India’s middle class after Independence was largely created by the public sector. Employment in the public sector stood at 194.7 lakh and that in the organised private sector only at 80.6 lakh as on March 31, 1995. The former — employees in the central and state governments plus quasi-governments (public sector undertakings) and local bodies — fell to 176.1 lakh and the latter rose to 119.7 lakh by March 31, 2012. The Ministry of Labour & Employment doesn’t seem to have compiled or released statistics on organised public and private sector employment after 2011-12 (April-March). Even the data last published...