PEOPLE AS RESOURCE
Human beings perform many activities which can be grouped into economic and
noneconomic.
Economic Activities:
Economic activities refer to those activities of man which are undertaken for a
monetary gain or to satisfy his/her wants. The activities of workers, farmers,
shopkeepers, manufacturers, doctors, lawyers, taxi drivers, etc. fall under this
category.
Non-Economic Activities:
Non-economic activities are ones that are not undertaken for any monetary gain.
These are also called unpaid activities, e.g., Puja-paath, housekeeping, helping
the poor or disabled, etc.
Classification of Economic Activities.
Various economic activities can be
classified into three main sectors, that is primary sector, secondary sector and
tertiary sector. The primary sector includes activities like agriculture,
forestry, animal husbandry, fishing, poultry, farming and mining. In this
sector, goods are produced by exploiting nature. In the secondary
sector,
manufacturing (small and large) and construction activities are included. The
tertiary sector (also called service sector) provides various types of
services like transport, education, banking, insurance, health, tourism, etc.
Market Activities and Non-Market Activities.
Economic activities, i.e.
production of goods and services can be classified into market activities and
non-market activities. Market activities are performed for remuneration.
Non-market activities are the activities carried out for self-consumption.
Activities of Women.
Women generally look after domestic affairs like cooking of food, washing of
clothes, cleaning of utensils, housekeeping and looking after children.
Human Capital.
Human capital is the stock of skill and productive knowledge embodied in human
beings. Population (human beings) become human capital when it is provided with
better education, training and health care facilities.
People as a Resource.
People as resource is a way of referring to a country’s workforce in terms of
their existing skills and abilities.
Human Capital Formation.
When the existing human resource is further developed by spending on making the
workforce more educated and healthy, it is called human capital formation.
Quality of Population.
The quality of population depends upon the literacy rate, life expectancy and
skills formation acquired by the people of the country.
Role of Education.
Education is the most important component of human resource development.
In view of its
contribution towards the growth of the society, government expenditure on
education as a percentage of GDP rose from 0.64% in 1951-52 to 3.98% in 2002-03.
However, our national goal is 6% of GDP.
Health.
Health is another very important component of human resource development.
Efficiency of workers largely depends on their health. There has been
considerable improvement in the country’s health standard. For instance, the
life expectancy at
the time of birth in India rose from 37.2 years in 1951 to 63.9 years in 2001.
Similarly, infant mortality rate has come down from 147 to 70 during the same
time period.
Unemployment.
Unemployment is said to exist when people who are willing to work at the
prevailing wage rates cannot find jobs. When we talk of unemployed people, we
refer to those in the age group of 15-59 years. Children below 15 years of age
and the old people above 60 are not considered while counting the number of
unemployed.
Nature of Unemployment in India.
Seasonal unemployment occurs when
people fail to get work during some months of the year (that is, during
off-season). Farm labourers usually face this kind of problem. Disguised
unemployment is another kind of unemployment found in rural areas. Such kind of
problem arises due to excessive pressure of population on
agriculture.
Disguised unemployment refers to a situation wherein the number of workers in a
job is more than actually required to do the job. The extra number of workers
are disguisedly unemployed.
Consequences of Unemployment:
(i) Unemployment
leads to wastage of manpower resource.
(ii) Unemployment
tends to increase the economic overload that is dependence of the unemployed on
the working population.
(iii) Unemployment
may lead to increase in social unrest and tension.