One of the reasons for India’s occupational structure remaining more or less the same over the years has been that

A primary reason India’s occupational structure has remained largely unchanged is that industrial and non-farm growth has not been sufficiently labor-absorbing; much of investment and expansion has tended to be capital- or skill-intensive, so industry has been “not strong enough to absorb the surplus labour” from agriculture [1]. Historical analyses show the steady growth in persons dependent on agriculture despite industrial expansion, maintaining pressure on land and rural employment patterns [2]. Contemporary policy reviews also emphasize the need to prioritise high employment-elastic service sectors to create jobs, implying current growth patterns have limited ability to shift large agricultural employment into industry or services [3].

Sources

1. [1] Geography of India ,Majid Husain, (McGrawHill 9th ed.) > Chapter 13: Cultural Setting > POPULATION PROBLEMS > p. 113
2. [2] https://researchrepository.ilo.org/view/pdfCoverPage?instCode=41ILO_INST&filePid=13116754120002676&download=true
3. [3] https://www.orfonline.org/public/uploads/posts/pdf/20240413120431.pdf