Chapter-2

People as resource

1. Introduction

    a. Definition, general concept meaning

2. Economics activities by man and women

                   Primary sector

Ø Agriculture

Ø Forestry

Ø Animal husbandry

Ø Fishing

Ø Mining and querying

 

Secondary sector

Ø Manufacturing

 

Tertiary sector

Ø Trade

Ø Transport

Ø Communication

Ø Banking

Ø Service and insurance

 

Non-economics activities

Ø Production of goods

Ø Services, including government services

3. Quality of population

    a. Education

    b. Health

4. Unemployment

    a. Meaning

    b. Types

        Ø Rural unemployment

           ü Seasonal unemployment

           ü Disguised unemployment

        Ø Urban unemployment

           ü Educated unemployment

 

 

Economic Activities

The activities which result in the production of goods and services and value to the national income are called economic activities.

 

Economic Activities by Men and Women

The various activities have been classified into three main sectors i.e., primary, secondary and tertiary.

 

Primary sector:

It includes agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, fishing, poultry farming, and mining.

 

 

Secondary sector:

Quarrying and manufacturing is included in the secondary sector. E.g. transformation of wheat into flour is a secondary activity.

 

 

Tertiary sector:

Trade, transport, communication, banking, education, health, tourism, services, insurance etc. are included in the tertiary sector. The activities in this sector result in the production of goods and services.

In an undeveloped economy, primary sector is the dominant sector of the economy. With economic growth the relative shares of secondary and tertiary sectors increases whereas that of the primary sector falls.

 

 

 

  

Economic activities have two parts:

• Market Activities

• Non-Market Activities

Market activities:-

That part of the activity which produces such goods or services that are sold and purchased in the market, and the provider of the service gets paid for it. These include production of goods or services including government service.

 

 

 

 

Non-market activities:-

The performer of this type of economic activity produces primarily for self-consumption.

 

Unemployment

A situation in which a person is willing to work at current wage rate, but doesn’t get a job. The nature of the unemployed differs in rural and urban area.

Rural Areas:

Rural areas there is seasonal and disguised unemployment.

 

Urban Areas:

Urban areas have mostly educated unemployment.

 

Disguised unemployment and seasonal unemployment:

Disguised unemployment is a situation where the number of people employed in a job is more than what is optimally required.

 

E.g. suppose on a given farm land, one farmer cultivates the land and manages to produce 5000 kg of wheat. Soon, two other members of his family join him and share his work. The total output remains as before i.e. 5000 kg. it means that these two additional labourers are not making any contribution to the total output. They work as extras on land. These two persons will be called as disguisedly unemployed.

Seasonal unemployment refers to a situation where a large number of people are unable to find a job during some months of the year. E.g. agriculture is a seasonal activity. There is an increased demand for labour at the time of sowing, harvesting, weeding and threshing. In between there is either no or little demand for labour. Agricultural labourer finds himself as unemployed during this period. It is called seasonal unemployment.

 

Women are employed in low paid jobs:

This is not universally true that women are employed into low paid jobs. A worker’s remuneration in a work depends upon the level of skill and knowledge involved. All those with higher skill, knowledge and training are paid higher. There is no discrimination between men and women. However, in general a large number of women are illiterate. They do not possess any skills or training. Such women have to take up low paid jobs generally in unorganized sectors of the economy. Also they are subjected to job insecurity.

 

Unemployment rate in India is low:

Unemployment rate in India is low as compared to other countries. In fact India experiences a large rate of underemployment. This is because of the following reasons:

a) A poor cannot afford to sit unemployed for a long period of time. He has to find work for his subsistence. Therefore, he accepts whatever job comes his way. It may be a low productivity, low paid job. It may involve much hard work without sufficient remuneration. A poor man would be compelled to accept it. He would be recorded as employed and not as unemployed.

 

b) A major part of our labour force is engaged into agriculture. In agriculture it is difficult to identify who is employed and who is unemployed, although all persons will be reported as employed. The reality is that a large portion of the agricultural labour force is disguised unemployed.

 

Educated unemployment a peculiar problem in India

Educated unemployment is a situation where a person has some formal education but fails to find a job for himself. India is experiencing this problem mainly because of the following reasons:

Much of the education is of low-quality. There is rarely any vocation element in it. Therefore, much of education is irrelevant. The rate at which the white collar jobs are created in India is much less than the rate at which the population and education is increasing.

 

The causes of unemployment in our economy:

Rapid growth of population cuts away our limited and existing and limited resources, retards capital formation, leaves no surplus and causes unemployment.

a) Slow rate of economic growth. India is a slowly growing economy. This slow economic growth is neutralized by our rapid growth of population.

 

b) Over-dependence on agriculture. Over 60% of the Indian population is dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. Seasonal character of agriculture and disguised unemployment in agriculture are the causes of unemployment in our country.

 

c) Under-developed industries. Industrial development in India is very slow due to shortage of capital, essential inputs, power shortage, shortage of raw materials, outdated machinery, sick industrial units etc. Hence, job opportunities are very limited in industrial sector.

 

d) Defective educational system. Our educational system is educated. It is not job-oriented. As a result, we have a large number of educated unemployed.

 

e) Less savings, investment and capital formation. Our economy is characterized by low savings due to low incomes and poverty, size of our families, less investment and almost no capital formation.

 

f) Use of capital intensive technology. To earn huge profit and to save their industries from labour unrest, frequent strikes, our industries are switching over to capital intensive technology.

 

 

 

Quality of Population

 

The quality of population depends upon:

• Literacy rate

• Health of a person indicated by life expectancy

• Skill formation acquired by the people of the country

 

The quality of the population ultimately decides the growth rate of the country. Illiterate and unhealthy population are a liability for the economy. Literate and healthy population is an asset.

 

 

 

 

Role of education in human capital formation

 

Education:

Education has a vital role to play in human capital formation or in human resource development. It helps an individual to make better use of economic opportunities available before him. Education and skill are the major determinants of the earning of an individual in the market. Apart from these education has many other benefits such as:

• It helps a man to make all around development and opens the avenue of prosperity.


• It uplifts his abilities as a skilled worker and enables him to earn better.


• Education enables a man to get rid of bad habits.


• It helps a man to acquire good habits and become an ideal citizen for his country.


• Literate parents are aware of the benefits of education of their children. They are also conscious of proper nutrition and hygiene.

 

Navodaya Vidyalaya:

Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas are run by Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti, New Delhi, ‘an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of Education and Government of India. Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya known as JNV are Indian schools for talented children and form a part of the system of gifted education.These are fully residential & co-educational schools affiliated with CBSE, New Delhi, and has classes from VI to XII standard. Its significance lies in the selection of talented rural children as the target group and the attempt to provide them with quality education comparable to the best in a residential school system, without regard to their family’s socio-economic condition.

 

Sarva Siksha Abhiyan:

‘Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’ (SSA) is a programme for universalisation of Elementary Education covering the entire country. It was started in 2001. The programme aims to provide useful & relevant free & compulsory elementary Education for all children in the age group 6 to 14 yr under RTE Act.2009. It is an initiative to universalize and improve quality of education The programme has time bound objectives on one hand SSA is a programme with its own targets, norms & process, on the other hand it is an umbrella programme covering other programmes like DPEP, Lok Jumbish & the operational black board etc.

 

 

Mid day meal scheme:

As been implemented to encourage attendance and retention of children and improve their nutritional status.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Outline the strategies of the Tenth Five Year Plan to promote education:

 

The Tenth Five Year Plan aims to:

a. Increase the number of schools and colleges.

b. Quality improvement

c. Vocationalisations of education

d. Promotion of distant education

e. Convergence between formal and non – formal system of education

f. Adoption of state specific curriculum

 

 

Health:

 

A healthy person is able to devote more time to his work.He/she has more strength, energy and stamina.Hence, he/she is more efficient and productive.Therefore any expenditure on healthcare may be regarded as the investment made in human capital formation.Health covers a wide range of activities including family welfare, population control, drug control, immunization and prevention of food adulteration etc. Only a healthy person can do full justice to his job. Thus it plays a vital role in individual’s working life. An unhealthy person is a liability for his family, organization and country. No organization will employ such a person who can not work efficiently because of ill-health.

 

Meaning of life expectancy:

Life expectancy is a statistical measure of the average length of survival of a living thing. It is often calculated separately for differing gender and geographic location. Popularly it’s most often construed to mean the life expectancy at birth for a given human population, which is the same as the expected age at death. However, technically, life expectancy means the expected time remaining to live, and it can be calculated for any age.