for child labour, the resultsare mixed because the policy focuses onrehabilitation rather than prevention.Existing child labour laws do not cover theso-called non-hazardous sectors such asagriculture, domestic and home-based work,and the informal sector, where more than 90per cent of children work. There is, thus, acontradiction between the law on compulsoryeducation which bans all work during schoolhours and the child labour law. There are alsocontradictions between these two laws onthe magnitude of punishments for employersof children.Another area of concern is negative growthin organised sector employment in recentyears. While the share of the organised sectorin the aggregate employment is very low ateight per cent, a proportion comparable withall-India, it will further decline to lower levelsif remedial policy measures are not takenwith appropriate state interventions.Poverty trends show a declining trend in thestate, comparable with the all-India trend.However, urban poverty in Karnataka ishigher than the rural poverty levels. One ofthe apparent reasons for the high incidenceof urban poverty is migration from the ruralto urban areas for employment.The large number of agricultural labourersas a proportion of the total work forceadversely impacts labour productivity,per capita income and poverty levels dueto an excessive dependence on agriculture.Inter-district comparisons show that leadingdistricts such as Bangalore, Kodagu, andDakshina Kannada have a low proportionof agricultural labourers in the aggregateemployment. These districts have highlabour productivity and per capita income,and a low incidence of poverty. Backwarddistricts like Raichur, Gulbarga and Haverihave a high proportion of agriculturallabour but relatively low productivity levels,per capita income and a high incidence ofpoverty.RecommendationsFormulate a comprehensive employmentstrategy aiming at sectoral and regionaldiversifi cation; identify appropriate labourintensive technologies; encourage fastergrowth in the primary sector; reduce regionaldisparities.Reorient the employment strategy to absorbthe growing labour force by creating more jobopportunities and a growth strategy focusingon the primary sector, which can sustain andabsorb the increasing employment needs.The growth strategy must also focus oncreating employment opportunities in thenon-farm and household industry sectorswhich are highly labour intensive. The tertiarysector though contributing signifi cantly to thestate income, is not labour intensive and isconfi ned to highly skilled jobs. There is a largeKarnataka Human Development Report 2005There is a disparity in therelative agricultural wagesbetween men and womenbesides disparity in realand nominal wages. Thispushes women into apoverty trap.93