Effect of Urbanization on Employment, Wages and Livelihood of Rural People in Haryana, India

Aims: This paper examined the effect of urbanization on employment, wages and livelihood of rural people in Haryana. Study Design: Two stages purposive sampling design was used for the selection of sample. At first stage, three districts namely Gurugram, Rewari and Mahendergarh had been selected purposively indicating different level of urbanization. At second stage, road side villages located within 10 Kilometer from their respective urban centre (Cluster 1) and villages located more than 10 Kilometer from urban centre (Cluster 2) had been selected purposively to collect the required information. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted in Haryana during February and March 2018. The relevant primary data was collected from village head of sampled villages through personal interview using pre tested schedule. Methodology: Total 90 villages were surveyed to collect the information on relevant variables. The collected data were analyzed using tabular method to achieve the objectives of the study. Results: The study revealed that more people were residing in villages located away from urban centre (cluster 1) as compared to villages located near to urban centre (cluster 2) in all districts. The literacy rate was a little higher in cluster 1 than cluster 2 for both male and female population. Majority of population was engaged in agriculture in both clusters while higher percentage of population was engaged in agriculture in cluster 2 as compared to cluster 1. 87.13 percent and 66.09 per cent of total workers were engaged in non-farm sector in cluster 1 and cluster 2, respectively. The majority of village head in both clusters reported that urbanization had created better marketing facilities, job opportunities and provided better services. Although, the facilities had increased in the villages due to urbanization but more improvement was required to reduce the urban- rural gap. The majority of job created by urbanization was unskilled type in both clusters. The private sector had played a very important role in the development of villages in cluster 1 while in cluster 2, the government agencies had played important role in the development of villages. Conclusion: The study concluded that urbanization had created opportunities for the rural people in Haryana. However, a good policy framework was still required to get the robust result of urbanization on rural transformation.