NCERT Book Class 7 Civics A Shirt in the Market

Chapter 9

A Shirt in

the Market

This chapter tells us the story of a shirt ! It begins with the production of cotton and ends with the sale of the shirt. We shall see that 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. Does everyone benefit equally from this? Or do some people benefit more than others? We shall find out 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.

Once the cotton is collected, instead of selling it at Kurnool cotton market, Swapna and her husband take the harvest to the local trader. At the beginning of the cropping season, Swapna had borrowed Rs 2,500 from the trader at a very high interest rate to buy seeds, fertilisers, pesticides for cultivation. At that time, the local trader made Swapna agree to another condition. He made her promise to sell all her cotton to him.

Cultivation of cotton requires high levels of inputs such as fertilisers and pesticides and the farmers have to incur heavy expenses on account of these. Most often, the small farmers need to borrow money to meet these expenses.

At the trader’s yard, two of his men weigh the bags of cotton. At a price of Rs 1,500 per quintal, the cotton fetches Rs 6,000. The trader deducts Rs 3,000 for repayment of loan and interest and pays Swapna Rs 3,000.

Swapna: Rs 3,000 only!

Trader: Cotton is selling cheap. There is a lot of cotton in the market.

Swapna: I have toiled so hard for four months to grow this cotton. You can see how fine and clean the cotton is this time. I had hoped to get a much better price.

Trader: Amma, I am giving you a good price. Other traders are not even paying this much. You can check at the Kurnool market, if you do not believe me.

Swapna: Don’t be angry. How can I doubt you? I had only hoped that we would earn enough from the cotton crop to last us a few months.

Though Swapna knows that cotton will sell for at least Rs 1,800 per quintal, she doesn’t argue further. The trader is a powerful man in the village and the farmers have to depend on him for loans not only for cultivation, but also to meet other exigencies such as illnesses, children’s school fees. Also, there are times in the year when there is no work and no income for the farmers, so borrowing money is the only means of survival. Swapna’s earning from cotton cultivation is barely more than what she might have earned as a wage labourer.

EXERCISES

1. What made Swapna sell the cotton to the trader instead of selling at the Kurnool cotton market?

2. Describe the conditions of employment as well as the wages of workers in the garment exporting factory. Do you think the workers get a fair deal?

3. Think of something common that we use. It could be sugar, tea, milk, pen, paper, pencil, etc. Discuss through what chain of markets this reaches you. Can you think of the people that help in the production or trade?

4. Arrange the statements given alongside in the correct order and then fill in the numbers in the cotton bolls accordingly. The first two have already been done for you.

Please refer to attached file for NCERT Class 7 Civics A Shirt in the Market