Socio-Economic Mobility through Sericulture

Sericulture being a labour-intensive and income-generative agro-industry, it has been instrumental in bringing about socio-economic mobility among different sections of society and assuming increasing significance in the rural development paradigm in the past few decades. The present paper, based on intensive studies in some of the sericulture villages in Tamil Nadu, looks into the concept of socio-economic mobility and identifies the groups undergoing mobility in the context of sericulture. The paper also specifically examines the extent of socio-economic mobility among the three disadvantaged categories in the rural context, based on class, caste and gender, exploring the social relevance of sericulture in the process of rural development, with an emphasis on the need to identify the appropriate interventions and strategic approaches in making sericulture one of the sustainable forces of rural development in India.