4 SOCIAL SCIENTIST from in recent years. Since 1970-71, real income in the country's primary sector, mostly consisting of agriculture and allied activities, has grown at the annual rate of around 2 per cent The corresponding rate of growth in the secondary sector, comprising manufacturing, electricity, gas water supply, and construction, has been a little above 4 per cent per annum. In contrast, in the nation's tertiary sector, the rate of growth has averaged to something like 6 per cent. Agriculture has grown in real terms by barely 40 per cent since 1970-71, and industrial activities by around 70 per cent; the over all increase in the services sector has however been of the order of 130 per cent, while that in defence and public administration has been almost 350 per cent. Should we concentrate our attention on the past ten years, the annual rate of growth in the services sector would appear to be even higher (see Table 1). 2. This acceleration in the rate of growth of services in the recent period is reflected in the shifting composition of aggregate 'national income. In the 1950s, services constituted roughly a quarter of the national income. In the sixties, the proportion of national income originating in service activities gradually crept to around 30 per cent. It however started mounting in the seventies, and latest estimates suggest that it is now close to 40 per cent of national income (Table 2).1 According to a recent official statement, this proportion is likely to continue to increase further, and by the beginning of the twenty-first century, as much as one-half of India's national income would be contributed by services. Table 2: National Inconn e by Secti ors of Indi wtrial On gin (% Distribution ) 1950-51 1960-61 1970-71 1975-76 1984-85 Agriculture and allied activities 54.04 56.05 49.19 46.76 37.91 Manufacturing, construction and mining 17.14 17.36 20.62 20.79 22.17 Tertiary activities of which defence and public administration 24.81 2659 31.19 32.45 39.91 3. If this indeed corners about/it would connote a major devdopment. ^HiMite^«Sy 'araa^Bfea-ajcteritierAarfe iqrfor'55 the leading sectors in the economy. TPhe proportion of agricultural income In the aggregate national income declined in the subsequent years, but till the mid-seventies this proportion was still higher than