Question 1.
Where does the story of a shirt begin and where does it end?
Answer:
- The story of the shirt begins with the production of cotton.
- It ends with the sale of a shirt.
Question 2.
How does the chain of markets play an important role in the story of the shirt?
Answer:
- A chain of markets links the producer of cotton to the buyer of the shirt in the supermarket.
- Buying and selling takes place at every step in the chain.
- Everyone in the chain does not benefit equally from this.
- The retailer benefits the most from this chain.
A Cotton Farmer in Kurnool
Question 1.
Briefly write about Swapna as a farmer in Kurnool?
Answer:
Swapna is a small farmer in Kumool. She grows cotton on a small piece of land.
- Once cotton bolls ripen she picks them
- It takes several days as cotton bolls burst open at different times
- She takes her harvest to local trader and not to Kurnool market.
- She had taken Rs 2,500 loan at high interest rate from that trader to grow cotton.
- She had made a promise to sell her produce to him
Question 2.
Why do farmers borrow money from moneylenders?
Answer:
- Cultivation of cotton requires higher level of inputs like fertilizers and pesticides.
- Farmers have to incur heavy expenses on account of these inputs.
- Most often, the farmers need to borrow money to meet these expenses.
Question 3.
Does she get the right price from the trader?
Answer:
No, she does not get the right price.
- Her cotton is weighed and she is paid Rs. 1500/ quintal.
- She gets Rs. 6000/. Out of this Rs. 3000/ were deducted as loan and interest.
- She is told that cotton is selling cheap as there is lot of cotton in the market
- Her efforts of four months and clean and fine cotton also did not change the mind of trader,
- She does not argue. Though her earning is just a little more than a wage labourer.
Question 4.
Why does Swapna not argue with the trader further?
Answer:
- Swapna knows that cotton will sell for at least ₹ 1800 per quintal.
- But she doesn’t argue further with the trader as he is a powerful man in the village.
- The farmers have to depend on him for loans not only for cultivation, but also to meet other exigencies (urgent work) like illness, children’s school fees.
- During no work period of the year, the farmers have to borrow money for their survival.
The Cloth Market of Erode
Question 1.
Give an account of the cloth market of Erode.
Answer:
The Cloth Market of Erode
- Erode has a bi-weekly cloth market.
- This market 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 nearby villages is also brought here for sale.
- Offices of cloth merchants who buy this cloth are around the market.
- Other traders from many south Indian towns also come and purchase cloth here.
- On market days weavers bring cloth that has been made on order from the merchant.
- These merchants supply cloth on order to garment manufacturers and exporters around the country.
- They purchase the yam and give instructions to the weavers about the kind of cloth to be made.
Putting-Out System – Weavers Producing Cloth At Home
Question 1.
What is putting out system?
Answer:
Putting out is a system in which the weavers weave clothes at home with the help of family members and charge wages from the merchant. The merchants in turn supply the raw material and pay the wages and take the finished product.
Question 2.
Write the advantages and disadvantages of the ‘putting out system’.
Answer:
For the weaver it has two advantages:
- They do not have to spend money for purchasing yam and know what and how much cloth they have to make
- They do not face the problem of selling the finished cloth.
Disadvantages for the weaver
- They are dependent on the merchant for raw material as well as market
- They get low wages. They do not know from whom they are making the cloth
- They do not the market price of the cloth.
Question 3.
How is the merchant benefited in this system?
Answer:
The merchant gives the orders and raw material. They get the cloth at low price and sell to garment factories at high price.
Question 4.
Describe the earning of the weavers in a month.
Answer:
- Weavers invest all their savings or borrow money at a high interest rate to buy looms.
- Each loom costs ₹ 20,000.
- Hence, a small weaver with two looms has to invest ₹ 40,000.
- The work on these looms cannot be done by one weaver.
- The weaver and another adult member of his family work up to 12 hours a day to produce cloth.
- For all this work, the weaver’s family earns about ₹ 3500 per month.
Question 5.
What is Weavers cooperative? How does it work?
Answer:
Weavers are paid very little under the ‘putting-out system. Weaver’s cooperative is a way of reducing their dependence.
- In a cooperative people with common interests come together and work for mutual benefit.
- They take activities collectively like procuring yam, distribution among weavers.
- They do the marketing also.
- The role of merchant is reduced and weavers earn higher income.
- Government also helps the cooperative by buying cloth from them at reasonable rates
- Tamil Nadu government runs a Free School Uniform programme in the state. The cloth is procured from power loom weavers cooperatives.’
- Government buys cloth from handloom weaver’s cooperatives and sell it through ‘Co-optex stores
The Garment Exporting Factory Near Delhi
Question 1.
What happens with the cloth sold at Erode?
Answer:
The Erode merchant supplies the cotton cloth to the garment exporting factory near Delhi.
- The cloth is used to make shirts by the garment exporting factories.
- The shirts are exported to foreign buyers like businesspersons from US and Europe who own chain of stores
- These stores do business on their terms. They demand the lowest price. They set high standards for quality of production and timely delivery
- They deal strictly with any defects or delays in delivery.
Question 2.
How does the exporter meet pressures from foreign buyers?
Answer:
Exporters tries their best to meet the conditions set by the buyers.
- They try to cut costs
- Get maximum work out of the workers at lowest possible wages.
- Thus maximise their profits and sell to foreign buyers at cheap price.
Question 3.
Give an account of the Impex garment factory.
Answer:
- The Impex garment factory has 70 workers.
- Most of them are women and are employed on a temporary basis.
- This means that whenever the employer feels that a worker is not needed, the worker is asked to leave.
- Workers’ wages are fixed according to their skills.
- The highest paid among the workers are the tailors who get about ₹ 3,000 per month.
- Women are employed as helpers for thread cutting, buttoning, ironing and packaging.
- These jobs have the lowest wages, as mentioned below:
Payment to workers (per month) –
Tailoring – ₹ 3,000
Ironing – ₹ 1.50
Checking – ₹ 2,000
Thread Cutting and buttoning – ₹1,500
The shirt in the united states
Question 1.
Who earns maximum profit in the sale of shirts?
Answer:
A shirt in US is sold at 426 or around Rs.1200/.
- A businessperson purchase shirts from an exporter for Rs. 200/. He spends Rs 300/ on advertising and another Rs. 100/ for storage.
- Thus the shirt cost him Rs 600/. He sells it for Rs.1200 with a profit of Rs 600
- On the other hand garment exporter paid Rs. 15 to the worker per shirt. The cloth and other raw material cost him Rs.70/ cost of running office is Rs. 15. The shirt cost him Rs 100 which he sells at Rs.200/
- Both of them earn 100% profit. The worker gets the minimum wage.
Who are the Gainers in the Market?
Question 1.
Who are the gainers in the market?
Answer:
- A chain of markets links the producer of cotton to the buyer at the supermarket.
- Buying and selling takes place at every step in the chain.
- There are people who make profits in the market and there are some who do not gain as much from this buying and selling.
- Despite their having toiled very hard workers earn little.
Question 2.
Who are involved in the process of buying and selling?
Answer:
- Factories wholesalers, brokers, retailers and consumers are involved in this process of buying and selling.
- They all gain from the business.
Market and Equality
Question 1.
Establish relationship between market and equality.
Answer:
Market and Equality
- The foreign businessperson made huge profits in the market.
- The garment exporter made only moderate profits.
- On the other hand, the workers at the garment export factory earn barely enough to cover their day-to-day needs.
- In the same way, we saw the small cotton farmer and the weaver at Erode put in long hours of hard work. But they did not get a fair price in the market for their produce.
- The merchants or traders are somewhere in between.
- In comparison to the weavers they have earned more but it is still much less than the exporters.
- 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 then they can’t live with dignity.
- They cannot think of themselves as equal to others.
Question 2.
What are the problems of the farmers and other producers? How can these be overcome?
Answer:
- On one hand, the market offers people opportunities for work qnd for sale of their products.
- On the other hand, the rich and the powerful get the maximum earnings from the market.
- These are the people who have money and own the factories, the large shops, large land holdings, etc.
- The poor have to depend on the rich and the powerful for various things.
- They have to depend for loans, raw materials and marketing of their goods and most often for employment.
- Because of this dependence, the poor are exploited in the market.
- There are ways to overcome these problems.
- They include forming cooperatives of producers and ensuring that laws are followed strictly.
Multiple Choice Questions
Prelude
Question 0.1.
The story of shirt does begins with:
(a) Spinning
(b) Production of Cotton
(c) Weaving
(d) Selling
Answer:
Production of Cotton
A Cotton Farmer in Kurnool
Question 1.
How much amount did Swapna borrow to buy seeds, fertilizers, pesticides etc.?
(a) ₹ 1500
(6) ₹ 2000
(c) ₹ 2500
(d) ₹ 3000
Answer:
₹ 2500
Question 2.
What promise did Swapna make to the traders?
(a) Not to give interest to him
(b) To give heavy amount of interest
(c) To sell her all cotton to him
(d) None of these
Answer:
To sell her all cotton to him
Question 3.
Where is cotton sold in Andhra Pradesh?
(a) Kurnool
(b) Hyderabad
(c) Vijayawada
(d) None of these
Answer:
Kurnool
Question 4.
Which is a factory where seeds are removed from cotton bolls and then spun into thread?
(a) Ginning mill
(b) Cloth mill
(c) Handloom factory
(d) Powerloom factory
Answer:
Ginning mill
The Cloth Market of Erode
Question 1.
Which is the largest cloth market in the world?
(a) Tamil Nadu
(b) Delhi
(c) Ahmedabad
(d) Agra
Answer:
Tamil Nadu
Question 2.
The cloth merchants sell their clothes from Erode cloth market to
(a) cloth trader
(b) garment manufacturers
(c) traders of Delhi
(d) farmers of cotton
Answer:
garment manufacturers
Putting-Out System – Weavers Producing Cloth At Home
Question 1.
Who from the following is part of ‘putting out system’?
(a) Farmers
(b) Weavers
(c) Consumers
(d) Foreign buyers
Answer:
Weavers
The Garment Exporting Factory Near Delhi
Question 1.
Who sells his goods abroad?
(a) Importer
(b) Exporter
(e) Manufacturers
(d) Merchant
Answer:
Exporter
The Shirt in the United States
Question 1.
Who does not earn any profit when a shirt is sold to a consumer?
(a) Businessperson
(b) Merchant
(c) Worker
(d) Exporter
Answer:
Worker
Who are the Gainers in the Market?
Question 1.
What links Producer to a consumer?
(a) Chain of markets
(b) buying
(c) Selling
(d ) All of these
Answer:
Chain of markets
Market and Equality
Question 1.
The amount that is left or gained from earnings after deduction of all the costs is called
(a) losses
(b) profits
(c) investment
(d) all of these
Answer:
profits
Objective Type Question
Question 1.
Fill in the blanks with appropriate words.
1. Chain of markets link the producer to the ………….. .
2. The arrangement between a merchant and weavers is an example of ……………… system.
3. Women are employed in garment factories as helpers on ………………. wages.
4. Cultivation of cotton requires high level of inputs such as …………………… and …………….. .
Answer:
1. consumer
2. putting out
3. low
4. fertilizers, pesticides.
Question 2.
State whether the given statements are true or false.
1. Markets offer equal opportunities to all.
2. The weavers depend on the farmers for raw material.
3. Buying and selling takes place at every step in the chain of markets.
4. The foreign business persons do not make profit in the Indian market.
Answer:
1. False
2. False
3. True
4. False.
Question 3.
Match the contents of Column A with that of Column B.
Answer:
1. (c)
2. (d)
3. (a)
4. (b).
