This analysis of nationally representative survey across India (2011-12) finds that the patterns of caloric intake and deprivations are significantly associated with occupational background of the households among both rural and urban households. Households dependent on occupations such as casual labour in agricultural and non-agricultural activities as well as those involved in low-end sales and services consumed fewer calories than others and also were at an elevated risk of caloric deprivation. In contrast, households engaged in market oriented skilled agricultural and fishery as well as the high-level professionals and managers had more than adequate calorie consumption and also were at lowest risk of such deprivations. These patterns mirror the evidence on disproportionate burden of poverty and deprivation among unskilled agricultural and non-agricultural workers in rural and urban India [13, 38, 17, 18, 39 - 40].
The regressions, particularly the occupation-specific random effects (Figure 2), reveal that market oriented skilled agricultural and fishery workers are among the select few occupations which display robust association with food and nutritional security. The households belonging to this occupational category display significantly higher levels of calorie consumption and also a lower risk of caloric deprivation. The nutritional well-being of this group is matched only by households belonging to legislators, professionals and managers. The occupation-specific random-intercepts, confirm the stark inter-occupational disparities in nutritional intake with highest disadvantage for unskilled mining and construction laborers as well as those engaged in elementary sales and services workers. The between-occupation differences are also higher in urban areas. This is an important concern because higher degree of occupational diversification has not led to more equitable nutritional intake although there is evidence to suggest its favorable influence on poverty reduction [41].
Conventionally, poverty and nutritional deprivation in India is largely discussed as a state-level phenomenon [42-47, 10]. However, there is limited evidence to understand whether it is more associated with occupational differences or other forms of disparities across states and regions. In this regard, the variance partition coefficients (VPCs) provide an overwhelming evidence to emphasize on occupations approach towards poverty and nutritional well-being. The VPCs highlight that occupational groups have the greatest effects on caloric intake across households and these effects were greater than the state-level influence. In particular, it is noted that the amount of variation in caloric intake attributable to the occupations (10.2% and 18.1% for calorie consumption in rural and urban India, respectively) is substantial even when adjusted for standard household-level socioeconomic correlates. These insights when combined with the occupation-specific random-effects suggest that policy focus to promote market oriented skilled agricultural and fishery workers can be an equally good option as direct investments in professional and managerial skills for manufacturing and services. Moreover, these findings reiterate the need for a balanced approach towards skill development in India whereby a focus on agricultural sector is not undermined because of narratives favoring manufacturing and services.
Yet, the success of skill development and training programmes depends on a range of factors. In particular, occupational mobility declines with age, therefore it is important to impart skill and training at the right age to increase the output of skill development programmes. As such, in 2010, for the first time the share of working age population in India increased to 60% of the total population [48]. Such favorable population age-structure is expected to have significant impact on economic growth and development [50-53]. However, despite such favorable outlook, the developmental narrative for India is less optimistic largely because of a number of growth constraints. In particular, inadequate labor skills and low employment opportunities are regarded as a major challenge for higher growth and sustainable development in India [54- 56]. Given the challenges, recent policies have emphasized on skill development to realize the full demographic dividend. In particular, the skill development campaign with major initiatives like Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (2015) and Kaushal and Rozgar Mela (2016) are apt examples of specific policy interests. But a skill-based approach is more likely to favor the younger generations whereas these policies also have to accommodate the needs and concerns associated with cohorts of older adults. In the absence on an all-encompassing approaching, it is likely that poverty and deprivation can turn out to be an inter-generational affair whereby only the young generation within poor households is presented with any potential chances to improve upon household well-being.
Furthermore, it is equally important to entail a gendered-perspective for skill development. In fact, there are success stories (such as Kudumbshree, the Kerala State Poverty Eradication Mission) to demonstrate that a gendered-approach towards market oriented and skilled agrarian workers can be an effective approach to enhance the income and nutritional status of households [57, 58]. This also implies that the Skill India agenda should focus on mainstreaming agrarian occupations by promoting professional and technical education among those engaged in unskilled and subsistence agriculture and fishery. In particular, despite a vast coastline, the fishery sector in India is relatively unexplored for its potential impact on nutritional and income security. It is no surprise that the policy paradigm is rather in sync with the developing world whereby poverty among small-scale fisheries has remained a neglected aspect of development [15, 59, 60, 38, 61]. Whereas, there is increasing evidence to support that modernization of the fisheries sector offers tremendous potential for development and growth [62 – 65].
Nevertheless, in concluding, it is worth noting the three limitations of the analysis that can be largely associated with the nature of survey and the data. First, given the cross-sectional design, the results do not necessarily reveal the casual direction of association between occupation and caloric intake even though this does not impact the results regarding occupation-specific disparities and advantages in caloric intake. Second, although the NCO 2004 classification is sufficiently disaggregated to arrive at some meaningful inferences but further disaggregation is advisable to understand the intricacies associated with skilled occupations within agriculture and fishery sectors. In fact, in the survey the NCO 2004 codes are missing for about 7.3% households and this can have a certain influence on the relative significance of the estimates. Third, the outcome indicator of household calorie consumption does not provide adequate insights regarding individual-level differences. Besides, to some extent, this indicator marginally underestimates the total calorie intake because of non-inclusion of food consumed outside the home [66].