The Rural Non-farm sector has achieved considerable importance now-a-days as an alternative strategy for generating employment, reducing poverty and for development of rural areas. Majority of rural population in developing countries are engaged in a variety of non-farm activities besides involving in farming which is their major activity. Some of the non-farm activities flow directly from agriculture or are closely related to it, others are distinct, ranging from full-time but temporary wage employment in industry or construction to regular but part-time self employment in home- based handicrafts and trading or other services (ILO, 1983). In India too, economic opportunities in the non-farm sector have increased. The proportion of rural workers engaged in agriculture in relation to the total workforce remained stagnant at around 78 percent until 1993-94 and then declined to 68 per-cent in 2009-10 (Goswami and Bhattacharya, 2014). This breakaway from agriculture in favour of non-farm (non-agricultural sector) reflects the importance of the Rural Non-farm sector. In this backdrop, the study focus on various issues relating to the growth and composition of rural non-farm employment especially in the post liberalization period from the macro prospective.

KEYWORDS: Non-farm, Employment, Work Participation Rate, NSSO, Census