ECONOMICS
CHAPTER 1
THE STORY OF VILLAGE PALAMPUR
1. Examine the transport system of Palampur village
a. Palampur village is well connected with the neighbouring villages and towns
b. Raiganj, a big village, is 3 kms. Away from Palampur
c. An all weather road connects the village to Raiganj and further on to the nearest small town of Shahpur
d. Many kinds of transport are visible on this road starting from bullock carts, tongas etc
2. Examine the caste structure of Palampur village
a. This village has about 450 families belonging to several different castes
b. The 80 upper caste families own the majority of land in the village
c. The Scheduled Castes comprise one third of the population and live in one corner of the village
3. Examine the occupational structure of our villages
a. In villages across India, farming is the main production activity
b. The other production activities, referred to as non farm activities include small manufacturing transport, shop keeping etc
4. List out and examine the 4 requirements of production of goods and services
The 4 requirements of production of goods and services are:
- Land
- Labour
- Physical capital
- Fixed
- Working
- Human capital
i. Land: The first requirement is land, and other natural resources such as wter, forests, minerals, etc
ii. Labour: Some production activities require highly educated workers to perform the necessary tasks.
Other activities require workers who can do manual work
iii. Physical capital: it is the variety of inputs required at every stage during production
- Fixed capital:
- Tools and machines range from very simple tools such as a farmers plough to sophisticated machines such as generators, turbines, etc
- They can be used in production over many years, and are called fixed capital
- Working capital:
- Production requires a variety of raw materials such as the yarn used by the weaver and the clay used by the potter
- Raw materials and money in hand are called working capital
iv. Human Capital:
We require knowledge and enterprise to be able to put together land, labour and physical capital and pruduce an output either to use for self consumption or to sell in the market. These days, this is called human capital
5. List out the different factors of production
Every production is organised by combining land, labour, physical capital and human capital, which are known as factors of production
6. Examine agriculture as an occupation in Palampur
a. Farming is the main production activity in Palampur
b. 75% of the people who are working are dependent on farming for their livelihood.
c. They could be farmers or farm labourers. The well being of these people is closely related to production on the farms
7. How has electricity benefited the farmers of Palampur?
a. Electricity came early to Palampur. Its major impact was to transform the system of irrigation
b. Persian wheels were till then, used by farmers to draw water from the wells and irrigate small fields. People saw that the electric run tubewells could irrigate much larger areas of land more effectively
8. Give features of multiple cropping
a. To grow more than one crop o a piece of land during the year is called Multiple Cropping
b. It is the most common way to increase production on a given piece of land
c. All farmers in Palampur grow at least two main crops: many are growing potato as the third crop in the past 15-20 years.
9. Give features of Green Revolution
a. The green revolution in the late 1960’s introduced the Indian farmer to cultivation of Wheat and Rice using high yielding varieties (HYV) of seeds
b. Compared to the traditional seeds, the HYV seeds promised to produce much greater amounts of grain on a single plant
c. As a result the same piece of land would now produce far larger quantities of foodgrains than was possible earlier
10. What is the effect of Green Revolution on Indian Agriculture?
a. Farmers of Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh were the first to try out the modern farming method in India
b. The farmers in these regions set up tubewells for irrigation, and made use of HYV seeds, chemical fertilisers and pesticides in farming
c. Some of them bought farm machinery like tractors and threshers, which made ploughing and harvesting faster.
11. Examine the negative effects of Green Revolution.
a. In many areas, green revolution is associated with the loss of soil fertility due to increased use of chemical fertilisers
b. Continuous use of ground water for tubewell irrigation has reduced the water table below the ground
c. Environmental resources like soil fertility and ground water are built up over many years, which have been quickly depleted by intensive cultivation induced by green revolution
12. How is land distributed between the farmers of Palampur?
a. In Palampur, about one third of the 450 families are landless, i.e. 150 families. Most of them are Dalits, have no land for cultivation
b. Of the remaining families who own land, 240 families cultivate small plots of land, less than 2 hectares in size. Cultivation of such plots does not bring adequate income to the farmer’s family
13. Give a brief description of farm labourers of Palampur.
a. Farm labourers come either from landless families or families cultivating small plots of land
b. Unlike farmers, farm labourers do not have a right over the crops grown on land
c. Instead, they are paid wages by the farmer for whom they work
d. Wages can be in cash or in kind, like crops
14. Why are some farmers ready to work for less wages?
a. There is heavy competition for work among the farm labourers in Palampur.
b. So, people are ready to work for less wages
15. Examine from what different source that farmers borrow money from.
a. They borrow money from large farmers or the village money lenders or the traders who supply various inputs for cultivation
b. The rate of interest on such loans is very high
16. What do rich farmers do with their surplus production?
a. Most rich farmers put most of the money in their bank accounts
b. Later, they use the saving for lending to the farmers who are in need
c. They also use the saving to arrange for the working capital for farming in the next season
d. They also invest on Tractors and farm implements which increase their fixed capital
17. What do rich farmers do with their surplus cash?
a. They retain a part of the wheat for the family’s consumption and sell the surplus wheat
b. Small farmers have little surplus wheat because their total production is small and from this, share is kept for their own family needs
c. So it is the medium and large farmers who supply wheat to the market
18. Give features of small scale manufacturing in Palampur
a. At present, less than 50 people are engaged in manufacturing in Palampur.
b. Unlike the manufacturing that takes place in the big factories in the towns and cities, manufacturing in Palampur involves very simple production methods and are done on a small scale
c. They are carried out mostly at home or in the fields with the help of family labour. Rarely are labourers hired
19. Give a brief description of dairy farming
a. Dairy farming is a common activity in many families of Palampur
b. People feed their buffaloes on various kinds of grass and the jower and Bajra that grows during the rainy season
c. The milk is sold in raiganj, the nearby large village
d. Two traders from Shahpur town have set up collection cum chilling centers at Raiganj from where the mild is transported to far away towns and cities.
20. Give a brief description of shopkeepers of Palampur.
a. The traders of Palampur are shopkeepers who buy various goods from wholesale markets in the cities and sell them in the villages
b. We see small general stores in the village selling a wide range of items like rice, wheat, etc
c. A few of the families whose houses are close to the bus stand have used a part of the space to open small shops. They sell eatables.
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