Areas for future research in rural non-farm employment in Indian Context

Rural non-farm employment is emerging development in context of rural economy of the developing countries including India. Since last three decades there is a shift of rural workers from agriculture to non-agricultural occupations. This situation is an indicator of diversification of rural economy. This shift of workers is the result of numerous socio-economic and cultural factors. It is observed that future possible employment opportunities for rural workers and potential for overall development of the rural areas has to come from an emerging rural non-farm sector. Therefore, rural non-farm sector has continued to attract attention of scholars in various disciplines of social sciences. Comprehensive studies in non-farm employment and especially in rural areas have been considerable interest to the researchers. The scholars have covered numerous aspects and dimensions of rural non-farm employment in their research studies. But after reviewing exhaustive literature related to rural non farm employment critically, analytically and rigorously, in the present study an attempt has been made to identify unexplored research themes and suggest them as possible future research areas in rural non-farm employment.