The Hindu : Front Page : "Self-employment mainstay of all religious groups in rural areas"

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Saturday, Mar 31, 2007
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"Self-employment mainstay of all religious groups in rural areas"

Aarti Dhar

NEW DELHI: Self-employment is the mainstay of all religious groups in rural areas, according to a report on the `Employment and Unemployment Situation among major Religious Groups in India (2004-05)'.

Based on the 61st round exercise of the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), the report says about 37 per cent of Hindu households were dependent on `self-employment in agriculture.'

The corresponding figures for Christians and Muslims were 35 and 26 per cent. The report has been released by the Ministry of Statistics and Implemention.

As for `self-employment in non-agriculture,' the dependence among households was 14 per cent for Hindus, 28 per cent for Muslims and 15 per cent for Christians. In the case of `rural labour' households, it varied from 32 per cent (Muslims) to 37 per cent (Hindus).

In urban India, the percentage of Hindu households depending on `self-employment', `regular wage/salary' and `casual labour' was 36, 43 and 12 per cent. It is 49, 30 and 14 per cent for Muslims and 27, 47 and 11 per cent for Muslims.

National survey

Out of 1,24,680 households surveyed nationally, the numbers of households reporting their religion as Hinduism, Islam, Christianity and Sikhism were 95,066, 14,785, 8,575 and 3,037.

The number for Jainism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism or others together was 3,217.

In rural areas, about 84 per cent of households accounting for 83 per cent of population followed Hinduism, and 10 per cent of the households, representing 12 per cent of the population, followed Islam.

About two per cent of households and population followed Christianity.

In urban areas, the percentage of households and population was about 80 and 77 for Hinduism, 13 and 16 for Islam and 3 and 3 for Christianity.

Even after excluding Jammu and Kashmir, having different geographical coverage in different NSS rounds, the proportion for major religious groups virtually remained unchanged.

Christians had the lowest illiteracy rate in both rural (20 per cent for male and 31 per cent for female) and urban areas (6 per cent for male and 11 per cent for female). Except for rural women, the proportion of literates among Hindus was higher than that among Muslims.

Literacy rates

Among men in rural areas, the literacy rates for Hindus and Muslims were 68 and 63 per cent, and in urban areas 89 and 77 per cent.

Among women in urban areas, the literacy rates for Hindus and Muslims were 73 and 60 and in rural areas almost equal at 59 per cent.

Wage/salaried workers

The proportion of regular wage/salaried workers was the highest among Christians in both rural and urban areas among men and women.

The proportion of casual labourers was the highest among Hindus for women in both rural (34 per cent) and urban (18 per cent) areas.

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