If we talk about farmers, then it decreased by 9.3% as compared to the year 2001. At the same time, an increase of 9.3% was registered in the number of agricultural workers. The total labor force in the agriculture sector declined by 3.6%. If we look in this way, we will find that in the year 1971 the number of farmers was 62.2 percent, which decreased to 45.1 percent in the year 2011.
National Farmers Day on 23 December, Chaudhary Charan Singh Birth Anniversary, former Prime Minister of India and big farmer leader Chaudhary Charan Singh is celebrated every year as National Farmers Day in the country. There are big talks about agriculture and farmers in the country. Every political party claims to be the sympathizer of the farmers. But, there was not much improvement in the condition of the farmers. The problems faced by the farmers during the time of Chaudhary Charan Singh are more or less the same even today. After independence, farming became so difficult that the farmers of India, an agricultural country, left farming and accepted to become agricultural laborers.
In 1971, There Was 62.2 Percent Of Farmers In India.
After independence in India, there is a continuous decline in the number of farmers. At the same time, the number of agricultural laborers is increasing. The figures of the census of the year 1971 show that the population of the country at that time was 54.82 crores. At that time 80.1 percent of the population lived in rural areas. There were 18.04 crore workers in the country. Of these, 7.82 crores i.e. 62.2 percent were farmers. At the same time, there were 4.75 crore agricultural workers, which was 37.8 percent of the total workforce. In this way, 69.7 percent i.e. 12.57 crore people were employed in the agriculture sector.
After 2001, There Was A Big Decline In The Number Of Farmers.
National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog member (Agriculture) Prof. Ramesh Chand gave this information in a lecture. Based on the census data from 1971 to 2011, he said that after 2001, there was a big decline in the number of farmers, while the number of agricultural laborers increased rapidly.
1981: Marginally Increased Cultivators, Decline In Agricultural Laborers
In the year 1981 census, the population of India had reached 88.33 crores. At that time the rural population decreased to 76.9 percent (52.56 crores). The figure for total workers increased to 24.46 crores. Of these, 9.25 crore (62.5 percent) became. In this decade, a marginal increase of 0.3 percent was recorded in the number of cultivators, while the number of agricultural laborers decreased by 0.3 percent. However, if we talk about the total agricultural workers, then it registered a decline of 9.2 percent.
Farmers Decreased By 2.8 Percent In 10 Years
Thus, between 1981 and 1991, the number of cultivators decreased by 2.8 percent, while the number of agricultural laborers registered an increase of 2.8 percent. At the same time, the number of people working in agriculture decreased from 60.5 percent to 59 percent. That is, a decline of 1.5 percent in the number of people belonging to this category was recorded in a decade.
In The Year 2001, The Population Of The Country Crossed 100 Crores.
In the year 2001, the country’s population crossed one billion for the first time. Then our number was 102.87 crores. During this period the population of villages increased to 74.26 crores and the number of workers increased to 40.22. Of these, 12.73 crores (54.4 percent) were cultivators and 10.68 crores (45.6 percent) were agricultural laborers. The figure for total agricultural workers had reached 23.41 crore (58.2 percent).
Development Of The Non-Agriculture Sector Gave Employment To Farmers
Prof. Ramesh Chand says that after the year 2001, things started deteriorating in the agriculture sector. Farmers started turning away from agriculture on a large scale. When the difficulties started increasing in farming, he left farming. The farmers who gave up farming were forced to become agricultural laborers. This is the reason that after the year 2001, there was a rapid decline in the number of farmers. On the other hand, the number of agricultural laborers also increased equally fast. He said that between 2001 and 2011, the non-agriculture sector developed rapidly. This area gave support to many people working in the agriculture sector. He got employment other than farming as well.
