NEW DELHI: Only 38.2% people in India participate in employment and related activities while over 91% participate in socialising and communication, community participation and religious activities, a first-of-its-kind ‘Time Use Survey’ conducted by the National Statistical Office (NSO), has revealed.
Socialising and communication comprise talking, conversing, chatting, get-together, reading/writing mail and others.
All these activities recorded highest participation. The survey pointed at lower participation in learning activities and the lowest in volunteering and other unpaid activities.
It said that 24.1% people participate in activities related to learning while only 2.4% participate in volunteering and other unpaid works. Learning means formal education like school/university attendance, extra-curricular activities, self-study for distance education and other related activities.
Volunteer and other unpaid works include unpaid, direct volunteering for other households, community and organization-based volunteering like cleaning streets, markets, etc., preparing/serving meals, volunteer cultural activities, recreation and sports.
The survey said nearly 20.7% people participated in unpaid caregiving services for household members such as childcare, care for dependent adults and help to non-dependent adult household members.
The survey said nearly 11.4% time is spent on employment related activities, 1.7% on unpaid caregiving services for household members, 9% on socialising and communication, community participation and religious practices and over 50% time on self-care and maintenance.
The survey conducted during January-December 2019 covered 1.39 lakh households and enumerated 4.47 lakh persons aged 6 years and above.