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In the 1981 census the information regarding economic activity of the people was collected in greater detail. The economic questions consisted of three parts, namely:
Every person including the very young or very old was asked Q.14A (worked anytime at all last year) and answer to this question was filled in. The other questions 14B, 15A and 15 B were to be filled in the case of those to whom they were applicable. These questions were meant to get details of the work done by the people with reference to last and year preceding the date of enumeration. Certain types of work such as agriculture, household industry like gur making, etc., are carried on either throughout the year or only during certain seasons or part of the year depending on the local circumstances. In such cases the broad time span of the agricultural season preceding the enumeration was taken into account.
According to this definition, the entire population has been classified into three main categories, i.e., Main workers, Marginal workers and Non- workers.
Main activity of a person who was engaged in more than one activity was reckoned in terms of time disposition. For example, if a person had worked as a daily wage labourer for four months, as an agricultural labourer for one month and as a cultivator for two months he was reckoned as daily wage labourer for question 15A since he had spent more time in this activity than as a cultivator or agricultural labourer.
A person who normally worked but had been absent from work during the reference period on account of illness, holiday, temporary closure, strike etc., was treated as engaged in the work he would have otherwise have been doing, but for his temporary absence. Persons under training such as apprentices, with or without stipend or wages were treated as workers. A person who had merely been offered work but had not actually joined, was not treated as engaged in that work.
A man or woman who was engaged primarily in one's own household duties or a boy or a girl who was primarily a student, even if such a person helped in the family economic activity but not as full time worker was not treated as worker for Q.14b even though he or she might have been recorded as 'yes' in Q.14A. On the other hand, if a person was primarily engaged in some economic activity for major part of the year but at the same time also attended to some household chores or attended a night school etc, he or she was treated basically as a worker.
An adult woman who was engaged in household duties but doing no other productive work to augment the family's resources was not considered as working. If, however, in addition to her household work, she engaged herself in work such as rice pounding for sale or wages or in domestic services for wages for others or minding cattle for wages or selling firewood etc., or any other work like cultivation etc., was treated as working under Q.14A.
A man or a woman who was doing household duties might be producing or making something only for domestic consumption of the household and not for sale. Such a person was not considered a worker, even though from his or her point of view the activity was productive.
The 'work' concept of 1961 and 1971 censuses as opposed to the 'Income' or 'Economic independence' concept of the censuses prior to 1961, was retained in the 1981 census also. But the criterion for classification of persons as workers underwent changes. While in the 1961 and 1971 censuses dual approach, namely, usual status and current status, were adopted with a reference period of one year for seasonal and one fortnight in 1961 and one week in 1971 for regular work, at the 1981 census the usual status approach was adopted uniformally for all work. In the 1961 and 1971 censuses, classification as worker or non-worker was made through different criteria. In 1961 a person was classified as a worker if he had worked regularly during the last season or if he had worked at least for a day in regular (non-seasonal) work during the receding fortnight. At the 1971 census a person was treated as a worker only if he spent his time mainly in work or if he worked at least for a day in regular (non-seasonal) work during the preceding week.
In 1981, for main worker, the time criterion of engagement in work was the major part of the year i.e. at least 183 days in the preceding one year, while those who worked for some time during the last year but not for the major part of the year were treated as marginal workers. Those who had never worked during the last one year were considered as non-workers. This approach was adopted with the expectation that a partial comparability of 1981 census economic data with that of 1971 as well as 1961 would be possible. It was expected that the main worker of 1981 would correspond to the worker of 1971 and the main worker and marginal worker together of 1981 would correspond to the worker of 1961.
[From the 1971 census.] The definition of "workers" in the 1971 Census is slightly different from that of 1961. In the 1961 Census, a person was considered as "worker" according to his participation in any economically productive work. In the case of regular employment in any trade, profession, service, business or commerce, a person was taken as a worker if he was employed during any of the 15 days preceding the day on which he was enumerated. An exception to the 15 days period to reckon one as a worker had been made in 1961 in the case of seasonal work like cultivation, livestock, dairying, household industry, etc. In such cases if a person had put in an hour's regular work a day throughout the greater part of the working season, he was considered as a worker. "Work" included not only actual work but also effective supervision and direction of work. A person might be working as a cultivator or as an agricultural labourer or at a household industry or might be doing any other work. He might be engaged either in one or more than one of the above. A full-time student who spent some time in his father's shop for even a day in a fortnight was considered as a "worker". Similarly if a woman who was basically engaged in household duties also engaged herself in work such as pounding rice for sale or wages or in domestic services for wages for others or minding cattle or selling firewood or making and selling dung cakes, grass, etc. or any such work, she was also treated as a "worker". Thus in the 1961 Census a person was categorized basically as a "worker" even if such a person's contribution to work was extremely marginal.
In the 1971 Census, every individual was asked to declare himself what according to him was his "main activity" i.e. how he engaged himself mostly. Accordingly all persons were divided into two broad streams of main activity as workers and non-workers. A 'worker' was defined clearly as a person whose "main activity" was participation in any economically productive work by his physical or mental activity. "Work" involved not only actual work but effective supervision, or direction of work. The reference period was one week prior to the date of enumeration in the case of regular work in trade, profession, service or business. If a person had participated in any such regular work on any one of the days during the week preceding the day of enumeration and this had been returned as his 'main activity', the person was classified as a worker and categorized accordingly. A person who normally worked but had been absent from work during the reference period on account of illness or travel, holiday, temporary breakdown, strike, etc., was treated as engaged in regular work in which he would have otherwise been employed but for his temporary absence. Persons under training such as apprentices with or without stipends or wages were considered as economically active and recorded as working. A person who was offered work but did not actually join it was not treated as engaged in work. In respect of seasonal work like cultivation, livestock keeping, plantation, some types of household industry, etc., which are not carried on throughout the year, a person's main activity was ascertained with reference to such work in the last one year even if he was not economically active in the week prior to enumeration. In 1971 A person was treated basically as a "non-worker" if he or she did not come under any of the categories of "worker" mentioned above. Thus a person engaged primarily in household duties such as cooking for one's own household or performing one's own household duties or student attending an institution or a rent receiver was classified as such for his main activity and was treated as "non-worker". If he was also engaged in some economic activity, obviously not to the same extent as a full-time worker, that activity was mentioned under the head of "secondary work". The secondary work, if any, of those who were basically classified as "workers" was also ascertained. Data on "secondary work" will be presented in Table B-VII which will be published in Part II-B.
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| Last updated October 1, 2000 |
comments to: Reeve Vanneman.
reeve@umd.edu
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