The term "rural" connotes the presence of a certain combination of characteristics. So long these characteristics are present, the society remains rural. The purpose of "rural development" would then be to remove/overcome the influence of these characteristics. This note describes, in brief, twelve characteristics which, individually and interactively, keep the society rural. These characteristics are very different from the standard census definition of rural (which is primarily based on size of human settlement), and traditional sociological description of rural community (which is primarily concerned with caste-based social structure/stratification, social relations, traditional occupation, etc).