According to Census of India 2011, in rural India, which state has the maximum…
2024
According to Census of India 2011, in rural India, which state has the maximum female workforce participation rate?
Answer: C. Himachal Pradesh — Concept: The Census of India measures economic activity through the Work Participation Rate (WPR) — the number of workers, main and marginal taken together,…
- A.
Arunachal Pradesh
- B.
Uttar Pradesh
- C.
Himachal Pradesh
- D.
Andhra Pradesh
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
Concept: The Census of India measures economic activity through the Work Participation Rate (WPR) — the number of workers, main and marginal taken together, expressed as a percentage of the total population of the group being counted. It is tabulated separately for rural and urban areas and for each sex, so the rural female WPR of a state is its rural female workers divided by its total rural female population, multiplied by 100. Crucially, the Census counts unpaid family labour in cultivation, livestock rearing, forestry and household industry as work, so the rate climbs wherever women routinely share in farm and allied operations rather than only in paid employment.
Application: The stem asks for the state with the maximum rural female WPR in Census 2011. That state is Himachal Pradesh, where the rural female work participation rate is about 47 percent — more than one and a half times the all-India rural female figure of roughly 30 percent. In a small-holding hill economy, terrace cultivation, apple and stone-fruit horticulture, fodder and fuel collection and the care of livestock are performed largely by the women of the household, and every one of those activities is enumerated by the Census as work, which is what lifts the recorded rate so far above the national average.
Comparing the four states named:
State | Rural female WPR, Census 2011 | Why the rate sits at this level |
|---|---|---|
Himachal Pradesh | About 47% | Family labour in terrace farming, apple and stone-fruit horticulture and livestock rearing on small holdings. |
Andhra Pradesh | About 45% | Paddy, cotton and chilli cultivation in the deltas and the Rayalaseema interior absorb very large numbers of women as agricultural labourers. |
Arunachal Pradesh | About 40% | Women share heavily in jhum cultivation and forest-based activity, though on a smaller cultivated base. |
Uttar Pradesh | About 18% | Women’s work on family holdings in the Ganga plain is widely unreported and social norms restrict enumerated participation. |
Cross-check: The all-India rural female WPR in 2011 was about 30 percent, so a candidate for the maximum must sit well above that line. Three of the four states named clear it — Himachal Pradesh at about 47 percent, Andhra Pradesh at about 45 percent and Arunachal Pradesh at about 40 percent — while Uttar Pradesh at about 18 percent falls far short, so the contest is among those three and Himachal Pradesh leads Andhra Pradesh by roughly two to three percentage points. One honest caveat: this standard statement compares the major states. Among the small north-eastern states, Nagaland records a marginally higher rural female WPR of about 52 percent, which is why official prose usually phrases the claim as the highest among the major states — and among the states named here, Himachal Pradesh is the answer.