NCERT Solutions Class – 7th Social Science (Civics) Chapter – 8 A Shirt in the Market
Chapter – 8
A Shirt in the Market
Notes
A cotton farmer in Kurnool – Swapna, a small farmer in Kurnool (Andhra Pradesh) grows cotton on her small piece of land. The bolls of the cotton plant are ripe and some have already burst, so Swapna is busy picking cotton. The bolls, which carry the cotton in them, do not burst open all at once so it takes several days to harvest the cotton.
The cloth market of Erode – Erode’s bi-weekly cloth market in Tamil Nadu is one of the largest cloth markets in the world. A large variety of cloth is sold in this market. Cloth that is made by weavers in the villages around is also brought here for sale. Around the market are offices of cloth merchants who buy this cloth. Other traders from many south Indian towns also come and purchase cloth in this market
Market and equality – Thus, not everyone gains equally in the market. Democracy is also about getting a fair wage in the market. Whether it is Kanta or Swapna, if families don’t earn enough how would they think of themselves as equal to others?
Putting-out system– weavers producing cloth at home – The arrangement between the merchant and the weavers is an example of putting-out system, whereby the merchant supplies the raw material and receives the finished product. It is prevalent in the weaving industry in most regions of India
Cultivation of cotton is a very complicated and difficult task. It is very expensive too because it requires high levels of inputs such as fertilisers and pesticides. Farmers, therefore, have to incur heavy expenses for which they need to borrow money from the local traders.
Who are the gainers in the market? – Did they all gain as much? There were people who made profits in the market and there were some who did not gain as much from this buying and selling. Despite their having toiled very hard, they earned little. Can you place them in the table shown here?
The local traders are very clever people. They give loan to such farmers and in turn, make them promise to sell all their cotton to them. Thus, they take advantage of the poor financial condition of the farmers. Here, we can give an example of Swapna, who is also a cotton farmer and takes a loan from a local trader to meet all the expenses on cotton cultivation. As a result, she has to sell all her cotton to that local trader a low price. Thus, farmers, in spite of their hard labour, never get a fair price.
Ginning Mill – It is a factory where seeds are removed from cotton bolls. The cotton is pressed into bales which are sent for spinning into thread.
Putting-Out system – In this system, the cloth merchant supplies the raw material to the weavers and receives the finished product.
Exporter – One who sells goods in foreign countries.
Profit – The amount that is left or gained from earnings after deducting all the costs.
Glossary Ginning mill – A factory where seeds are removed from cotton bolls. The cotton is pressed into bales to be sent for spinning into thread.
Exporter – A person who sells goods abroad.
Profit – The amount that is left or gained from earnings after deducting all the costs. If the costs are more than the earnings, it would lead to a loss.
NCERT Solution Class 7th Civics All Chapters Notes
