Women's participation in economic activities increased 3 fold

The participation of women in economic activities in Himachal Pradesh has increased three fold during the past eight years from 2005-13, an economic survey of the state said today.
The number of women involved in economic activities went up from 84,085 to 2,37,141 between 2005-2013 while the number of establishments increased from 2,57,716 to 4,12,240, an increase of 59.96 per cent, as per the report of 6th economic survey of the state released here today.
Simultaneously, the number of employed persons increased by 71.54 per cent from 5,96,659 to 9, 77,188 during the same period.
Chief economic adviser to the government, Pradeep Chauhan said that the VI economic survey, started in 2012 was the most exhaustive held in two phases in which nearly 100 per cent coverage was ensured. A total of 8,303 enumerators, 3,844 supervisors and 175 charge officers covered 24,932 enumeration blocks as part of the exercise.

The number of women establishments stood at 49,173 which included 45,229 Own account establishments (OAE) and the annual increase in women participation was 13.84 per cent.
Out of the total employed persons in the state, 5,62,067 are engaged on hired and 4,15,121 on non-hired basis, the report said.

For the first time, Handicraft and Handloom sector was covered in the survey. Out of 12,172 such establishments, 11,361 are in rural areas and 811 in urban areas.
Out of the total establishments covered, 92 per cent are non-agriculture and eight per cent are agriculture establishments, while 81 per cent of these are in rural and 19 per cent in urban areas, it said.

The ownership of 84.92 per cent establishments is in private sector while 20 per cent is owned by Scheduled castes, 14 per cent by OBC, fiveper cent by Scheduled tribes and 61 per cent by others. Government and public sector accounted for 10.63 per cent of the establishments.
However, the ratioof establishments in urban area to total establishments has increased marginally from 80.48 per cent to 81.12 per cent while the ratio of urban establishments droppedfrom 19.52 per cent to 18.88 per cent, mainly due to more women in rural areas engaging themselves in economic activities.
The number of male employees per establishment has come down from 1.88 to 1.80 per cent, while the corresponding figure of women employees was up from 0.33 to 0.88 per cent, an increase of 7.30 per cent, the report added.