The Story of Village Palampur

 CLASS IX - The Story Of Village Palampur 

NCERT EXERCISE

Q.2. Modern farming methods require more inputs which are manufactured in industry. Do

you agree?

Ans. Modern farming requires more inputs than traditional farming. It requires inputs like chemical,

fertilisers, pesticides, pump sets, farm machinery, electricity, diesel, HYV seeds, water supply.

Most of these inputs are manufactured in industries. However, some inputs necessary for

modern farming are not manufactured in factories. For example, HYV seeds. HYV seeds are

developed at research centres like Pusa Institute, Delhi, Agricultural University, Pant Nagar,

etc. Similarly, water supply is provided by canals, tanks etc.

Q.3. How did the spread of electricity help farmers in Palampur?

Ans. The spread of electricity has helped the farmers of Palampur village in the following ways :

(i) Most of the houses have electric connections.

(ii) Electricity is used to run tubewells in the fields.

(iii) Electricity is used in various types of small business.

Q.4. Is it important to increase the area under irrigation? Why?

Ans. India is an agricultural country. Nearly two-thirds of the people are dependent on farming for

their livelihood. But of the total cultivated area in the country, a little less than 40 per cent is

irrigated even today. In the remaining areas, farming is largely dependent on rainfall which is

irregular and uncertain. Modern farming methods cannot be used in the absence of assured

adequate water supplies. India cannot achieve the goal of self-sufficiency in food grains unless

the area under irrigation is increased.

Q.5. Construct a table on the distribution of land among the 450 families of Palampur.

Ans. Distribution of land between the farmers of Palampur   

Land (in hectares)   No. of families

Landless                  150

Less than 2             240

More than 2            60

Total                       450

Q.6. Why are the wages for farm labourers in Palampur less than minimum wages?

Ans. Farm workers at Palampur village get lower wages than the minimum wages fixed by the

government. The minimum wages for a farm labourer is fixed at Rs 300 per day. But farm

labourers get only Rs 160. This happens because of heavy competition for work among the

farm labourers at Palampur village.

Q.7. In your region, talk to two labourers. Choose either farm labourers or labourers working

at construction sites. What wages do they get? Are they paid in cash or kind? Do they

get work regularly? Are they in debt?

Ans. Case Study of Two Farm Labourers.

After talking to two farm labourers it was found that —

(i) They were getting Rs 150 per day. (ii) They were being paid in cash.

(iii) They do not get work regularly.

(iv) Both of them had borrowed some money from the moneylender.

Q.8. What are the different ways of increasing production on the same piece of land? Use

examples to explain.

Ans. Ways of Increasing Production on the Same Piece of Land.

Land area under cultivation is practically fixed. Hence something should be done to increase

production on the same piece of land. There are two ways of increasing farm produce on the

same piece of land. These are :

(i) Multiple Cropping : It is the most common way of increasing production on a given

piece of land. Under it, more than one crop is grown on the same piece of land during the

year. Indian farmers should grow at least two main crops in a year. In India, some farmers

are growing a third crop also over the past 20 years.

(ii) Modern Farming Methods : Production on the same piece of land can also be increased

by adopting modern farming methods. The Green Revolution in India is a remarkable

example of it. Under modern farming, more cultivable areas should be brought under

HYV seeds and irrigation. The use of simple wooden plough must be replaced by

tractors. The increasing use of farm machinery like tractors, threshers, harvesters, etc.

make cultivation faster.

Q.9. Describe the work of a farmer with 1 hectare of land.

Ans. One hectare of land equals the area of a square with one side measuring 100 metres. A farmer

who works on a piece of 1 hectare of land is treated as a small farmer. He performs the

following type of activities on the field :

(i) ploughing by bullocks/tractor (ii) sowing of seeds

(iii) watering of the field (iv) spraying of insecticides

(v) cutting of crops

Q.10. How do the medium and large farmers obtain capital for farming? How is it different

from the small farmers?

Ans. Capital requirements of farmers.

Farmers —  Small or large require capital during production. They require both fixed capital

and working capital.

The medium and large farmers have their own savings from farming. They thus are able

to arrange for the capital needed. These farmers sell the surplus farm products in the market.

A part of this earning is saved and used for buying capital items such as farm machinery, raw

material, etc.

But small farmers have to borrow money to arrange for the capital.  They borrow from

large farmers or the village moneylenders or the traders who supply them various inputs for

cultivation. The rate of interest on such loans is very high.

Q.11. On what terms did Savita get a loan from Tejpal Singh? Would Savita’s condition be

different if she could get a loan from the bank at a low rate of interest?

Ans. Terms of Loan : Savita is a small farmer. She plans to cultivate a small piece of land of one

hectare. She does not have money to arrange for capital. So she decides to borrow from Tejpal

Singh — a big farmer who belongs to the same village Palampur. Tejpal Singh gives a loan

of Rs 3000 to Savita at an interest rate of 24 percent. He gives this loan for four months.

Besides, Savita also has to work on Tejpal Singh’s field as farm labourer during the harvesting

season. Tejpal Singh will give her Rs 100 per day as wages. Savita agrees to all these tough

conditions because she needs a loan.

Savita’s condition would have been better if she could get a loan from the bank. The bank

would have provided her the loan at a low rate of interest. Moreover, Savita could have

devoted more time on her own field instead of working for Tejpal Singh as farm labourer.

Q.12. Talk to some old residents in your region and write a short report on the changes in

irrigation and changes in production methods during the last 30 years. (Optional)

Ans. Report on Changes in Cultivation : A survey was conducted to know about the changes that

have taken place in irrigation and other production methods during the last 30 years. Some old

residents of the region were contacted. The findings of the report are given as under.

The farmers reported that cultivation had gone through major changes during the last 30 years.

These included :

Traditional agricultural practices are steadily being replaced by modern farming practices.

Indian agriculture has witnessed mechanisation on a large scale. The use of HYV seeds

has increased.

Farmers have begun to set-up their own pump-sets for irrigation.

Unlike past, farmers now grow at least two main crops during the year.

Q.13. What are the non-farm production activities taking place in your region? Make a

short list.

Ans. Non-farm activities.

Non-farm activities refer to the activities other than farming which are undertaken to earn

income. Different types of these activities include the following :

(i) Small manufacturing, i.e. the activities of weavers, potters, blacksmiths, carpenters,

basket-makers, etc.

(ii) Large manufacturing (iii) Brickmaking units

(iv) Shopkeeping/trading (v) Transport

(vi) Dairying (vii) Moneylending

(viii) Making of  jaggery (gur) (ix) Coaching centres.

Q.14. What can be done so that more non-farm production activities can be started in villages?

Ans. Conditions Essential for the Expansion of Non-farm Activities.

In future, there should be more and more non-farming activities in the villages. The following

steps/measures may be undertaken in this regard.

(i) Although people with some amount of money can set up non-farm activities, it is

important that concessional loans should be made available.

(ii) Another thing which is essential for expansion of non-farm activities is to have markets

where goods and services produced can be sold. For example, there should be markets for

milk, cloth, clay, utensils, etc.

(iii) More villages need to be connected to towns and cities through all-weather roads,

transport and telephone.

Questions Within The Lesson

Q.1. What is the difference between multiple cropping and modern farming methods?

Ans. 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.

Q.2. The following table shows the production of wheat and pulses in India after the Green

Revolution in units of million tonnes. Plot this on a graph. Was the Green Revolution

equally successful for both the crops? Discuss.

Table 1.2 : Production of pulses and wheat

                  Production of Pulses        Production of Wheat

1965 – 66            10                                      10

1970 – 71            12                                      24

1980 – 81            11                                      36

1990 – 91            14                                      55

2000 – 01            11                                      70

2010 - 11             18                                      87

2012 - 13             18                                      94

2013 - 14             19                                      96

2014 - 15             17                                      87

2015 - 16             17                                      94

2016 - 17             23                                      99

2017 - 18             24                                      97

Ans. Graph showing production of pulses and wheat.

The graph clearly shows that Green Revolution was more successful in wheat crop. In fact,

there was nothing like Green Revolution in case of pulses.

Q.3. What is the working capital required by the farmer using modern farming methods?

Ans. 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

Q.4. What kind of farming methods — modern or traditional or mixed do the farmers use?

Write a note.

Ans. In India, some farmers (mainly large farmers) use modern methods of farming. Farmers of

Punjab, Haryana and western U.P. use these methods. However, small and marginal farmers

all over the country still use traditional methods of cultivation. However, some of them have

begun to use better seeds, chemical fertilisers, etc. In fact, we find farmers using modern

methods along with the farmers who still use traditional methods.

Q.5. 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.

Q.6. How much of the cultivated land is irrigated? (very little/nearly half/majority/all)

Ans. Nearly half.

Q.7. From where do farmers obtain the inputs that they require?

Ans. Farmers obtain the required inputs from the traders.

Q.8. Why are farm labourers like Dala and Ramkali poor?

Ans. Both Dala and Ramkali are among the poorest people in village Palampur.

Dala is a landless farm labourer who works on daily wages. He fails to get regular work in

the fields because of mechanisation of agriculture.

Similarly, Ramkali hopes to get lesser work even during the harvesting season this year. Last

year she worked for less than five months in the entire year. Due to past debt, the village

moneylender has refused to give her any more loan.

So Dala and Ramkali are poor.

Q.9. Gosaipur and Majauli are two villages in north Bihar. Out of a total of  850 households

in the two villages, there are more than 250 men who are employed in rural Punjab and

Haryana or in Delhi, Mumbai, Surat, Hyderabad or Nagpur. Such migration is common

in most villages across India. Why do people migrate? Can you describe (based on your

imagination) the work that the migrants of Gosaipur and Majauli might do at the place

of destination?

Ans. Some people (250 in number) of Gosaipur and Majauli have migrated to the rural areas of

Punjab, Haryana, Mumbai, Nagpur etc. The migrants are employed by the large farmers of

these regions either as regular workers or as daily wage workers.

Q.10. What does Tejpal Singh do with his earnings?

Ans. Tejpal Singh — a large farmer of the village — deposits most of his earnings in the bank. Then

he uses this accumulated money for lending to poor farmers like Savita. He also uses this

money to arrange for the working and fixed capital for cultivation.

Q.11. (a) What capital did Mishrilal need to set up his jaggery manufacturing unit? Who

provides the labour in this case?

(b) Can you guess why Mishrilal is unable to increase his profit?

(c) Could you think of any reasons when he might face a loss?

(d) Why does Mishrilal sell his jaggery to traders in Shahpur and not in his village?

Ans. (a) Sugarcane crushing machine and sugarcane.

(b) Mishrilal is unable to increase his profit because of high price of sugarcane.

(c) He might face a loss when —

(i) sugarcane price rises further (ii) demand for  jaggery declines

(d) Mishrilal sells his jaggery to traders in Shahpur because he gets a better price.

Q.12. (a) In what ways is Kareem’s capital and labour different from Mishrilal’s?

(b) Why didn’t someone start  a computer centre earlier? Discuss the possible reasons.

Ans. (a) Mishrilal’s capital is used to produce jaggery (gur), while Kareem’s capital is used in the

production of service. Similarly, Mishrilal employs unskilled labour, whereas Kareem has

employed technically trained workers.

(b) There was no computer centre in the village before that of Kareem. Also, there were no

degree-holders in computer applications in the village before. Moreover, computer has

become a popular subject only in the recent years.

Q.13. (a) What is Kishora’s fixed capital?

(b) What do you think would be his working capital?

(c) In how many production activities is Kishora involved?

(d) Would you say that Kishora has benefitted from better roads in Palampur?

Ans. (a) Kishora’s fixed capital includes — a buffalo, wooden cart.

(b) Kishora had a loan from the bank which could be his working capital.

(c) Kishora is involved in the following activities :

(i) He works as a farm labourer

(ii) Dairying is another activity. He sells baffalo’s milk.

(iii) He is also involved in transport activity.

(d) Yes, because he is involved in transport activity.