Rural Non-Farm Employment in India-Issues and Policy

Rural Non-Farm Employment in India Issues and Policy Vibhooti Shukla This paper is a sequel to an earlier article, which introduced and implemented a regional model of rural non- agricultural activity for the districts of Maharashtra in a manner sensitive to the sector's spatial and functional linkages with agriculture and urban activities. Regression analysis with versions of that model is performed to further examine specific issues and evaluate hypotheses in a policy-relevant framework. Four broad sets of questions are selected for discussion here: (1) How strong are the linkages of the rural non-farm sector with agriculture and what is their predominant nature? (2) What is the character of the rural labour supply insofar as it relates to employment in this sector? (3) What are the salient demand-side features of the structure of rural non-farm industry? and (4) What forms of governmental interventions, if any, have had an impact on the size and share of this sector in the rural economy?