Assistant Professor, Commerce,
The development of the rural non-farm sector (RNFS) in India in general and in West Bengal in particular was realized. Rural non-farm employment (RNFE) in West Bengal has significantly increased for both male and female. One of the potential avenues of employment for the rural population should be engaged in RNFS. The questions that have thus arisen are: What are the overall patterns of RNFE? Is self-employment (rather than wage labour) dominant in RNFS? Does RNFE have any impact on rural poverty alleviation? This study seeks to find answers to these questions and examines some related issues. The share of RNFW to total estimated workers of sample households is higher than that of agricultural workers in all the sample villages. Most of the sample villages register low share of non-farm wage labour relative to that of non-farm self-employment. Rural male non-farm workers dominate all sectors except household manufacturing sector. The share of secondary workers to total estimated RNFW of sample households is higher in less developed block. The share of non-farm income to total income is more than 50 percent for 71.12 percent households.
Employment, income, non-farm worker, self-employment
