Story of Village Palampur

Question 1

What are the main production activities in Palampur?

Answer 1

• Farming is the main production activity in Palampur and across India
• Small-scale manufacturing, shop keeping, dairy, transport are some examples of non-farming activities

Question 2

Is Palampur developed? If yes, then why?

Answer 2

• It is well connected with neighbouring villages and towns by an all-weather road
• Different kinds of vehicles are seen on this road from bullock carts, tongas and bogeys to motor vehicles like jeeps, motorcycles, tractors
• There are 450 families in palampur that are of different castes
  ○ The 80 upper-caste families have large houses that are made up of brick with cement plastering
  ○ The 150 Dalit families have small houses made up of mud and straw
• Most houses have electric connections
• Persian wheels were used in palampur to draw water from wells to irrigate small fields
• People realised that electricity-run tubewells were able to irrigate larger areas of land effectively
• By 1970’s, all land area under cultivation of 200 hectares was irrigated
• Electricity was also used in various types of small businesses
• Palampur also have schools and health centres
  Palampur has a well-developed road system, transport, electricity, irrigation, schools and health centres

Question 3

What is the aim of production?

Answer 3

• The aim of production is to produce goods that we want

Question 4

What are the factors of production?

Answer 4

• The first factor of production is land and other natural resources such as water, forests, minerals
• The second factor of production is labour. Labour is the people that will do the work
• The third factor of production is physical capital. It is the variety of inputs required at every stage of production. It can be divided into 2 categories
  ○ Fixed capital – tools, machinery, buildings. Can be used in production over many years
  ○ Working capital – raw materials and money in hand. Used up in production and cannot be reused
• The fourth factors which is human capital is the knowledge and enterprise of humans to put together land, labour and physical capital to produce an output

Question 5

Why is land limited as a resource?

Answer 5

• 75% of people in palampur depend on farming for their livelihood
• Land area under cultivation is practically fixed
• Since 1960, there has been no expansion in the land area under cultivation
• There is no further scope of increasing farm production by bringing new land under cultivation
• Land is therefore a limited resource
• The standard unit of measuring land is hectare

Question 6

What are some ways to increase farm production in the same piece of land

Answer 6

1. Multiple Cropping
2. Modern Farming Methods

Question 7

Describe the process of multiple cropping

Answer 7

• To grow more than one crop in the given piece of land during the year is called multiple cropping
• It is the most common way of increasing farm production in palampur
• During the rainy season (kharif), jowar and bajra and grown
• It is followed by the cultivation of potato between October and December
• During the winter season (rabi) wheat is grown
• Some land area is devoted for growing sugarcane, which is harvested once every year

Question 8

What are the advantages of modern farming methods?

Answer 8

• Another way of increasing farm production is the use of modern farming methods for higher yield
• The Green Revolution introduced the indian farmers to cultivation of wheat and rice using high yielding varieties (HYVs) of seeds
• This increased the amount of grain produced in a single crop
• This resulted in the increase of food grain grown in a piece of land Farmers in Punjab, Haryana and western UP were the first to use modern farming methods
• They made use of tubewells, HYV seeds, chemical fertilisers and pesticides in farming
• Some also bought farm machinery like tractors and threshers which made ploughing and harvesting faster They were rewarded with higher yields of wheat
• In Palampur the yield of wheat using traditional seeds was 1300 kg/hectare
• With the HYV seeds, the yield of wheat became 3200 kg/hectare
• There was an increase in the production of wheat Farmers now had greater amounts of surplus wheat to sell in the markets

Question 9

What are some disadvantages of modern farming methods?

Answer 9

• HYV seeds require greater amounts of water and also require chemical fertilisers and pesticides for better results
• Modern farming methods results in the overuse of the natural resource base
• The green revolution is associated with the depletion of the fertility of the soil due to the overuse of chemical fertilisers and pesticides
• The minerals provided from the chemical fertilisers do not retain in the soil for long
• They may escape from the soil and pollute the groundwater, lakes, rivers or kill the microorganisms present in the soil, thus decreasing the fertility of the soil
• Continuous use of tubewell irrigation reduces the water table below the ground
• Groundwater and soil fertility are built up over many years
• Once destroyed, they cannot be retained
• They are also not radily avalaible to farmers as they are expensive

Question 10

Differentiate between traditional seeds and HYV seeds

Answer 10

Traditional
* Produce lower yields of grains
* Require less amount of water
* Cow dung and natural manure are used as fertilisers
* Not harmful to the environment
* Readily available to farmers who do not have enough money to afford them

HYV
* Produce higher yields of food grains
* Require more amount of water
* Chemical fertilisers and pesticides are used
* Can be harmful to the environment
* Not readily available with farmers as they cannot afford them

Question 11

How is land distributed in Palampur?

Answer 11

• Palampur consists of around 450 families
• 150 families in palampur are land-less
• 240 families cultivate small plots of land that are less than 2 hectares in size
• The remaining 60 families cultivate lands more than 2 hectares is size
• Few large families cultivate 10 hectares of land or more than 10 hectares of land

Question 12

Who provides the labour in Palampur?

Answer 12

• Some farmers work on their own lands whereas others work on other farmers’ land for which they receive wage
• Small farmers along with their families work on their own land. They provide the labour required for farming themselves
• Medium or large farmers hire farm labourers to work on their fields
• Wages can be in the form of money or in kind (crop). Wages can differ from region to region, crop to crop and from one farm activity to another

Question 13

Why do some labourers agree to underpaid work?

Answer 13

• The minimum wage for a farm laborer set by the government is Rs. 115
• Due to the heavy competition for work amongst farm laborers in palampur, people agree to work for lower wages

Question 14

Differentiate between land and capital

Answer 14

Land
* Natural
* Fixed

Capital
* Man-made
* Can be produced and increased

Question 15

Differentiate between land and labour

Answer 15

Land
* Fixed
* Provides the raw materials required for farming

Labour
* Can be increased
* Provides the services needed for farming

Question 16

How do farmers obtain capital in Palampur?

Answer 16

• Most small farmers have to borrow money to arrange for the capital needed
• They borrow money from large farmers or village moneylenders
• The rate of interest from such loans are very high and farmers often face difficulty to repay the loans
• Medium or large farmers have their own savings from farming
• They are thus able to arrange for the capital needed

Question 17

Write a short note on the sale of surplus products

Answer 17

• Farmers retain a portion of the farm products for the family’s use and sell the surplus farm products
• Small farmers sell their surplus farm products to medium and large farmers
• Medium and large farmers sell their surplus farm products directly to the market
• Traders purchase these products from the market and sell them to shopkeepers in towns and cities

Question 18

State Describe the non-farming activities practiced in Palampur

Answer 18

Dairy
* It is a common activity in many families in palampur
* People feed their buffaloes various kinds of grasses and the jowar and bajra grown during kharif
* Milk produced is sold to the neighbouring villages and towns

Manufacturing
* Less than 50 people in palampur are involved in manufacturing
* Manufacturing in palampur involves very simple production methods and is done on a small scale
* It is mostly done at home or in the fields with the help of family labour

Trade
* The people involved in trade is very less in palampur
* The traders of palampur are the shopkeepers who purchase goods from the wholesale markets in the cities and sell them in the village for money
* These goods include rice, wheat, oil, butter, soap, toothbrush, pens, notebooks

Transport
* There are a variety of vehicles that connect palampur to the neighbouring villages and towns
* The people involved in transport include drivers of jeeps, tractors, bogeys, tongas, bullock carts
* The people involved in transport in Palampur has increased over the past several years