Precarious Transitions: Rural Non-farm Employment in Bihar, India

Bihar ranks near the bottom among the major states and union territories (UTs) in India with respect to per-capita income and most socioeconomic indicators of well-being. Drawing primarily on field surveys from two socioeconomically contrasting villages, Bharri (Katihar) and Nadwan (Patna), this study investigates the nature of and access to rural non-farm employment (RNFE). 1 The analysis is situated within the broader developmental trajectory of Bihar in recent years. It clearly emerges that the patterns of participation are structured by caste, class, gender, and spatial proximity to the world of work in urban areas. The expansion of RNFE is deepening both inter- and intra-source income inequality and reproducing existing social hierarchies rather than overcoming them. This article argues that the character of RNFE in Bihar reflects a fragmented and exclusionary path of rural transformation, one that urgently calls for redistributive state interventions, gender-sensitive employment policies, and structural reforms aimed at making rural labor markets more equitable and inclusive.