Who among the following are categorised as workers in India?
(A) A man who lives on money he inherited and does no work
(B) A mason who stays away from work for a few days during a festival
(C) A boy who helps his mother, the main worker, in her tailoring work
(D) A woman who cooks and fetches water at home without any payment
(E) A lawyer who runs her own practice
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → (B), (C) and (E) only
A worker is anyone engaged in an economic activity, an activity that adds to the gross national product.
(A) A man who lives on money he inherited and does no work — Incorrect. He has money without working for it, so he is not engaged in any economic activity.
(B) A mason who stays away from work for a few days during a festival — Correct. People who stay away for a short time, as during festivals, are still workers.
(C) A boy who helps his mother, the main worker, in her tailoring work — Correct. Workers include those who help the main workers.
(D) A woman who cooks and fetches water at home without any payment — Incorrect. Such unpaid housework is not counted as work, so she is not categorised as a worker.
(E) A lawyer who runs her own practice — Correct. Professionals such as lawyers who work for themselves are self-employed workers.
NCERT (2026-27): “6.2 Workers and Employment … Those activities which contribute to the gross national product are called economic activities. All those who are engaged in economic activities, in whatever capacity — high or low, are workers. Even if some of them temporarily abstain from work due to illness, injury or other physical disability, bad weather, festivals, social or religious functions, they are also workers. Workers also include all those who help the main workers in these activities. We generally think of only those who are paid by an employer for their work as workers. This is not so. Those who are self-employed are also workers.” “Work These Out … From the above discussion, you must have understood that those who are self-employed such as pavement vegetable vendors, professionals such as lawyers, doctors and engineers are also workers. …” “6.2 Workers and Employment … Women carry out works like cooking, fetching water and fuelwood and participate in farm labour. They are not paid wages in cash or in the form of grains; at times they are not paid at all. For this reason, these women are not categorised as workers. …” “6.1 Introduction … People work for ‘earning’ a living. Some people get, or have, money by inheriting it, not working for it. This does not completely satisfy anybody. …” |