Human Development in India - NCAER

employment 43in urban areas, animal care remains an important activity.Taken in conjunction with the fact that rural women are farmore likely to work than urban women, it is not surprisingthat an overwhelming majority of employed Indian womenrely solely on agricultural work.Table A.4.3a shows how different population groupsengage in various types of employment.Although there is some decline in farming and animalcare among women who are college graduates, men andwomen generally continue to engage in farming and animalhusbandry, regardless of their educational level. In contrast,education is associated with substantial declines in thelikelihood of working as an agricultural or non-agriculturalwage labourer.As Figure 4.3 shows, social group differences in employmenttypes are striking.Adivasis are most likely to be cultivators, reflecting theirrural residence, followed by OBCs and forward castes. Incontrast, Dalits, Muslims, and other religious minoritiesare the least likely to be cultivators. While lower levels offarming for Muslims and other religious minorities stemfrom urban residence, those for Dalits are associated witha lower probability of landownership (as documented inChapter 3). Dalits and Adivasis are far more likely than othergroups to be agricultural wage labourers. Dalits, Adivasis,and Muslims are more likely than other groups to be nonagriculturalwage labourers. As shown in Table A.4.3a, socialgroup differences are most visible in salaried work. Morethan 30 per cent of men from forward castes, and fromChristian and other religious minorities are employed insalaried jobs, while only 13 per cent of Adivasi men are soemployed. Muslims are the most likely to be in business,particularly in rural areas, with many working as home-basedartisans. When we examine social group differences amongwomen, it is particularly striking that among employedwomen, forward caste and OBC womens’ agricultural wagelabour participation is considerably lower than that forDalit and Adivasi women (13 per cent and 26 per cent forforward caste and OBC women, respectively, compared to39 per cent for Dalit women and 45 per cent for Adivasiwomen).Differences in economic activity across states are shownin Table A.4.3b. Relatively few individuals in southernstates like Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu engagein own account farming, partly reflecting the high urbanconcentrations in those areas. However, urbanization isonly part of the story. Agricultural wage work exceeds ownaccount cultivation in each of these states, pointing to theFigure 4.3Source: IHDS 2004–5 data.Type of Employment for Employed Men by Social Group (Urban and Rural)