Prosperity or distress: What drove the rise of rural non-farm employment

According to the United Nations, two out of every three people will live in cities or urban areas by 2050. Urban planning has become an important component of recent development models. Yet, the rural areas remain highly significant, especially in the Global South. While 42% of the world’s population continues to live in rural areas, the share of people living in rural areas in India is 65% of its population. Notably, 47% of the Indian population is dependent on agriculture and allied activities (the Economic Survey 2022-23). Scholars increasingly argue that the boundaries between the rural and the urban have become blurred, with rural households engaging in a wide range of farm and non-farm activities. The Situation Assessment Survey (SAS) data suggests that between 2012-13 and 2018-19, t