Dr. Pratibha Wasan Innovative Studies: International Journal (ISIJ), Volume (2) : Issue (1) : 2012 1 A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR RURAL EMPLOYMENT GENERATION IN INDIA Dr. Pratibha Wasan pratibha.wasan@jaipuria.ac.in Jaipuria Institute of Management Noida, 201309, India Abstract The economic divide between urban and rural sectors coupled with the unbalanced growth within the rural economy, is a major hurdle in the growth of Indian Economy. The existing government-run employment schemes are subsidized credit based schemes, which are good for any feasible project. However, with the kind of educational and economical background of rural population, there is a need to go a step backward and show them a way to mobilize what they have in terms of possible resources. This paper takes an inductive approach to explore and arrive at a conceptual framework for generating income in the rural economy. The framework is based on the analysis of primary data collected through focused group discussions. Unlike government run employment schemes, the proposed framework incorporates the efforts and social intentions of different segments of society and integrates social intent with profitability thereby, ensuring better sustainability and commitment to the cause. Key words: Rural Employment, Social Intent, Skewed Economic Growth, Voluntarism, Unemployment, Income Generation 1. INTRODUCTION Since 1991 when economy was in crisis, India has come a long way by means of liberalization and policy reforms in various sectors. The consequent rise in GDP over the years has turned India into one of the fastest growing economies of the world. This is very much evident from the GDP figures for the country which has grown by an average of 8.62% during 2004-05 to 2010-11 (The economic Survey, 2010-11) 1 . The growth estimate for the fiscal 2011-12 as per finance minister in his union budget presentation is 9%. However, it is felt by many experts that to be in the big league, Indian economy needs to accelerate its growth rate to 10%. The question to be answered is: is this growth possible and if yes how? India has shown an impressive growth rate in the last decade benefitting a large majority of Indians, still 25% of its population are below the poverty line(CIA World Factbook, 2010) 2 . In fact one in every five poor people is from India. India currently ranks at 117 th position in terms of highest unemployment rate in the world (Index Mundi: India unemployment Rate, 2010) 3 . According to Labor Bureau of the Government of India 4 the overall unemployment rate in India in the year 2010 was 9.4%. If the split is considered, the rural areas accounted for an unemployment rate of 10.1% as compared to its urban counterpart with a 7.3% 4 . With more than 70% of the Indian population residing in rural areas unemployment is acute and is a major hindrance to the country’s growth possibilities. This Skewness in economic activities and employment pattern must be addressed if India is looking for acceleration in its economic growth.