Class IX – The Story of Village Palampur

Ans. Palampur is well-connected with other villages not only due to all weather road but also due to the availability of various means of transport such as tongas, bogeys, jeeps, trucks.

Ans. Transport.

Ans. The narrative is partly based on a research study by Gilbert Etienne of a village in Bulandshahr district in western Uttar Pradesh.

Ans. (i) Land and natural resources i.e., water and minerals

(ii) Labour or workers.

(iii) Physical capital i.e., tools, machines

(iv) Human capital

Ans. Physical capital (Fixed Capital)

Ans. Kharif cropping season is from July to October during the south-west monsoon.

Ans. the main reason to grow three different crops in a year in Palampur is due to the well-developed system of irrigation.

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

Ans. Potato as the third crop is being grown in Palampur in the past fifteen years.

Ans. Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh.

Ans. Continuous use of groundwater for tubewell irrigation has led to the depletion of the water table.

Ans. 150 families, most of them dalits, have no land for cultivation.

Ans. The labourers are paid less wages because there is heavy competition for work among them. They agree to work on less wages.

Ans. The large farmers like Tejpal Singh put most of the money in their bank account to use it, later on, for lending to small farmers. Alternately they buy tractors or other machinery.

Ans. Dairy and small scale manufacturing.

Ans. Rickshas, tongas and jeep.

Ans. The produce left after consumption is known as surplus produce.

Ans. The large farmers sell surplus produce in the market and have extra earning.

Ans. Due to extra earning from surplus produce the large farmers are able to arrange for the working capital for farming for the next season.

Ans. (i) Palampur is well-connected with neighbouring villages and towns.

(ii) Raiganj a big village, is 3 kms from Palampur.

(iii) An all-weather road connects the village to Raiganj and further on to the nearest small town of Shahpur.

(iv) It has well-developed system of roads, transport, electricity, irrigation, schools and health centre.

(v) Many kinds of transport are used by the people e.g., bullock carts, tongas, bogeys (wooden cart drawn by buffaloes), motorcycles, jeeps, tractors and trucks.

(vi) It has two primary schools and one high school.

(vii) It has a primary health centre run by the government and one private dispensary where the sick are treated.

Ans. (i) The village has 450 families in the village.

(ii) The 80 upper caste families own the majority of the land. Their houses are made of bricks with cement plastering.

(iii) The 60 larger farmer Dalits comprise one-third of the population. They live in a corner in much smaller houses. Some of which are of mud and straw. Most of the houses have electric connections.

Ans. (i) The standard unit of measuring land is hectare.

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

(iii) In villages land area is measured in local units such as bigha, guintha etc.

Ans. (a) Green Revolution was a period in the late 1960s when the Indian farmers in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh used high yielding varieties of seeds, fertilisers etc. to increase production.

(b) Green Revolution solved the problem of food crisis in India as mentioned below:

(i) The production of wheat was 11.0 million tonnes in 1960-61 which increased to 55.1 million tonnes in 1990-91.

(ii) The production of rice increased from 34.6 million tonnes to 74.3 million tonnes in 1990-91

(iii) The yield per hectare increased from 850 kgs to 2281 kgs in case of wheat during the same period (1960-61 to 1990-91)

Similar was the case in the production of groundnut, sugarcane etc.

Ans. (i) Since 1960 in Palampur, there has been no expansion in Land area under cultivation.

(ii) By then, some of the wastelands in the village had been converted to cultivable land.

(iii) there exists no further scope to increase the land area under cultivation as well as farm production.

Ans. After the crop is harvested and production is complete, the farmers do the work as mentioned below:

(i) They retain a part of wheat for the family’s consumption and sell the surplus wheat.

(ii) Generally small farmers do not have surplus wheat.

(iii) Medium and large farmers supply surplus wheat to the market.

(iv) Traders buy the wheat and further sell to shopkeepers in the towns and cities.

(v) With earnings the medium and large farmer buy tractors etc. and some earnings is deposited in the bank.

Ans. (a) (i) Marginal small farmers                                            85%

(ii) Medium and large farmers                                                 15%

(b) Cultivated area with farmers

(b) (i) Marginal and small farmers                                             55.4%

(ii) Medium and large farmers                                                   44.6%

Thus the distribution of cultivated area is unequal.

(c) In Palampur the situation is similar to that of India as mentioned below:

(i) 60 families of medium and large farmers                          – 2 hectare land

(ii) A few large farmers                                                           – Land over 10 hectare or more

Ans. (i) Shopkeepers buy various goods from wholesale markets in the cities and sell them in the village.

(ii) they sell wide range of items such as rice, wheat, sugar, tea, oils, biscuits etc.

(iii) A few of the families whose houses are close to the bus stand have opened shops in their houses to sell eatables.

Ans. (i) In Palampur, rickshawwallahs, tongawallahs, jeep, tractor, truck drivers and people driving the traditional bullock cart and bogey are the people in the transport service.

(ii) They ferry people and goods from one place to another, and in return get paid for it.

(iii) As the village, Palampur is well-connected with Raiganj and town of Shahpur, the transport sector is developing rapidly.

Ans. In Indian villages, farming is the main production activity.

Ans. Tools, machines are examples of fixed capital.

Ans. The combination of land, labour, physical capital and human capital results in producing an output.

Ans. The success of multi-cropping has been due to the introduction of irrigation facilities.

Ans. Traditional seeds require less irrigation than HYV seeds.