Explain the role of primary sector in employment generation in India.

(i) There are many activities that are undertaken by directly using natural resources commonly known as Primary Sector.

(ii) For example, the cultivation of cotton providing employment to farmers and farm labourers.

(iii) In case of an activity like dairy which is dependent on the biological process of animals and availability of resources provides employment to people

(iv) Similarly, minerals and ores are natural products. When we produce goods by exploiting natural resources, it is an activity of primary sector, providing employment to the miners.

(v) In the last four decades in India there has been a change in the share of the three sectors in GDP, a similar shift has not taken place in employment.

(vi) The primary sector continues to be the largest employer even now.

(vii) Even though industrial output or the production of goods went up by more than nine times during the period, employment in the industry went up by around three times.

(viii) The same applies to the tertiary sector as well. While production in the service sector rose by $\displaystyle 14$ times, employment in the service sector rose around five times.

(ix) As a result, more than half of the workers in the country are working in the primary sector, mainly in agriculture, producing only about one sixth of the GDP.