Economics ch 1- The story of Village Palampur

 The Story of Village Palampur

 Concept Map

 

Extra Questions

Q1. What is the aim of production?
 Aim of production is to produce goods and services.

Q2. What are the four requirements of production?

There are four requirements of production:

1. Land: contains natural resources, water, forests and minerals.

2. Labour: People do the work and manufacture goods and services. Labourers may be skilled, unskilled, educated and uneducated depending upon the production work and requirement.

3. Physical capital: Can be of fixed capital and working capital.

a. fixed capital: Tools, machines, buildings etc.. they may range from very simple tools such as farmers plough to sophisticated machines to generators, computers etc..

b. working capital: Raw materials and money in hand  come under this category. Ex. Yarn used by weaver and clay used by potter. Some money is always required during production to make payments and buy other necessary items.

4. Human capital: The fourth important requirement is human capital. Without human labour production cannot be done.  

Q3. How is land fixed in the village palampur?

75 % of people depend on farming. Land area in the village under cultivation is fixed. Since 1960 there has been no expansion in land area under cultivation. No further scope to increase farm production. Land is fixed for agriculture in the village.

Q4. what is standard unit of measuring land in hectare?

Bigha, guintha etc.. are the local standard units of measuring land in hectares in the villages of India. One hectare equals the area of a square with one side measuring 100 metres.

Q5. Which Indian village resemble palampur?

Village of western U.P.

Q6. What are the different crops grown in the Indian villages during different seasons?

Kharif crops like jowar, Bajra are grown in rainy seasons. These plants are grown as cattle feed. It is followed by cultivation of potato between October and December. In the winter season, rabi crops like wheat, sugar cane are grown.

Q7. Where do the villagers of palampur sell jaggery?

Sugar cane is grown in the village on one part of the land and jaggery is produced and sold in Raiganj. 

Q8. How are the villagers able to grow more than one crop in palampur?

The villagers can grow more crops  because they are having the facilities of electricity, well developed system of irrigation etc.. Initially the tube wells were installed by the government later many private tube wells were also installed. All the farmers in the village grow more than one crop. Many grow potato as the third crop in their field.

Q9. What do you mean by multi cropping and dual cropping?

Multicropping: To grow more than one crop in the same field is known as multiple cropping. This system gives high yield. Dual cropping: To grow two crops in the same piece of land.

Q10. What is Green revolution?

Excessive production in agriculture due to modern scientific methods  are called green revolution.

Q11. What is HYV ?

 In late 1960s HYVs are introduced, which were a great boon to agriculture. These are High Yielding Varieties of seeds which guarantees greater qualitative and quantitative  production. HYV seeds need plenty of water and also chemical fertilizers and pesticides to produce best results.

Q12. Which states of India were the first to use modern methods of agriculture?

Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh were the first states to use modern methods of agriculture and made use of HYV seeds, pesticides, chemical fertilizers etc..

Q13. What is the difference between multiple cropping and modern farming method?

Multiple cropping:  In this method more than one crop is grown on a single piece of land. For example: Wheat – bajra – potato.

Modern farming methods:  In this method modern HYV seeds, chemical fertilizers, modern tools and machineries are used. This provides high yields.

Q14. How modern methods have over used the natural  resources and violated the resources?

• Green revolution is associated with the loss of soil fertility.
• Continuous use of ground water for tube well irrigation has  reduced the water – table below the ground.
• Chemical fertilizers may destroy the bacteria and other micro organisms in the soil.

The consumption of chemical fertilizers in Punjab is highest in the country. 

Q15. How is land distributed between the farmers of Palampur and Indian villages?

 Land is unevenly distributed among the farmers of the villages. Some farmers have large lands while some have very small and others have no land at all. Gobind a farmer in Palampur had 2.25 hectares of land. After his death his land is further distributed among his four sons. In this way in every village the land is getting divided hereditarily into smaller and smaller. These divisions may result in poor and unsatisfactory production leading to poor economic status to the country.

 

Q16. Who will provide labour to landless farmers?

Landless farmers work in the field of rich farmers for wages. The government fixed salary is 60 rupees per day. But most of the farmers are paid less than 40 rupees.

Q17. What is the problem of Dala and Ramkali?

• Dala and Ramkali are landless labourers.
•  They work in the fields of others but now a days they don’t get work because many rich farmers use modern tractors, machines etc.. and employ very less human labourers
• To run their livelihood Dala and Ramkali get loans. This further keep them in debt for ever.  
• Landless farmers get jobs for a short duration and rest of the time they are engaged in some other odd jobs.
• They get very less salaries for their work. They are paid even less than 35 – 40 rupees while the government fixed salary is 60 rupees.

Q18. Why do small and landless farmers need capital? Explain with examples.

• Small farmers have to borrow money from large farmers of the village or  money lenders or the traders who supply various inputs for cultivation.
• Savita, a small farmer gets loan from Tejpal Singh a large farmer  at a rate of 24% to purchase seeds, fertilizers and pesticides.
•  Farmers need capitals as they don’t  have surplus of their own.

Q19. What is surplus? What do the farmers do with the surplus?

Surplus are the excessive amount of production produced by the farmers. Example: Farmers produce wheat and store  a part of it for their consumption  and the remaining they sell in the market and gain profit. This profit is called surplus.

 The farmers use the surplus as capital for the next harvest. Farmers like Govind or Savita are poor and have little surplus. Big farmers like Tejpal Singh purchase farm machines, lend money or save in the bank.

Q20. Write short note on

a. Dairy farming    b. small scale manufacturing   c. shopkeeping   d. transport

a. Dairy farming :   Dairy farming is a common activity in Palampur . People feed their buffalos on various kinds of grass and the jowar and bajra that grows during rainy season.

Milk is sold in Raiganj. Traders of Shahpur have set up collectrion cum chilling centres at Raiganj

b. small scale manufacturing: Very  simple production is done in the village. People produce baskets, gur etc.. in small scale. Mishrilal of Palampur produce Jaggery and sell in Shahpur. He makes a small profit. He owns a crushing machine as capital.

c. shopkeeping: Some villagers sell rice, wheat, sugar, tea, oil, biscuits, soap, toothpaste, batteries, candles etc.. People whose houses are close to the bus stand use a part of the space to open small shops. Some sell eatables like pakoras, samosas etc.. In Palampur Kareem had opened a computer centre. Students from shahpur town had joined it. He had appointed two women of his village to work in his centre. In this way he is self employed and have given employment to others.  

d. transport: Transport is another major activity of villages. Rickshwas, Tongas, jeeps, tractors, trucks are some of the vehicles found here. Some people are engaged in this line too. Kishora of Palampur village own a buffalo. The buffalo gives milk and also draws cart for him. Every he goes to ganga river to fetch clay for the potters of the village. Kishora is engaged in multi economic activity.

Q 21. What is the difference between multiple cropping and modern farming methods?

Difference between Multiple Cropping and Modern Farming :

Multiple cropping and modern farming are two ways of increasing production from the same

piece of land. Under multiple cropping, production is increased by growing more than one crop

on a piece of land during the year. It is the most common way of raising agricultural

production.

Under modern farming method, production is increased by using modern technology in

place of traditional agricultural practices. Under this method, high yielding varieties (HYVs)

of seeds are used in place of simple seeds. HYV seeds promise to produce much greater

amounts of grain on a single plant. Again, chemical fertilisers are used in place of cow dung

and other natural manures.

Q22. What is the working capital required by the farmer using modern farming methods?

 Working capital required by the farmer using modern farming includes the following :

(i) HYV seeds (ii) Chemical fertilisers (iii) Pesticides

(iv) Water (v) Diesel (vi) Cash or money in hand

Q23.What are the sources of irrigation?

Ans. (i) Canals (ii) Tubewells (iii) Tanks

A majority of the farmers in India continue to depend on rains as source of irrigation.