The Story of Village Palampur Test - 2

The main requirements for the production of goods and services are land, labor, physical capital, and human capital. The first requirement is land and other natural resources. The second is labour i.e., people who carry out the work for production. The third is physical capital i.e., varieties of inputs that are required for production such as fixed capital (Building, equipment, machinery, tools and working capital (cash, raw materials, etc.). Human capital is the knowledge and enterprise required to be able to put together land, labour and physical capital and produce an output either to use yourself or to sell in the market. Transport is the physical means whereby finished goods are moved from the point of production to the place where they are required for consumption.

The hectare is a metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm²), or 10,000 m², and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is about 0.405 hectare and one hectare contains about 2.47 acres.

In the rainy season, Kharif farmers grow jowar and bajra followed by the cultivation of potato between October and December. In winter, farmers grow wheat and a part of the land is devoted to sugarcane harvested once every year. Due to well-developed irrigation, farmers can grow three different crops.

Riverine plains and coastal regions in our country are well-irrigated. In contrast, plateau regions such as the Deccan plateau have low levels of irrigation. Of the total cultivated area in the country a little less than 40 per cent is irrigated. In the remaining areas, farming is largely dependent on rainfall.

To grow more than one crop on a piece of land during the year is know as multiple cropping. All farmers in Palampur grow at least two main crops; many grow potato as the third crop. The other way is to use modern farming methods for higher yield. Kharif crops like jowar and bajra are grown in rainy seasons. These plants are grown as cattle feed. Then, cultivation of potato is done between October and December.

Persian wheels were often used by farmers in the past to draw water from the wells and irrigate small fields. However, now the village of Palampur is completely irrigated by tubewells. The first few tubewells were installed by the government. Soon, however, farmers started setting up private tubewells. As a result, by mid-1970s the entire cultivated area of 200 hectares (ha.) was irrigated.

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 dung and other natural manures as fertiliser, which is why they are less dependent on industrial outputs.

In 1960, a record production of food items was witnessed. This marked a turning point in the agriculture which then led to a green revolution in India. The green revolution is the increase in the production of food crops especially the wheat crop in India. This revolution led to an enormous increase in the production of food grains in the country. The green revolution is associated with higher yield of crops through usage of chemical fertilisers and pesticides. But it is also associated with loss of soil fertility due to excessive usage of chemical fertilisers and pesticides, and reduced water table due to excessive use of irrigation.

The consumption of fertilizers varies significantly from state to state. While the North and South zones have a consumption of more than 100 kg/ha, in the East and West zones the consumption is lower than 80 kg/ha. Among the major states, the per-hectare consumption is more than 100 kg in West Bengal (122 kg), Haryana (167 kg), Punjab (184 kg), Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal (127 kg), Andhra Pradesh (138 kg) and Tamil Nadu (112 kg). In the remaining states, the consumption per hectare is lower than the all-India average.

According to a labour ministry notification, an unskilled agriculture laborer would be entitled to get a minimum wage of Rs. 300 per day. There are many landless farm labourers who are paid less than the minimum wages in Palampur. The Government declared wage for a farm labourer is Rs. 300 per day but the competition for work among the farm labourers is very high, which is why people agree to work for lower wages

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 forcultivation. The rate of interest on such loans is very high. They are put to great distress to repay the loan.

Labour being the most abundant factor of production, it would be ideal if new ways of farming used much more labour. Unfortunately, such a thing has not happened. The use of labour on farms is limited. The labour, looking for opportunities is thus migrating to neighbouring villages, towns and cities. Some labour has entered the non-farm sector in the village. Out of every 100 workers in the rural areas in India, only 24 are engaged in non-farm activities.

Less than 50 people are engaged in manufacturing in Palampur. Manufacturing in Palampur involves very simple production methods and is done on small scale. Manufacturing activities are carried out mostly at home or in the fields with the help of family labour. Rarely are labourers hired.

Statement 1 is correct. Most dalit families in Palampur, around 150, have no land for cultivation. The total number of families in Palampur is 450. So, statement 2 is not correct.
There are only 60 families of medium and large farmers who cultivate more than 2 hectares of land. So, statement 3 is not correct. Medium and large farmers hire farm labourers to work on their fields. So, statement 4 is not correct as none of the dalits have migrated or started doing non-farm work.

This is the correct answer as all these services are provided by the non-farm sector in Palampur. People have kept buffaloes and sell milk, manufacture jaggery etc, have small shops of eatables and daily necessities, and the transport services are provided by the rickshawallahs, tongawallahs, jeep, tractor, truck drivers and people driving the traditional bullock cart and bogey.