Chapter – 1 The Story of Palampur

Answer the following questions:

Q. No. 1) What is the main production activity of the village Palampur?

Answer –

Farming is the main production activity in the village.

Q. No. 2) What is the aim of production?

Answer –

The aim of production is to produce the goods and services we needed.

Q. No. 3) What are the four requirements for the production of goods and services?

Answer –

There are four requirements for the production of goods and services.

They are –

1. The first requirement is land, and other natural resources such as water, forests, minerals.
2. The second requirement is labour, i.e. people who will do the work.
3. The third requirement is physical capital, i.e. the variety of inputs required at every stage during production.

          Fixed Capitals – Tools, machines, buildings.

          Working Capitals – Raw materials and money in hand.

      4. The fourth requirement is human capital.

          It is the knowledge and skill of humans which has been used to put land, labour and physical           capital together and produce an output to sell in the market.

Q. No. 4) What are fixed capitals and why are they called so?

Answer –

Tools, machines, and buildings are called fixed capitals.

It can be used in production over many years and these things are not used up like working capital, so they are called fixed capital.

Q. No. 5) What are working capitals and why are they called so?

Answer –

Raw materials and money in hand are called working capital.

Unlike tools, machines and buildings, these are used up in production, so they are called working capital.

Q. No. 6) What is human capital?

Answer –

Human capital is the stock of skill and productive knowledge embodied in humans.

Q. No. 7) Distinguish between human capital and human resources.

Answer –

Q. No. 8) What are the factors of production?

Answer –

Every production is organised by combining land, labour, physical capital and human capital, and these factors are known as factors of production.

Q. No. 9) What is multiple cropping? Mention its objective.

Answer –

To grow more than one crop on a piece of land during the year is known as multiple cropping.

It is the most common way of increasing production on a given piece of land.

Q. No. 10) Explain the cultivation pattern of Palampur.

Answer –

Cultivation pattern and land use in Palampur can be explained in the following points –

1. All land is cultivated in Palampur. No land is left idle.
2. During the rainy season (kharif) farmers grow jowar and bajra. These plants are used as cattle feed.
3. It is followed by the cultivation of potatoes between October and December.
4. In the winter season (rabi), fields are sown with wheat.
5. From the wheat produced, farmers keep enough wheat for the family’s consumption and sell the surplus wheat at the market at Raiganj.
6. A part of the land area is also devoted to sugarcane which is harvested once every year.
7. Sugarcane, in its raw form, or as jaggery, is sold to traders in Shahpur.

Q. No. 11) What are the reasons that the villagers of Palampur are been able to grow three crops a year?

Answer –

The main reason why farmers are able to grow three different crops in a year in Palampur is due to the well-developed system of irrigation.

Electricity came early to Palampur and played a major role in transforming the system of irrigation.

Q. No. 12) What is the standard unit used to measure land?

Answer –

The standard unit of measuring land is a hectare.

Q. No. 13) What is one hectare?

Answer –

One hectare equals the area of a square with one side measuring 100 metres.

1 hectare = 10000 m².

Q. No. 14) What do you mean by yield?

Answer –

Yield is measured as crop produced on a given piece of land during a single season.

Q. No. 15) When was the Green Revolution introduced in India and what was its impact?

                  or,

                    Write a short note on the Green Revolution in India.     

Answer –

The Green Revolution was introduced in India in the 1960s.

In this revolution –

1. the Indian farmers started cultivation of wheat and rice using high-yielding varieties (HYVs) of seeds.
2. compared to traditional seeds, HYV seeds produce much greater amounts of grain on a single plant.
3. the same piece of land produces far larger quantities of food grains than was possible earlier.
4. combination of HYV seeds with better irrigation, chemical fertilisers, pesticides, etc. gives higher yields.

Q. No. 16) What are the drawbacks of the Green Revolution?

Answer –

Despite the great impact of the Green Revolution on food production, there are some drawbacks like –

1. In many areas, Green Revolution is associated with the loss of soil fertility due to the increased use of chemical fertilisers.
2. continuous use of groundwater for tube-well irrigation has led to the depletion of the water table.

Q. No. 17) Which states were the first to introduce the Green Revolution in India?

Answer –

Farmers of Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh were the first to introduce the Green Revolution in India.

Q. No. 18) “Land being a natural resource, it is necessary to be careful in its use.” Support the statement.

Answer –

1. Scientific reports indicate that modern farming methods have overused the natural resource.
2. In many areas, Green Revolution is associated with the loss of soil fertility due to the increased use of chemical fertilisers.
3. continuous use of groundwater for tube-well irrigation has led to the depletion of the water table.
4. Environmental resources, like soil fertility and groundwater, are built up over the years. Once destroyed it is very difficult to restore them.
5. We must take care of the environment to ensure the future development of agriculture.

Q. No. 19) Who are farm labourers?

Answer –

1. Farm labourers come either from landless families or families cultivating small plots of land.
2. Unlike farmers, farm labourers do not have a right over the crops grown on the land. Instead, they are paid wages by the farmer for whom they work.
3. Wages can be in cash or in kind e.g. crop.
4. Sometimes labourers get meals also.
5. Wages vary widely from region to region, from crop to crop, from one farm activity to another (like sowing and harvesting).
6. There is also a wide variation in the duration of employment.
7. A farm labourer might be employed on a daily basis, for one particular farm activity like harvesting, or for the whole year.

Q. No. 20) What is the main source capital requirement for small farmers?

Answer –

Most small farmers have to borrow money to arrange for capital. They borrow from large farmers or village moneylenders or traders who supply various inputs for cultivation. 

Q. No. 21) What are the non-farming activities that had been practised by the people of Palampur?

Answer –

Only 25 per cent of the people working in Palampur are engaged in activities other than agriculture.

Non-farming activities that had been practised by the people of Palampur are dairy, small-scale manufacturing, trade (shopkeeper, wholesaler), transport, etc.

Among these, dairy is the most common activity in many families of Palampur.

NCERT Questions –

Q. No. 1) Modern farming methods require more inputs which are manufactured in industry. Do you agree?

Answer –

Yes, the modern farming method needs more input which is manufactured in industries.

Modern farming needs fertilizers, insecticides, pesticides, weedicides, and many other chemicals. Besides it also requires modern tools and heavy and modern machines like combine harvesters. They also need tube wells, transport facilities, etc.

All of these mentioned inputs are manufactured in industries.

Q. No. 2) How did the spread of electricity help farmers in Palampur?

Answer –

With the spread of electricity, the farmers of Palampur began to set up more tube wells which increased the irrigation facility. With the better irrigation facility, the farmers of Palampur began to grow multiple crops and can irrigate much larger areas which increased their production as well as their income.

Q. No. 3) Is it important to increase the area under irrigation? Why?

Answer –

Yes, it’s important.

More the area under the irrigation means –

1. farmers don’t have to depend only on monsoon.
2. they can grow multiple crops in a single year.
3. in addition, the modern method of cropping requires water in good quantity.
4. farmers away from the river basin and the coastal area now can do farming throughout the year.

Q. No. 4) Construct a table on the distribution of land among the 450 families of Palampur.

Answer –

Q. No. 5) Why are the wages for farm labourers in Palampur less than minimum wages?

Answer –

Because there is heavy competition for work among the farm labourers in Palampur, so people agree to work for lower wages.

Q. No. 6) What are the different ways of increasing production on the same piece of land? Use examples to explain.

Answer –

The different ways of increasing production on the same piece of land are –

1. multiple cropping –  In this method, more than one crop on a piece of land is grown during a single year. It is the most common way of increasing production on a given piece of land.
2. modern farming methods –  It includes better irrigation, the use of HYV seeds, use of fertilisers and chemicals.

Q. No. 7) Describe the work of a farmer with 1 hectare of land.

Answer –

A farmer having 1 hectare of land –

1. Can do only subsistence farming which could sustain their own family only.
2. They can’t make a huge profit.
3. They require very less capital.
4. They don’t hire labourers. Their own family members engage in the work.
5. They work with primitive tools.
6. They can’t afford to have their own tube wells, so they have to buy water.

Q. No. 8) What can be done so that more non-farm production activities can be started in villages?

Answer –

To start more non-farm production activities in the villages, the following things can be done –

1. Non-farm activities require some amount of capital, for this it is important that loans be available at low rates of interest so that even people without savings can start some non-farm activity.
2. Villages should have markets where the goods and services produced can be sold.
3. More villages have to get connected to towns and cities through good roads, transport and telephone.
4. The government have to introduce policies which would help to set up more non-farm activities with ease.