India needs to create more non-agriculture jobs for farmers

With the share of the farm sector in the GDP declining, India should try to provide more non-agricultural jobs to create more opportunities for the surplus millions still dependent on agriculture for their livelihoods, says Abhijit Sen, member of the Planning Commission.

"In India, the decline in the agricultural workforce has been slow compared to the decrease in the share of agriculture in the gross domestic product (GDP)," Sen told IANS in an interview.

"That clearly means we should try to provide more jobs in non-agriculture activities so that the pressure on agriculture from the population dependent on it declines," he added.