SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 9 September 2024, Shift 2 · General Awareness · Question 13 of 100

Text as printed on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; answer per SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 5 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. The questions and options here are reproduced as printed on a candidate's own response sheet for this shift — the Commission's text, unchanged. Each answer is SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet; SSC allowed challenges to it and never publishes a final key. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

According to Census of India 2011, in rural India, which state has the maximum female workforce participation rate?

(a)Andhra Pradesh
(b)Arunachal Pradesh
(c)Uttar Pradesh
(d)Himachal Pradesh

Answer

Why

Correct — D. Census 2011 puts Himachal Pradesh at the top of the rural female work participation table among Indian states, well above the all-India rural female figure of about 30 per cent.

The reason is structural. Himachal's rural economy rests on hill agriculture, horticulture and animal husbandry, where women's field labour is routine.

That labour is exactly what the Census counts as work — most of it recorded under cultivators and unpaid family workers — so it shows up in the rate.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Andhra Pradesh — Andhra Pradesh does record a high rural female work participation rate by national standards, but Census 2011 places it below Himachal Pradesh.
(b)
Arunachal Pradesh — Arunachal Pradesh is high for its region, but it does not lead the Census 2011 rural table among the states.
(c)
Uttar Pradesh — Uttar Pradesh sits well below the national average on female work participation, rural and urban alike — near the bottom of the list, not the top.

Concept

The work participation rate is the number of workers expressed as a percentage of the total population.

The Census counts anyone engaged in economically productive activity for any part of the reference year.

A main worker put in 183 days or more. Anyone working less is a marginal worker.

Female participation runs far higher in rural India than in urban India, because farm and allied work falls inside that definition.

That includes unpaid labour on the family holding. Unpaid housework does not count.

A high female work participation rate is not by itself a sign of prosperity.

It often reflects economic necessity, and it also reflects how visible women's farm labour is to the Census definition of work.

Key facts

Census 2011: Himachal Pradesh records the highest rural female work participation rate among Indian states.
Female work participation in Census 2011 was about 30 per cent in rural India against about 15 per cent in urban India.
A main worker is one who worked for 183 days or more in the reference year — anyone working less is a marginal worker.
Unpaid work on the family farm counts as work in the Census, while unpaid household work does not.

Study next

Census 2011 worker categories: main and marginal workers, cultivators, agricultural labourers, household industryCensus 2011 state extremes on sex ratio, literacy and population densityThe Periodic Labour Force Survey and the debate over female labour force participation

Common traps

Assuming the most populous or most agricultural state must lead — Uttar Pradesh is near the bottom on this indicator.
Mixing the rural rate with the overall state rate, which reorders the ranking.

SSC asks Census 2011 extremes — the highest or lowest state on sex ratio, literacy, density or participation rate — as a straight recall question.

Related PYQs

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