ABSTRACT
This chapter presents some salient issues from a study of the rural nonfarm sector in India, conducted between 1992 and 1995. Forest products are also an important livelihood for many of the poor, most notably the tribal peoples. An economic subsector is defined by its final product, and includes all firms engaged in raw material supply, production and distribution of that product. The non-farm sector study covered eight states in India, and in each state examined six to ten subsectors which generate substantial rural employment, or could potentially do so. The main attention paid to the rural non-farm sector (RNFS) has been to protect and preserve a high level of employment in traditional subsectors like weaving and pottery, which are clubbed together under the term 'Khadi and Village Industries'. The experience of policy-makers is that well-formulated policies often get distorted by the time they reach the ground.
