Chapter 1

• Palampur

  • Farming is the main activity
  • Several other activities such as small scale manufacturing, dairy, transport, etc. are carried out on a limited scale
• Production activities

  Need various types of resources - natural resources, man-made items, human effort, money, etc.
• Palampur is well-connected with neighbouring villages and towns. Raiganj a big village 3km from Palamput. All weather road connects village to raiganj and small town of Shahpur.
• Transport visible on the road in Palampur


  • Bullock carts
  • Tongas
  • Bogeys (wooden cart drawn by buffalos) loaded with jaggery and other commodities
  • Motorcycles
  • Jeeps
  • Tractors
  • Trucks
• Palampur

  • Has about 450 families belonging to several different castes
  • 80 upper caste families own the majority of land
  • Houses of upper caste families are made of brick with cement plastering
  • SCs (dalits) comprise one third of the population and live in smaller mud and straw houses
  • Most houses have electric connections
  • Electricity powers all the tubewells in the fields and is used in various types of small business
  • Has two primary schools and one high school
  • Has a primary health centre run by the government and one private dispensary where sick are treated.
• Palampur has a fairly well-developed system of roads, transport, electricity, irrigation, schools and health centre
• Aim Of Production- Produce goods and services we want.

  Four requirements: Factors of production 1. Land and natural resources: water, forests, minerals.

  2. Labour: Some activities- highly educated workers, others- workers who do manual work.
• 3) Physical capital: Variety of inputs required.

  A)Tools, Machines, and Buildings (Fixed Capital): Simple tools (plough), sophisticated machines (generators, turbines, computers). Can be used for many years.

  B)Raw Materials and Money (Working Capital): raw materials (yarn, clay). Money for payment items. Used in production.

  4) Human capital: Knowledge and enterprise to produce output for yourself or to sell.
• 1. Land is Fixed: Farming is main production activity in Palampur. 75% people are dependent on farming for livelihood as farmers or farm laborers. Land area under cultivation fixed since 1960 no expansion in land area under cultivation. Wastelands converted cultivable land.
• 2. Way to grow more from same land.

  Palampur resembles western Uttar Pradesh. All land cultivated. Rainy season(Kharif)- Jowar, Bajra- cattle feed. Oct to Dec- Potato. Winter season (Rabi)- wheat for family, sell surplus wheat market Raiganj. Part of land- Sugarcane harvested once every year- sold raw or as jaggery traders Shapur.
• Main reason farmers grow three crops- well developed system of irrigation- Electric run tube wells, first installed by gov, later private tube well by farmers. Mid 1970 entire 200 hectares cultivated area irrigated. Before electricity Persian wheel used. Grow more than one crop on piece of land during the year- multiple cropping- common way increase production. All farmers in Palamput prow at least two crops and potato as third 15 to 20 years.
• Yield is measured as crop produced on given piece of land during single season. Till mid 1960 traditional seeds low yield, less irrigation- farmers used cow dung, natural manure as fertilize- readily available.
• Green Revolution(late 1960)

  • Introduced high yielding variety (HYV) seeds for wheat and rice cultivation- greater amounts of grain on single plant- larger quantities of food grain.
  • HYV seeds needed plenty of water, chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Hence higher yields possible from combination of HYV seeds, irrigation, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, etc.
• Farmers- Punjab, Haryana, West Uttar Pradesh first try out modern farming methods- Set up tube wells, used HYV seeds, Chemical fertilizer and pesticides, bought tractors and threshers(ploughing harvesting faster)- high yield of wheat. Palamput- wheat grown traditional varieties 1300 kg per hectare. HYV seed yield 3200 kg per hectare.
• 3. Will the land sustain?

  Scientific reports- modern farming methods overused natural resource base. Green revolution- loss soil fertility- increased use chemical fertilizers. Continuous use groundwater for tube well reduced water table below ground.
• Environmental resources like soil fertility and groundwater are built up over many years and are difficult to restore once destroyed
• Chemical fertilizers provide minerals which dissolve in water and are immediately available to plants, but may escape from soil and pollute groundwater, river and lakes, also kill bacteria or microorga in soil. Some time after use soil will be led fertile than before. Punjab has highest consumption of fertilizer- degradation of soil health.
• Land distributed between farmers of Palampur?

  Not all people in agriculture have sufficient land. 150 families have no land for cultivation, 240 families cultivate small plots of land less 2hectares in size- not adequate income. 60 families of medium and large farmers cultivate more 2 hectares, few more than 10 Or more.
• 5. Who will provide the Labour?

  Small farmer with families cultivate own land- provide labour themselves. Medium and large farmers hire laborers from landless families or families small plot of land and they don’t have right over crops instead paid wages(cash, crop, meals) by farmer. Wages vary from crop, farm activity, region, duration of employment(daily basis or one particular activity)
• Dala- landless laborer on daily wages, regularly look for work. Minimum wage set by gov for laborer- 115 Rs. Dala gets only Rs80 as there is heavy competition among laborers so people agree work lower wages.
• 6. The Capital needed in farming?

  Modern farming methods require lot of capital.
• 1. Most small farmers have to borrow money to arrange for the capital from large farmers or village moneylenders or traders supply inputs for cultivation. Rate of interest very high - distress to repay loan.
  2. Medium and large farmers have savings from farming and use it for capital.
• 7. Sale of Surplus Farm Products

  Farmers retain a part of wheat for family and sell surplus wheat. Small farmers have little surplus wheat as production is small and a share is needed for family. Medium and large farmers supply wheat to market. Traders at market buy wheat and sell it shopkeepers in towns and cities.
• Tejpal Singh


  A farmer who put most of his money in the bank and later used the savings to lend to other farmers and arrange for working capital for farming
• Large and medium farmers sell surplus farm products, save a part of the earnings, and use it to buy capital for the next season. Some farmers might use savings to buy cattle, trucks, tractor, set up shops.
• Non- Farm Activites

  25% people working in Palamput engaged in other activitie than agriculture.
• 1. Dairy

  • A common non-farm activity in Palampur
  • People feed their buffalos on grass and jowar/bajra
  • Milk is sold in Raiganj
  • Two traders from Shahpur town have set up collection cum and chilling centres at Raiganj from where milk transported other far towns and cities.
• 2. Small-scale manufacturing in Palampur

  • Involves simple production methods
  • Done on a small scale
  • Carried out mostly at home or in the fields with family labour
  • Rarely are labourers hired
• 3. Shopkeeping

  • Traders Of Palamput are shopkeepers buy various goods from wholesale markets in cities and sell in village.
  • Small General stores sell grocery items for daily use. Families house close to bus stand used part of space to open small shops for eatables..
• 4. Transport

  • Variety of vehicles on road connecting to Palampur to raiganj. Traditional bullock cart and bogey are people in transport services. They ferry people and goods one place to other and get paid for it.
  • No. Of people involved in transport grown over last several years.
• Summary

  Farming is the main production activity in Palampur.
• New farming methods have increased production but put pressure on land and other natural resources. But needs large number of Capital.
• Medium and large farmers can use their own savings to arrange for capital, but small farmers find it difficult and have to borrow
• New methods does not use large number of labour. Labour is migrating from the village to neighbouring villages, towns and cities as the use of labour on farms is limited
• The non-farm sector in Palampur is not very large, with only 24 out of every 100 rural workers engaged in non-farm activities
• Expansion of non-farm activities requires access to low-interest loans and good markets to sell the goods and services produced
• What is the Aim of Production?

  Producing goods and services