CBSE Notes For Class 6 Civics Social Science Chapter 7 Rural Livelihoods
- The rural people earn their living in various ways. Some work on farms, while others earn their living on non-farm activities.
- The farm activities include preparing the land, sowing, weeding, and harvesting crops. They depend on nature for the growth of these crops. Thus, life revolves around certain seasons.
- Rural people in different regions of the country grow different crops. However, there are similarities in their life situations and the problems they face.
- Some families in rural areas have large acres of land, businesses, etc. But most of the small farmers are either agricultural labourers fishing families or crafts persons in the villages. They do not find enough work to keep them employed throughout the year
CBSE Notes For Class 6 Civics Chapter 7 Kalpattu Village
- Kalpattu village is located close to the sea coast in Tamil Nadu. In this village, people are engaged in many non-farm works such as making baskets, utensils, pots, bricks, bullock carts, etc.
- There are also people in the village who provide services like blacksmiths, nurses, teachers, washermen, weavers, barbers, cycle repair mechanics, etc.
- There are also some shopkeepers and traders. In the main street, which looks like a bazaar, there are small shops such as tea shops, grocery shops, barber shops, a cloth shop, a tailor shop, and two fertilizer and seed shops.
- There are some people who go to the nearby town to work as construction workers and lorry drivers.
- The Kalpattu village is surrounded by low hills. Most of the families are dependent on agriculture for their livelihoods.
- Paddy is the main crop that is grown on irrigated lands. Plants such as coconut groves, cotton, sugarcane, and plantain are also grown in the village, and there are also mango orchards.
Agriculture Labourer in Kalpattu Village: In Kalpattu village agricultural laborers like Thulasi worked in the fields of large farmers like Ramalingam.
- They have to work for eight hours in the fields. These people find work only for few times in a year for transplanting, weeding, and harvesting the crop.
- These people earn very small amounts of money. Apart from working in the fields, the women are also involved in other activities like cooking, cleaning, washing, collecting firewood, fetching water from borewells, etc.
- Thus, in rural areas, poor families spend most of their time in activities that do not earn them money like collecting firewood, getting water, etc but they have to do them for their household. They need to do these activities as they are not able to survive on the little money they earn.
Small Farmers in Kalpattu Village: Apart from big farmers, there are also small farmers in Kalpattu village like Sekar who own about 2 acres of land.
- They do all farm activities on their own. Sometimes, they take the help of other small farmers at the time of harvesting. They take seeds and fertilizers from the traders as a loans.
- They have to sell some of their produce to the trader at a lower price than the market, to repay this loan. Thus, small farmers in rural areas often borrow money from moneylenders to purchase seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides
- Sometimes, the crops of the farmers are destroyed if the monsoon does not bring enough rain. When this situation takes place, farmers sometimes are unable to pay back
- To survive their families, farmers may have to borrow more money and finally, the amount of loans becomes very large. During these times, when they are unable to repay the loan, they are caught in debt.
- In recent years, the debt has become a major cause of distress among farmers due to which in some areas, many farmers have committed suicide.
CBSE Notes For Class 6 Civics Chapter 7 Agricultural Labourers and Farmers in India
- In India, about two out of five rural families are agricultural laborer families. All of them depend on the work they do in other people’s fields to earn a living.
- A number of them are landless and others may have very small plots of land.
- In India, 80 percent of the farmers belong to the category of small farmers, who has land, which is barely enough to meet their needs.
- Only 20 percent of the farmers in India are large farmers. They own most of the land in the villages.
- A large part of their produce is sold in the market. Many of them have begun other businesses such as shops, moneylending, trading, small factories, etc.
- Apart from farming, many people are dependent upon collection from the forest, animal husbandry, dairy produce, fishing, etc.
- In some villages in Central India, both farming and collection from the forest, are important sources of livelihood. Collecting mahua, tendu leaves, and honey, for selling to the traders, is an important source of additional income.
- Similarly, selling milk to the village cooperative society or taking milk to the nearby town may be an important source of livelihood for some families
Terrace Farming in Nagaland: In Chizami village ofPhek district in Nagaland, people of the Chakhesang community do ‘terrace’ cultivation.
In this cultivation, the land on a hill slope is made into flat plots and carved out in steps. The sides of each plot are raised in order to retain water. This method is best for rice cultivation.