rural non farming

RURAL NON-FARM EMPLOYMENT IN
INDIA: MACRO-TRENDS, MICROEVIDENCES AND POLICY OPTIONS

Brajesh Jha

Agricultural Economics Unit
Institute of Economic Growth
University Enclave, Delhi-110007
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RURAL NON-FARM EMPLOYMENT IN INDIA: MACROTRENDS, MICRO-EVIDENCES AND POLICY OPTIONS
Brajesh Jha*
ABSTRACT
Towards the end of the 1990s, the incidence of unemployment on the basis of CDS (current daily status) has exceeded seven per cent. There are also evidences of deterioration in the quality of rural employment; casualization of rural workers for instance, has increased many-fold. Real wages of rural workers however, increased and the disparity in rural and urban wages also reduced during the 90s. In this context, the present study investigates the nature and pattern of rural diversification in India. The study uses the NSS quinquennial survey on employment to present macro-trends in rural employment; it also utilizes selected information collected by Agro-Economic Research
Centres (AERCs) to arrive at certain inferences about the process of rural diversification.
Disaggregate level figures shows that both push-and-pull factors have contributed to rural non-farm employment growth; the process of rural diversification in such situations is however, different. The study finally discusses broad strategies to increase rural non-farm employment in the country.

I. INTRODUCTION
The Indian economy grew at an impressive rate in the last decade and demographic pressure also slowed.1 Yet, the incidence of unemployment (CDS) towards the end of the 1990s was more than seven percent. The situation is especially disconcerting in the rural sector.
Employment in rural sector, which is associated mostly with agriculture, has stagnated during the 90s (Jha 2006). Considering the increased pressure on land there exists limited

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