Introduction
India is one of leading economies among the developing countries with an average GDP growth rate of around 7% for over last one decade. There has been a good economic progress in the fields of information technology, infrastructure and services. The primary sector (Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries) which accounts for over 68% of the population (830 million out of 1210 Million, as per 2011 Census) has however been lagging behind with an average annual growth of 4% per annum or less. This is generating a lot of disparity between rural and urban livelihoods. Diminishing returns from Agriculture have put the whole rural economy under severe stress. There is, thus an urgent need to accelerate the diversification of rural livelihoods so that rural communities have adequate means and opportunities which are viable and sustainable. Rural Entrepreneurship can address this issue and generate self-employment through pooling of community resources. The gap between rural and urban development is a major issue of developmental process adopted after independence and to achieve inclusive growth target this gap should be filled in an effective way. The only solution to the problem is to develop entrepreneurial activities in the rural sector. The economic, social and educational status of rural India demands skill development for motivating rural people to join business activities along with their routine agricultural activities not only to support agricultural work but to generate additional income for better livelihood. There are a number of opportunities for Rural Entrepreneurship in areas of harvesting/ post-harvesting and processing and value-addition of Agriculture/ Horticulture / Fisheries postharvest in rural areas. This course will train and educate the students of postgraduate programme of management studies to identify the potential of rural entrepreneurship in Indian villages. It will also help to develop a mechanism/ framework to convert identified potential into a commercially viable business idea. The course has also been designed with the objective that it will directly engage the rural people to establish enterprises in the rural sector and as a result, it will stop migration from rural areas to the urban areas.
1. To develop understanding about Entrepreneurship in Rural Context;
2. To develop entrepreneurial skills in the rural youth;
3. To explore and identify rural potential for a business idea;
4. To developing skills to convert the idea into a commercial viable business concept;
5. To measure the feasibility of the identified concept by the students;
6. To develop a framework for integrating the business concepts and markets; and
7. To develop and implement a Rural Enterprise.
