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NCERT Solutions for Class 9 Economics Chapter 1 – The Story of Village Palampur

Back Exercise

Question 1.
Every village in India is surveyed once in ten years during the Census and some of details are presented in the following format. Fill up the following based on information on Palampur.
(a) Location:
(b) Total area of the village:
(c) Land use (in hectares):

(d) Facilities:

Answer:
(a) Location: 3 kms away from Raiganj (a big village) and further on to the nearest small town of Shahpur.
(b) Total area of the village: 226 hectares
(c)

(d) Facilities:

2. Modern farming methods require more inputs which are manufactured in industry. Do you agree?

Answer:

Yes, it is correct to say that modern farming methods require more inputs which are manufactured in the industry. It is because modern farming methods use a high-yielding variety of seeds. These seeds require both chemical fertilisers and pesticides, agricultural implementations like tractors and proper irrigation facilities like electric tube wells and all these elements are manufactured in industries. However, on the other hand, traditional farming methods use a relatively low-yielding variety of seeds and use cow dunk and other natural manures as fertiliser, which is why they are less dependent on industrial outputs.

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

Answer:

The spread of electricity helped the farmers of Palampur as it helped in the transformation of the irrigation system of the village. The farmers earlier used Persian wheels to draw water from wells and irrigate small fields. But after the spread of electricity, electric tube wells replaced these Persian wheels. The first tube well was installed by the Government but later private tube wells were also settled by the farmers, resulting in the cultivation of the entire 200 hectares of irrigated land by the 1970s.

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

Answer:

It is important to increase the land under irrigation because farming is the main source of income for the maximum part of the population in India and only less than 40 per cent of the land is cultivable in the country. Farmers are dependent on the erratic monsoon season and if the rainfall is less, farmers are bound to suffer a major loss. So if water is provided for irrigation to the farmers for a larger portion of land, it would give better output and make more land cultivable in India and also encourage farmers to take up newer farming methods without the fear of suffering loss.

Question 5.
Construct a table on the distribution of land among the 450 families of Palampur.
Answer:
Distribution of land among 450 families of Palampur is as follows:

Question 6.
Why are the wages for farm labourers in Palampur less than minimum wages?
Answer:
The wages for farm labourers in Palampur are less than the minimum wages because:

1. There is heavy competition for work among the farmers.
2. Employment is less and farmers are more and, therefore, farmers have to be content with what they are earning.
3. Land is owned by landlords who desire to earn more and more profit by giving minimum wages.
4. The farmers are illiterate and unaware of the amount of minimum wages set by the government.

Question 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?
Answer:
To be attempted by the students themselves.

Question 8.
What are the different ways of increasing production on the same piece of land? Use examples to explain.
Answer:
The land area under cultivation is practically fixed so in order to increase the production from a same piece of land, we can use the following methods:

1. Multiple cropping. It is the most common way of increasing production on a given piece of land. It means when two or more crops are grown on the same piece of land during a year, i.e., Indian farmers should grow at least two main crops in a year. In India, some farmers are growing third crop also over the past 20 years such as in Palampur jowar and bajra are grown and potato is the third crop.
2. 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 area should be brought under high yielding varieties of seeds and irrigation. The use of simple wooden plough must be replaced by tractors and with increased use of farm machinery such as tractors, threshers and harvesters, make cultivation faster and also help in increasing yield per hectare.

Question 9.
Describe the work of a farmer with 1 hectare of land.
Answer:
A farmer who works on 1 hectare of land is called a small farmer. He carries out the following activities:

1. Ploughs the field by bullocks or tractors
2. Sows the seeds by simply sprinkling by hands
3. Waters the field with the help of Persian wheel
4. Sprays the insecticides by manual pumps
5. Cuts the crops by hand-operated tools

Question 10.
How do the medium and large farmers obtain capital for farming? How is it different from the small farmers?
Answer:
All farmers require capital during production. They require fixed as well as working capital. The medium and large farmers have their own savings from farming. They are able to arrange for their own capital. They sell their surplus in the market. A part of this is saved and the rest is used to buy machinery and other raw materials or lend it to the small farmers to make more profit.

Whereas small farmers have to borrow money to arrange for capital. They borrow from large farmers, moneylenders and traders who supply them various inputs for cultivation. They are charged very high rate of interest by these moneylenders and traders or even the large farmers.

Question 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?
Answer:
The terms of loan of Savita taken from Tejpal Singh are:

1.  She took loan of ₹ 3.000 at an interest rate of 24 per cent.
2. She would have to repay the loan in four months.
3. She also has to work on Tejpal’s field as a farm labourer during the harvesting season at ₹ 35 per day.

The bank could have provided her loan at a low rate of interest. In addition, she would have devoted more time to her own field of 1 hectare, instead of working as a farm labourer for Tejpal Singh.

Question 12.
Talk to some old residents of your region and write a short report on the changes in irrigation and changes in production methods during the last 30 years.
Answer:
To be attempted by the students themselves.

Question 13.
What are the non-farm production activities taking place in your region? Make a short list.
Answer:
To be attempted by the students themselves.

Question 14.
What can be done so that more non-farm activities can be started in villages?
Answer:
At present, there are not so many farm activities in the villages. Out of every 100 workers in rural areas of India, only 24 workers are engaged in non-farm activities.
The steps that can be taken are:

1. Supply of electricity in villages needs to be improved. This will encourage the establishment of small-scale industries.
2. More villages should be connected to the towns and cities, through all weather road transport
   and telephonic system.
3. The villages should have markets where goods and services produced can be sold such as in Palampur, neighbouring towns and cities provide markets for milk, jaggery and wheat.

In-Text Questions

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