Primary, secondary, tertiary sectors; GDP; organised vs unorganised sector; NREGA
| Sector | Activities | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Sector | Directly uses natural resources | Agriculture, fishing, forestry, mining, animal husbandry, dairy |
| Secondary Sector | Transforms raw materials into finished goods (manufacturing) | Cotton → cloth, iron ore → steel, sugarcane → sugar |
| Tertiary Sector (Services) | Supports primary and secondary; provides services | Banking, transport, trade, education, health, IT, tourism, media |
GDP is the total value of all final goods and services produced within a country during a year.
Only final goods counted (not intermediate goods — to avoid double counting).
Share in India's GDP (approx):
• Tertiary (Services): ~54% — largest share
• Secondary (Industry): ~25%
• Primary (Agriculture): ~18%
But employment: Primary sector still employs ~40–45% of workers!
Agriculture contributes only ~18% of GDP but employs ~45% of workers. This means farm workers are much less productive and earn much less than those in services. This is the core of India's economic challenge — "disguised unemployment" in agriculture.
Disguised unemployment: More people employed than actually needed → if some leave, production doesn't fall (they were not contributing!). Common in family farms.
All developed countries went through a sequence:
1. Initially, most workers in primary sector (farming)
2. As industrialisation happened → manufacturing (secondary) grew
3. As countries became richer → services (tertiary) grew most
India is unusual — it moved from primary directly to tertiary (services) without a dominant manufacturing phase like China or Korea did!
| Organised Sector | Unorganised Sector |
|---|---|
| Registered with government; follow government rules | Not registered; no fixed rules enforced |
| Regular fixed employment; job security | Irregular, seasonal, or contractual work; no job security |
| Workers get benefits: provident fund, ESI, leave | Workers get no formal benefits; no sick/maternity leave |
| Minimum wages enforced | Wages may be below minimum wage; no enforcement |
| Examples: Government offices, banks, large factories | Examples: Street vendors, domestic workers, farm labour, small shops |
| ~8% of total workers | ~92% of total workers (vast majority!) |
Public sector: Owned and managed by the government
• Railways, Post Office, Defence, BHEL, ONGC, SBI
• Primary objective: Welfare and service to citizens (not profit)
Private sector: Owned and managed by individuals and companies
• Tata, Reliance, Infosys, private banks, private hospitals
• Primary objective: Profit
Government invests in public sector when private sector won't — because returns are slow, risks are high, or it's essential for national interest (defence, security).
MGNREGA (2005) guarantees:
• 100 days of employment per year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work
• Work on roads, ponds, wells, water conservation, rural infrastructure
• If government cannot provide work within 15 days, the person gets an unemployment allowance
This was the world's largest employment guarantee programme when launched. It has helped reduce rural poverty and distress migration.