Rural non-farm employment: Agricultural versus urban linkages some evidence from Kerala state, India

Rural non-farm employment is regarded as a critical component of rural tran sformation in LDCs given the failure of the industrialization-led developme nt strategies of the 1950s. An issue much debated in the restructured devel opment dialogue M as: Is the process of rural diversification primarily agr iculture-driven, or do the impulses derive from the urban economy? Our stud y addresses this question for Kerala by examining changes in employment pat terns in rural areas between 1971 and 1991, An examination of certain socio -economic characteristics (proxies for 'agricultural' and 'urban' linkages) for 1971 in those villages which became urban in 1991 reveals the importan ce of both types of linkages in generating non-farm employment, depending o n the location of the village vis-g-vis large urban settlements.