Extra Questions for Class 9 Economics Chapter 1 The Story of Village Palampur
Class 9 Social Science Economics Chapter 1 The Story of Village Palampur extra questions and answers available here in PDF format. Solving class 9 extra questions help students to revise the Chapter most competently. We prepared these questions with PDF as per the latest NCERT book and CBSE syllabus. Practising these questions before the exam will ensure excellent marks in the exam.
Class 9 Economics Chapter 1 Extra Questions and Answers
Very Short Answer Questions
1. Sugarcane crushing undertaken in the village is what type of activity?
Answer: Sugarcane crushing undertaken in the village is the first step in manufacture of jaggery from raw sugarcane. Thus, it is a manufacturing activity.
2. What is the main economic activity in village Palampur?
Answer: The main economic activity in village Palampur is agriculture.
3. What are the factors of production?
Answer: Land, labour, physical capital and human capital are the factors of production.
4. What was the major advantage of using HYV seeds in agriculture?
Answer: The major advantage of using HYV seeds in agriculture is growing more crops on the same piece of land.
5. What are the non-farming activities being carried out in Palampur?
Answer: Some of the non-farming activities being carried out in Palampur include manufacturing, transport, shop keeping and computer education.
6. Who runs the Primary Health Centre in Palampur?
Answer: The Primary Health Centre in Palampur is run by the government.
7. What is multiple cropping?
Answer: Multiple cropping means that we grow more than one crop on the same piece of land in a year.
8. Why is loss of soil fertility occurring as an effect of the Green Revolution?
Answer: During the Green Revolution, due to the extra crops produced which utilized the soil nutrients fully, no nutrients were left for the next crop.
9. What is the disadvantage in using chemical fertilizers in modern farming methods?
Answer: The chemicals kill bacteria and microbes, which are essential for soil fertility.
10. What is the standard unit for measurement of agricultural land?
Answer: Hectare is the standard unit for measurement of agricultural land. Bigha and Guintha are local units used in different parts of India.
11. Is it correct that more than half the farmers of Palampur cultivate small plots of landless than 10 hectares in size?
Answer: This is incorrect, because more than half the farmers of Palampur are small farmers. The plots of these farmers are less than 2 hectares, not less than 10 hectares.
12. What is the major reason for people to migrate from rural areas to urban areas?
Answer: They migrate in search of better employment opportunities.
13. Which crop out of rice, sugarcane or wheat is a Kharif crop?
Answer: Rice is a Kharif crop.
14. Is it true that food grains output in India has increased significantly in the last few years because larger areas of land have been brought under cultivation?
Answer: This is not true, because the food grains output has increased due to use of modern methods of agriculture.
15. In 2003, the area cultivated by small farmers in India was how much percentage of the total cultivated area?
Answer: The area cultivated by small farmers in India was 36 per cent of the total cultivated area.
16. Is it true that running a collection cum milk chilling centre in Raiganj is a trading activity?
Answer: Yes, since the milk chilling centre is buying the milk from the villagers and selling it to the dairy in the towns/cities. Thus, it is a trading activity.
17. Which items out of a tractor, clay, HYV seeds or a truck will be considered as fixed capital for non-farm activities?
Answer: Only a truck is not used in non-farming activity and it is a fixed capital to be used again and again for transportation of goods.
18. Which organizations in India have been developing High Yielding Varieties of seeds?
Answer: Development of High Yielding Varieties (HYV) seeds is a research activity, which can only be carried out in research laboratories.
19. Can we consider rainfall as a source of irrigation?
Answer: No, because irrigation implies provision of water to crops artificially, whereas rainfall is natural.
20. Name the Indian states who were first to try out the modern farming methods in India.
Answer: Farmers of Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh were first to try out modern farming methods in India.
21. What term is used for measuring the crop produced on given piece of land during a single year?
Answer: Yield is measured as crop produced on a given piece of land during a single season.
22. During which season do farmers of Palampur grow jowar and bajra?
Answer: During rainy season (kharif) farmers of Palampur grow jowar and bajra.
23. In which season is wheat grown in Palampur village?
Answer: During rabi season (winter) wheat is grown in Palampur village.
24. What are ‘Bigha’ and ‘Guintha’?
Answer: Bigha and Guintha are the measuring units of land area in villages.
25. What do you understand by the term “Marginal farmers”?
Answer: Marginal farmers are those who do not have sufficient land for farming.
26. Which is the most labor absorbing sector of the economy?
Answer: Agriculture is the most labor absorbing sector of the economy.
27. Which state of India has highest consumption of chemical fertilizer in India?
Answer: Punjab has highest consumption of chemical fertilizer in India.
28. What percentage of total land area is cultivated by medium and large farmers in India?
Answer: 64 per cent total land area is cultivated by medium and large farmers in India.
29. Where do most of the small farmers borrow money to arrange for capital in Palampur?
Answer: Most of the small farmers borrow money from village moneylenders in Palampur.
30. What does ‘yield’ mean?
Answer: Yield is measured as crop produced on a given piece of land during a single season.
31. How did Green Revolution benefit the Indian farmer?
Answer: The Green Revolution in late 1960’s introduced the Indian farmer to high yielding variety of seeds to produce much greater amount of grain on a single plant.
32. How were higher yields of wheat and rice possible?
Answer: Higher yields were possible only from a combination of HYV seeds, irrigation, chemical fertilizers, pesticides etc.
33. How do farm laborers get wages in Palampur?
Answer: Wages can be in cash or kind (crop). Sometimes laborers get meals also. Wages vary widely from crop to crop, from one farm activity to another.
34. How small farmers manage the capital needed for farming?
Answer: Small farmers have to borrow money to arrange for the capital.
35. How do medium and large farmers manage capital?
Answer: The medium and large farmers have their own savings from farming. They are thus able to arrange for the capital needed.
36. What is the basic difference between two factors of production-land and capital?
Answer: Land is a natural resource whereas money is man-made. It is possible to increase capital, whereas land is fixed.
37. Name the non-farm activities of Palampur?
Answer: Dairy farming, small scale manufacturing, trade, shop keeping and providing transport services.
38. Which means of transport are used by people of Palampur?
Answer: There are rickshawallahs, tongawallahs, jeeps, tractors, trucks, bullock carts and bogeys to transport goods and people to nearby village and towns of Palampur.
Short Answer Type Questions
1. Which crop out of sugarcane, bajra or wheat are kharif crops?
Answer: Bajra is a rapid growing warm weather crop suitable for areas with 40 to 75 cm of annual rainfall. Thus, it is suitable for the kharif season, which is between July and October. Wheat is not suitable for warm weather and sugarcane requires a full year to grow.
2. Identify which out of land, seeds, machinery and building is in the category of working capital.
Answer: Seeds, once used, cannot be used again and so they fall in the category of working capital. Land, machinery and building are fixed capital, as they can be used again and again.
3. What are the constituents of modern farming methods?
Answer: The constituents of modern farming methods are use of high yielding variety of seeds, using chemical fertilizers and pesticides, as well as using plenty of water for irrigation.
4. When large and medium farmers sell their surplus produce in the market, what are the purposes to which they use this income?
Answer: A part of the earnings is saved and kept as capital for the next season. Thus, they are able to arrange for the capital for farming from their own savings. Some farmers also use the savings to buy cattle, trucks or use it in other non-agricultural activities.
5. Which farmers out of landless farmers, small farmers or medium and large farmers, hire labour to work in the fields?
Answer: Landless farmers are hired as laborers are hired. Small farmers do not need additional labour, as they work with their family members in the fields. Only the medium and large farmers have extensive work, which makes them hire additional labour.
6. How is land resource affected by modem farming methods?
Answer: Land being a natural resource, it is necessary to be very careful in its use. Scientific reports indicate that the modern farming methods have overused the natural resource base.
7. How do chemical fertilizers affect the soil?
Answer: Chemical fertilizers provide minerals which dissolve in water and are immediately available to plants. But these may not be retained in the soil for long. They may escape from the soil and pollute groundwater, rivers and lakes.
8. Who are the farm laborers working for medium and large farmers?
Answer: Farm laborers come either from landless families or families cultivating small plots of land. Unlike farmers, farm laborers do not have a right over the crops grown on the land, they are paid wages by the farmer.
9. From where small farmers borrow money?
Answer: Small farmers either borrow from large farmers or the village moneylenders or the traders who supply various inputs for cultivation. The rate of interest on such loans is very high which makes it difficult for them to repay.
10. What do large and medium farmers do with their surplus farm products?
Answer: Large and medium farmers sell the surplus farm products. A part of the earnings is saved and kept for buying capital for the next season. Some farmers might also use the savings to buy cattle, trucks or to set up shops.
11. How is dairy farming practiced in Palampur?
Answer: Many families sell the milk of their buffalos, in nearby village Raiganj. Traders of Shahpur town have set up collection cum chilling centers at Raiganj from where the milk is transported to far away towns and cities.
12. What kind of manufacturing units are set up in Palampur?
Answer: Manufacturing in Palampur involves very simple production methods and is done on a small scale. It is carried out mostly at home or in the fields with the help of family labour.
13. What kinds of shops are set up in Palampur?
Answer: There are small general stores selling items like rice, wheat, sugar, tea, oil, biscuits, soaps, toothpaste, batteries, candles, notebooks, pens, pencils and even some clothes. There are shops for eatables too.
14. Name the main and other activities of the village of Palampur.
Answer: Farming is the main activity in Palampur. Other activities are small -scale manufacturing, dairy, transport, etc. They also have small shops selling a wide range of items like rice, wheat, sugar, tea, oil, biscuits, soaps, etc.
15. What all facilities are available in the village?
Answer: Most of the houses have electric connections. Electricity is used to run tubewells in fields and for many other purposes. Palampur has two primary schools and one high school. There is a primary health centre run by the government and one private dispensary where the sick are treated. It also has a well-developed system of roads and transport facilities.
16. In what way is Kareem’s capital and labour different from Mishrilal?
Answer: Both have fixed capital in the form of machines, but Kareem has a larger fixed capital because he has asset in the form of computers which are more expensive than the sugarcane crushing machine. Kareem has also employed educated and qualified computer teachers, whereas Mishrilal’s labour is mainly unskilled labor.
17. Why didn’t someone start a computer centre earlier? Discuss the possible reasons.
Answer: Reasons why someone didn’t start a computer centre may be any of the following:
(i) As very few educated people were there in the village, there was not any demand for computer courses.
(ii) The villagers were not aware of the employment potential of computer courses and so nobody thought that such a business could be successful.
(iii) Teaching faculty for computer courses was not available in the village earlier.
18. Modern farming methods require more inputs which are manufactured in industry. Do you agree?
Answer: Yes, it is true that modern farming methods require more inputs which are manufactured in industry.
For example: HYV seeds, insecticides, pesticides and chemical fertilizers needed for increasing the yield per hectare are all manufactured in industries.
19. Is it important to increase the area under irrigation? Why?
Answer: Yes, it is important to increase the area under irrigation because water is very essential for agriculture. In India, the rainfall is unevenly distributed in the country and if rainfall is less, then production will be low, and they will be only able to grow one crop in a season.
20. State the various ways of growing more crop from the same land by the people of Palampur.
Answer: To grow more than one crop on a piece of land during the year:
(i) Modern farming methods like HYV seeds, pesticides, chemical fertilizers, etc. were used.
(ii) Green Revolution in the late 1960s introduced to the farmers, the cultivation of wheat and rice by using high yielding variety seeds.
21. What is the ‘multiple cropping’ system?
Answer: Multiple cropping is the most common way of increasing production on a given piece of land. When more than one crop in grown on a piece of land, during the year, it is known as multiple cropping system. All the farmers in Palampur grow at least two main crops and grow potatoes as their third crop.
22. How did the spread of electricity help farmers in Palampur?
Answer: (i) Electricity enabled the use of tubewells which improved the system of irrigation, leading to more yield, more income and further investment.
(ii) Shops, sugarcane machines, small-scale industries and computer centers were introduced by the farmers to get supplement income.
23. Describe the condition of landless farmer like Dala, of Palampur village.
Answer: Dala is a landless farm laborer who works on daily wages in Palampur. This means he must regularly look for work. The minimum wages for a farm laborer set by the government is 115 per day, but Dala gets only 80. There is heavy competition for work among the farm laborers in Palampur. So, people agree to work for lower wages.
Long Answer Type Questions
1. List the changes in Palampur due to the advent of electric power in the village.
Answer: The advent of electric power in Palampur has brought about the following changes:
(i) Irrigation is now done through electric run tube wells, which has reduced the dependence of the farmers upon rainfall and enables larger areas of land to be irrigated.
(ii) Irrigation improvement allowed farmers to grow three different crops in a year.
(iii) It enabled Mishrilal to set up a sugarcane crushing machine so that he can sell jaggery manufactured by him to the traders at Shahpur.
2. The farm laborers in Palampur usually earn less than the minimum wage. Why?
Answer: The use of modem agricultural implements like tractors, threshers and harvesters by the large and medium farmers has reduced the amount of agricultural labour required. So, there is competition for work among the agricultural laborers in the village. Knowing that the supply is much more than the demand, the laborers themselves agree to work for wages that are lower than minimum wages. The farmers exploit this condition of excess labour supply and force laborers to work for low wages.
3. What is the difference between multiple cropping and modern farming method?
Answer: Multiple Cropping: 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. Modern Farming Method The farmers of Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh use HYV seeds, tube wells for irrigation, chemical fertilizers and pesticides, as well as machinery like tractors and threshers to increase the production. All these measures comprise what are known as modern farming methods.
4. Why are farm laborers like Dala and Ramkali poor?
Answer:
(i) Dala and Ramkali are landless farm laborers who work on daily wages in Palampur.
(ii) The minimum wages for farm laborer set by the government is 115 per day, they get only 80.
(iii) There is heavy competition for work among the farm laborers in Palampur, so people agree to work for lower wages.
(iv) They remain out of work for most parts of the year and have to take loans from the moneylender to fulfill their needs. Due to this seasonal unemployment, they remain poor and are unable to repay the loan and fall into a debt trap.
5. 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 in 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?
Answer: Mostly people migrate in search of employment or better job opportunities to the cities like Mumbai, Delhi, etc or to the prosperous agricultural regions like Punjab and Haryana to work as farm laborers.
(i) This migration usually takes place when a person is unemployed or in extreme poverty, which may be due to lack of land, displacement, negative impact of natural disasters like drought or floods, etc.
(ii) The migrants from Gosaipur and Majauli who went to cities will probably find work as casual laborers, industrial workers, street hawkers, rickshaw pullers, headload workers or as servants in homes and hotels, etc.
(iii) Those who went to rural areas of Punjab and Haryana will probably work as farm laborers since agriculture is the main occupation of the rural people in these states.
6. How did the spread of electricity help farmers in Palampur?
Answer: (i) Most of the houses in Palampur have electric connections.
(ii) Electricity powers all the tube wells in the fields that help to irrigate much larger areas of land more effectively as compared to the traditional Persian wheel drawn by bullocks. Since the entire cultivated area of 200 hectares had come under irrigation farmers did not have to depend on rainfall and could grow multiple crops.
(iii) It helps small businesses run their machinery like Mishrilal’s sugarcane crushing machine.
7. In your region, talk to two laborers Choose either farm laborers or laborers 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:
(i) In our region, there are two labourers namely Ram Khilawan and Basanti, who are husband and wife working as casual constructing labourers. Due to drought, they had to leave their village in search of employment. They get approximately 50 to 60 rupees per day which they are paid in cash.
(ii) They do not get work regularly because there are a large number of workers seeking employment, due to which they agree to work for low wages. Because of irregular work and low wages they are unable to fulfill their needs and are in debt.
8. What are the main factors for production of goods and services?
Answer: (i) The first requirement is land and other natural resources like water, forests, minerals, etc.
(ii) The second requirement is labor, i.e., the people who will do the work. Some activities require educated workers to perform the necessary task and other activities require workers who can do manual work.
(iii) The third requirement is physical capital, i.e., the variety of inputs required at every stage during production. It includes fixed capital and working capital.
(iv) Fourth requirement-knowledge and entrepreneur.
9. State the main reasons why farmers are able to grow three different crops in a year in Palampur.
Answer: The main reasons are:
(i) A well-developed system of irrigation.
(ii) Electricity came early to Palampur. It was perceived to help in transforming the system of irrigation as the earlier Persian wheels, till then, were used to draw water from wells to irrigate small fields.
(iii) People noticed that electric-run tubewells could irrigate much large areas of land more effectively.
10. What do you understand by the term ‘Green Revolution’?
Answer: The ‘Green Revolution’ was introduced in India, in the late 1960s. Indian farmers used it for the production of major food crops like wheat and rice. They made use of the High Yielding Variety seeds, which produced much greater yield than the traditional seeds. However, they needed plenty of water, chemical fertilizers and pesticides to produce best results.
11. What are the harmful effects of chemical fertilizers?
Answer: Chemical fertilizers provide minerals which dissolve in water and are immediately available to plants. But they may escape from the soil and pollute the groundwater, rivers and lakes. Chemical fertilizers can also kill bacteria and other micro-organisms in the soil. It means sometimes, after their use, the soil will be less fertile than ever before. So, continuous use of chemical fertilizers has led to the degradation of the soil’s health.
12. Is it important to increase the area under irrigation and why?
Answer: More area under irrigation would lead to more yield or production to fulfill the needs of the population. More yield would fetch more income to the farmers. It would provide more employment opportunities for them. Their supplement income can provide them more capital for further investment in non-farm activities also.
13. Why are the wages for farm laborers in Palampur less than the minimum wages?
Answer:
(i) Employment is less and farmers are more and therefore, farmers have to be content with what they were earning.
(ii) Land is owned by landlords who desire to earn more and more profits by giving minimum wages.
(iii) The farmers are illiterate and unaware of the minimum amount set by the government.
14. Describe the work of a farmer with 1 hectare of land or small holding.
Answer: The farmer with a small land of 1 hectare needs less capital to prepare his land. He uses traditional seeds, animals to plough, less labor, no machines, less chemical fertilizers or manure. He does irrigation manually and is helped by his family members to do the work of harvesting. The production from hectare of his land is consumed by his family.
15. 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 lower rate of interest?
Answer: Tejpal Singh, a large farmer gave Savita a loan at an interest rate of 24 per cent for four months, which is a high rate of interest. Savita also promised to work on his field as a farm labourer during the harvest season at ` 35 per day, which is a low wage rate. Yes, Savita’s condition would have been different, if she could get a loan from the bank, since it would be given at lower interest rate, and without any condition.
16. What can be done by the government to start more non-farm activities in the villages to improve the farmers’ conditions?
Answer: (i) The government should provide capital to the villagers for starting new business like shops, dairy farming, transport, etc.
(ii) Banks should be set up in the villages to provide loans to the farmers at low interest rates.
(iii) People should be made literate so that they are qualified to start a new business like computer training courses in computer centers.
17. Differentiate between physical and human capital.
Answer: (i) Physical capital is the variety of inputs required at every stage during production whereas labor, which works on the physical capital, is called human capital.
(ii) Tools and machines, buildings etc. can be used in production over many years whereas human capital can produce the output only if they have experience to do a particular work.
(iii) Tools, machines, generators etc. are the examples of physical capital and human capital can belong to any profession like a farmer, a farm laborer, a factory worker etc.
18. Explain the types of activities necessary for production.
Answer:
(i) Farming is the main activity for the production and sale of crops.
(ii) Non-farm activities include small-scale manufacturing, transport, shopkeeping, dairy farms etc. These activities help in other productions needed in a village.
(iii) There are people who do cattle-rearing to provide milk and getting surplus income for their families.
19. What means of transportation are used in the village of Palampur?
Answer: Many kinds of transport are used by the people of village of Palampur. They use bullock carts, tongas, rickshaws, bogeys and goods. They are also used for loading jaggery and other commodities to their neighboring farms like Raiganj. Motor vehicles like motorcycles, jeeps, tractors and trucks etc. are used to transport people with their surplus crops to sell it to their neighboring villages.
20. What kind of people live in the village Palampur?
Answer: This village has about 450 families belonging to several different castes. The 80 upper caste families own the majority of land in the village. Their houses, some of them quite large, are made of brick with cement plastering. The SCs (dalits) comprise one-third of the population and live in one corner of the village and in much smaller homes, some of which are of mud and straw.
21. What are the ill-effects of Green Revolution?
Answer: In many areas. Green Revolution is associated with the loss of soil fertility due to increased use of chemical fertilizers. Also, continuous use of groundwater for tubewell irrigation has reduced the water table below the ground. Environmental resources like soil fertility and groundwater are built up over many years. Once destroyed, it is very difficult to restore them.
22. How surplus farm products are sold by the farmers?
Answer: Let us assume that farmers have produced wheat on their land. They retain a part of the wheat for the family consumption and sell the surplus wheat. Small farmers like Savita have little surplus wheat because their total production is small and from this a substantial share is kept for their own family needs. The medium and large farmers supply wheat to the market which the traders buy and sell it further to shopkeepers in the towns and cities.
23. Define Physical Capital, Fixed Capital, Working Capital and Human Capital with examples.
Answer: (i) Physical capital: Physical capital is the variety of inputs required at every stage during production. It includes fixed capital and working capital.
(ii) Fixed capital: Tools and machines range from a plough to a tractor and sophisticated machines like generators, turbines, computers, etc. The tools, machines, buildings which can be used in production over many years are called fixed capital.
(iii) Working capital: Production requires a variety of raw materials. It requires money to make payments and buy other necessary items. Raw materials and money in hand are called working capital. Unlike tools and machines, these are used up in production.
For example: Yarn required by a weaver; clay used by a potter.
(iv) Human capital: One needs knowledge and enterprise to be able to put together land, labour and physical capital and produce an output; either to use it by oneself or to sell in the market. This is known as human capital, which enables better production with human skill and knowledge.
24. What are the merits and demerits of the Green Revolution?
Answer: Merits of the Green Revolution: Green Revolution introduced a number of modern farming methods in India.
(i) Higher yield due to the use of HYV seeds.
(ii) Machines like harvesters, tractors and threshers have made ploughing and harvesting faster and easier.
(iii) Higher yield enabled farmers to sell the surplus food in the market and earn more.
(iv) Pesticides and insecticides are able to protect the crops from pests and insects.
(v) A good irrigation system is able to enhance crop production.
Demerits of the Green Revolution
(i) Loss of soil fertility due to increased use of chemical fertilizers.
(ii) Continuous use of groundwater for tubewell irrigation has reduced the water table below the ground.
(iii) The chemical fertilizers, easily soluble in water, can dissolve in the groundwater and pollute it.
(iv) They can kill bacteria and other micro-organisms helpful for the soil.
(v) Excessive use of fertilizers can also make the soil alkaline and unfit for cultivation.
25. What are the different ways of increasing production? Give examples.
Answer: The different ways of increasing production are:
(a) Multiple cropping: Under this method, more than one crop is raised on the same piece of land during a year. It is the most common way of increasing production on a given piece of land. It is possible if a well-developed system of irrigation exists. Generally, a crop like potato is cultivated between two seasonal crops like rice and wheat.
(b) Modern farming methods: Under modern farming methods, high yielding variety of seeds and chemicals are used.
(i) High Yielding Variety (HYV) seeds are used in place of the traditional seeds to increase the production.
(ii) Chemical fertilizers are used instead of cow-dung and natural manure.
(iii) Insecticides, pesticides, herbicides and irrigation through tubewells are sed in modern farming methods.
(iv) Machines like tractors, harvesters and threshers are used to make the farmer’s job easier and faster.
26. How do medium and large farmers obtain capital for farming? How is it different from small farmers?
Answer: (i) Most 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 various inputs for cultivation. The rate of interest on such loans is very high and these farmers are in great stress to repay loans.
(ii) In contrast to the small farmers, medium and large farmers have their own savings from farming. They use this saving to arrange for next year’s capital and make high profits by selling surplus production and earning higher amounts. Sometimes, they deposit their savings in a bank or lend their money to small farmers or save their savings or buy cattle, truck or to set up shops.
27. Which non-farm activities are practised in Palampur? Write a short note.
Answer: The non-farm activities of Palampur are:
(a) Dairy farming:
(i) People feed their buffaloes with various kinds of grass, jowar, bajra that grows during the rainy season.
(ii) The milk is sold in nearby villages.
(iii) Some people have set up collection centers and chilling centers from where milk is transported to far away towns and cities.
(b) Small-scale manufacturing:
(i) Manufacturing in Palampur involves very simple production methods and are done on a small scale.
(ii) They are carried out mostly at home.
(iii) This is mostly done with the help of family labor. Labor is rarely hired.
(c) Shopkeeping:
(i) Shopkeepers buy various goods from the wholesale market in the cities and sell them in the village.
(ii) Small general stores in the village sell a wide range of items like rice, wheat, sugar, oil, biscuits, soap, batteries, candles, toothpaste, pens, pencils, notebooks, and even some clothes.
(iii) Some families whose houses are closer to the bus stand has used a part of the space to open small shops. They sell eatables here.
(d) Transport:
(i) Rickshawallahs, tongawallahs, jeep, tractor, truck drivers and people driving the traditional bullock carts and bogeys are the people in transport services.
(ii) They carry people and goods from one place to another and in return get paid for it.
(iii) The number of people in transport services has risen over the last several years.
(iv) Self-employed: Some people have opened coaching institutes for various kinds of arts like computer training centers or stitching classes, etc. to obtain profit from a non-farm activity and train more and more people for better opportunities in their life.
28. How is multiple cropping practiced in Palampur?
Answer: All land is cultivated in Palampur. No land is left vacant. During the rainy season (kharif) farmers grow jowar and bajra. These plants are used as cattle feed. It is followed by cultivation of potato between October and December. In the winter season (rabi) fields are sown with wheat. From the wheat produced, farmers keep enough wheat for family’s consumption and sell the surplus wheat at the market at Raiganj. A part of the land area is also devoted to sugarcane which is harvested once every year. Sugarcane in its raw form, or as jaggery, is sold to traders in Shahpur.
29. What kind of labour is found in Palampur?
Answer: Farm laborers come either from landless families or families cultivating small plots of land. Unlike farmers, farm laborers do not have a right over the crops grown on the land. Instead they are paid wages by the farmer for whom they work. Sometimes laborers get meals also. Wages vary widely from region to region, from crop to crop, from one farm activity to another. There is also a wide variation in the duration of employment. A farm laborer might be employed on a daily basis, or for one particular farm activity like harvesting, or for the whole year.