Changes in the industrial structure of India's male working force, 1961-81

The post-Independence period in India has witnessed a gradual decline of some occupations and services and the emergence of others. In the present paper an attempt has been made to analyze the change in the industrial structure of India's male working force by calculating an index of change. The index so calculated for 2 decades separately (1961-1971 and 1971-1981) is portrayed cartographically. The overall low degree of change recorded by the country's male working force establishes the weakness of India's industrial infrastructure. Consequently, the secondary sector seems to have failed in generating employment opportunities on a large scale. Regionally, the peripheral areas have recorded a higher incidence of change than the interior heartland of the country. The areas that were overwhelmingly agricultural and had experienced developments in the field of agriculture alone exhibited a low degree of change in comparison to those that had experienced developments both in the field of agriculture and industry. During the last inter-censal period (1971-1981) the country recorded an accelerated rate of change in the industrial structure of its male working force. Spatially too, the increasing rate of change has spread to new regions.