Rural Livelihoods - Revision Notes

CBSE Class 06 Social Science

Revision Notes
Chapter – 08 Political Science
Rural Livelihoods

There are several livelihoods in rural areas.

Kalpattu Village

(i) Kalpattu in Tamil Nadu is a village near to the sea coast.

(ii) Ploughing is not done here. People are busy in activities like making pots, utensils, weaving baskets and making bricks in kilns.

(iii) It has a number of shops, Tea shop,grocery shop, cloth shop, barber shop, tailor, two fertilizer and seed shop are some major shops are found here.

(iv)There are also shops selling tiffin items such as idli, dosa and upma in the morning and snacks like vadai,bonda and mysorepak in the evening.

(v) There is also a shop of cycle repairing and hiring.There are families that earn their living by washing clothes.There are some people who go to nearby town to work as construction workers and lorry drivers.

(vi) Paddy is the main crop that is grown in irrigated lands.Most of the families are dependent on agriculture for their livelihoods.

(vii) There are some plants ,which are grown in the village,such as coconut groves,cotton,sugarcane,plantain,mango orchards etc.

Life in Rural Areas:

(i) There is a lot of work in rural areas in the harvesting season.

(ii) About two-third of India’s farmers are landless labourers.

(iii) People work as daily labourers.

(iv) Women do their domestic duties and even work in fields.

(v) Since farmers do not have money they fall in a debt trap.They have to sell their produce to the trader from whom they loan seeds and fertilizers at a lower price than what they would get in the market.

(vi) Sometimes the farmers are unable to pay back their loans.This is when we can say they are caught in debt.In recent years,many farmers have commited suicide because of distress due to non-payment of loans among them.

Agricultural Labourers and Farmers in India:

The kinds of people who reside in villages include:

(a) Agricultural labourers

(b) Many small farmers

(i) In India, about two out of five rural families are agricultural labourer families. All of them depend on the work they do on other people's field to earn a living. A number of them are landless and others may have very small plots of land.

(ii) In India, 80 per cent of the farmers belong to the category of small farmers, who has land, which is barely enough to meet their needs.

(iii) Only 20 per cent of the farmers of India are large farmers who cultivate most of the land in the villages. A large part of their produce is sold in the market. Many of them have began other businesses such as shops, moneylending,trading,small factories,etc.

(iv) Apart from farming , many people are dependent upon collection from the forest, animal husbandry, dairy produce, fishing etc.

(v) In some villages in Central India, farming and collection from the forest, both are important source of additional income.

(vi) Likewise selling milk to the village cooperative society or taking milk to the nearby town may be an important source of livelihood for some families.

(vii) In the coastal areas of India, we see the fishing villages.

Coastal Areas:

(i) People in coastal areas live a difficult life.

(ii) Fishing is their main occupation. But when the fishermen are out, it is not known whether they will come back or not.

(iii) Fishermen are unsafe for four months during monsoon season. It is a lean period for the fishermen.

(iv) There is constant battle for survival among majority of people in rural areas.

Rural Livelihoods:

(i) The rural people earn their living in various ways. Some work on farms, while others earn their living on non- farm activities.

(ii) People are dependent upon the fields that they cultivate.Many depend on these fields for work as labourers.Most of the farmers grow crops both for their own requirements and also to sell in the market.

(iii) Some of the people have to sell the crops to the traders from whom they have borrowed money.For their survival,many families need to borrow money for their work and when no work is available.

(iv) Some families in rural areas have large acres of lands,business etc.But most of the small farmers are either agricultural labourers or fishing families or craft persons in the villages.They do not find enough work to keep them employed throughout the year.