Prospects of Indian Agriculture

Indian agriculture has undergone a change during the last two decades. Till 1991, the population censuses show, the proportion of the total population engaged in agriculture, either as cultivators on own account or as wage labour, was steadily declining. But the total number of people so engaged was continuously increasing. The 2001 census showed that the total number of people working as cultivators had, for the first time since 1991, declined in most states. Even the total number of persons working in the main as wage labour had also declined. Only the number of marginal farm workers, that is, workers who reported working for less than six months in the year, had increased. And, this was mainly due to much larger number of women working as marginal farm workers.