Labour and occupational transformation in Uttar Pradesh

Agriculture sector is the mainstay of livelihood for rural people of India. It provides not only employment opportunity to the rural people but also manages food facility to the people. It is contributing nearly 12.02 percent in GDP to the nation income. Agricultural development is an integral part for the socio-economic development of the country. Land is a crucial denominator for estimation of the economic status of the people. The possession of land is a tantamount of power, prestige and prosperity in the Indian society but it’s distribution among the social categories is typically based on hierarchy system. This paper will study ‘Labour and Occupational Transformation in Uttar Pradesh’. Hence, the present study is based on secondary data. It will analyze labour and occupational transformation and its impact on economic conditions of the rural people of the state. The unequal distribution of agricultural land in the State is intrinsically based on the caste system. As a result, very few people have possessed a large size of land holdings while a bulk of people have small size of land holdings. Unequal distribution of land is responsible for the unemployment situation. Cultivators who have very few land and they are not capable to cultivate it. Hence, they are compelled to sell their agricultural land for their livelihood and became labour. Thus, cultivators and landless labour are not only converting as an agricultural laborer but also shifting from agricultural sector to non- agriculture sector like Manufacturing, Industry sector. Hence, this trend is increasing the insecure employment situation in the State. It finds almost 80 percent of marginal holdings accounted at 39 percent operated land while only 0.12 percent large holding possessed 2.38 percent operated land. Regular employment is decreasing while casual and self employment is increasing. Hence, the transformation of the surplus labour from agriculture sector to other sectors is the good symbol for the socio- economic development of the rural people in Uttar Pradesh.