Rural Livelihoods S P L LEARNING OBJECTIVES CHAPTER 30

Transcription

1 CHAPTER 30 S P L Rural Livelihoods LEARNING OBJECTIVES Students will be able to Knowledge domain understand that the return from farming depends on the size, modernization, and total investment in agricultural activity. recognize that small farmers cannot afford to modernize their farms and hence continue to farm in outdated methods at low return. Process domain learn that big farmers can afford to hire the services of experts, whereas the small farmers cultivate the land themselves. farming is a seasonal activity and hence most farmer families are expert craftsmen. the rural population also follows other occupations. Application domain understand how large farms got fragmented into small but economically unviable propositions. realize that farming being a seasonal activity does not provide opportunities for regular work and hence many landless labourers either look for alternative work or migrate to urban areas. Attitude domain realize that major changes are required to change the life of the landless labourers from the exploitation of rich farmers and moneylenders. understand that efficient administration and planning are required to provide suitable opportunities at rural level as migration is creating many attitudinal, social, and behavioural problems. Creativity domain visit a village, learn about the farming activity, and understand the hard work and long hours the farmers put in so that the food can reach your plate in the city.

2 2 FACTS AND CONCEPTS 1. Rural Livelihoods (a) Farming (i) Large farmers (ii) Farmers with small landholdings (iii) Landless peasants (b) The Village fair 2. Village Handicraft Sharing information and discussing and proposing solutions will develop understanding of the basic needs of the farmers, craftsmen, and people doing other occupations. PREREQUISITE 1. Students know that agriculture is the mainstay of Indian economy involving more than half the population directly or indirectly. 2. Farming is not able to provide occupation to the increasing population, and it has resulted in pressure on land. 3. Alternative occupational opportunities are necessary to check ever-increasing migration to urban areas. LEARNING MATERIALS Textbook, Internet, news reports, visit to a village and talking to a farmer, potter, blacksmith, etc. ACTIVITIES Pre-Learning 1. Ask: (a) Why agriculture is called the mainstay of Indian economy? (b) Why is it important to modernize agriculture? (c) List the occupations that provide seasonal/full-time employment in rural areas. (d) What are the main attractions at a fair? (e) Mention handicrafts of a region that you particularly like. 2. Arrange panel discussion and give the following topics. Divide the class into four groups. Each group will select a representative. The four students will form the panel that would face questions, clarifications, and suggestions based on the chapter example. (a) Why are larger farms economically more viable compared to smaller ones? (b) What steps can take by the private sector to generate employment opportunities for the rural working population? While Learning 1. Introduce the chapter by correlating it to the answers given by the students. 2. Students are able to understand about how the modern techniques of farming adopted in advanced countries have helped in reducing the burden on manpower and increased the production manifolds by seeing the power point presentation. 3. Show students pictures of harvesting done by machines and women working at a farm. Give them the following captions respectively: Modern farms and Equality of Work but No Equality of Wages. Ask the students to read the description given below to answer the questions. Large farmers do not work on the land. They hire labour of landless farmers to do the hard work in return of very low wages. The big farms grow food crops and cash crops. They use machines, good quality seeds, irrigation, insecticides, and pesticides for high production. Many farms have become fragmented because of division of land into many family members. Earlier the whole family worked together on same land but most farms have got divided under many owners. Hence, it is economically not viable to modernize as farms because of lack of investment opportunities. 4. Students are asked to observe the following graphic organizer of a comparison of present farming scenario. Ask them to discuss in groups to answer the questions that follow.

3 Questions (a) What advantages do the big farmers have? (b) List the disadvantages faced by smaller farmers. (c) Name some farm machines that are quite common on farms. Consolidation (a) The advantages are use of modern machines, irrigational facilities, high yield variety seeds, use of insecticides and pesticides, etc. (b) The small farms only enable subsistence agriculture, use of machines like tractor or harvesters is economically impossible. (c) Tractors, harvesters, water sprinklers, tube wells, etc. 5. Divide the class into four groups. Each group must put up one contestant for and one against the motion. (a) Fragmentation of land is the main cause for rural poverty. (b) Modernization of agriculture is a must for selfsufficiency in food and raw material. 6. Students are able to understand that agriculture alone cannot provide livelihood to the rapidly increasing population. (a) Industries based on agricultural raw material must be located in rural areas. (b) Employment opportunities based on traditional crafts must be generated in rural areas. 7. Students are requested to make a wall magazine with brief write about (a) The advantages and disadvantages of traditional methods of agriculture in India. (b) Traditional methods were environmental friendly. Post-Learning 1. Students are requested to prepare a questionnaire on different occupations in villages by giving material used, art required, and the number of people required, use of the product, value or demand of the product. (a) There are different ways in which people earn their living in the villages. (b) Small group of rich farmers own a large proportion of cultivable land. (c) Landless peasants work on land that does not belong to them. (d) People are also engaged in many other occupations besides farming. 2. Distribute the worksheet. 3 WORKSHEET ANSWERS 1. (a) Agriculture (b) Rich (c) Sugar cane (d) indebted (e) Monsoon 2. (a) Landless labourers (b) Bigha (c) Nylon (d) Driving (e) Irrigation 3. (a) False (b) True (c) False (d) True (e) False 4. (a) Huge returns, face many problems like work on land owned by others, seasonal earning, poverty, work wherever there is opportunity, miserable living condition, etc. (b) No regular employment, dependence on agricultural season, switching from farming activities to different occupations like mining, forestry, etc. (c) Low production, low return, only subsistence agriculture is possible, dependence on monsoon, and indebtedness. (d) Cottage industries are run in the household or in a small shed and family members work. The popular products of cottage industries are cane chairs, sarees, quilts, wooden toys, etc. (e) Seasonal employment means getting work for wages only during agricultural season and no regular work. Two problems poverty, hunger, and unemployment (at least two).

4 4 KEY TO THE TEXTBOOK EXERCISES 1. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate word. (a) agriculture (b) daily wages (c) landless peasant (d) Land Gift Movement (e) heritage 2. Choose the correct answer. (a) he owns his own fields and enjoys an independent income (b) they have a small plot of land and their agricultural produce depends on the monsoon (c) moneylender (d) Bhoodan Movement (e) all of the above 3. Match the columns. (a) Prosperous farmer (b) Consume what they produce (c) Have no land of their own (d) Artwork (e) Gift of Land 4. Write true or false. (a) False (b) True (c) True (d) False (e) True 5. Answer the following questions in one or two sentences. (a) Large farmers are rich farmers who own large areas of land and employ landless peasants to work on their lands. (b) These farmers take loans from moneylenders in the village because they do not have enough money to buy seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides. They also borrow when their crops fail because of scanty rainfall. (c) A person who works on the land that belongs to other people is a landless peasant. Mahi is a landless peasant. (d) A cottage industry is usually a small-scale industry carried on at home by family members. 6. Answer the following questions in four or five sentences. (a) On their journey, the children encountered different types of farmers. They met Babulal, a prosperous farmer who had a large piece of land and used tractors and hired labourers to till it. They met Pallo and Suraj who owned a small plot of land and consumed what they produced. They also met Mahi, a landless peasant, who worked on the land of others. (b) They cultivate the land themselves. They grow only a few crops on their land and are able to produce very little on their land. As the work on the land is seasonal, these farmers go to the cities to sell vegetables till the crops on their lands are ready. These farmers are always indebted to the moneylenders in the village because they borrow money from them for seeds, fertilizers, etc. (c) Mahi s situation was pitiable because he was exploited by the moneylender. He depended for his income on others as he owned no land of his own. In addition to tilling the land of others, he also had to do other odd jobs to survive. He was still paying the loan his father had taken from the moneylender. (d) The Bhoodan Movement was significant because it encouraged the rich landed people to give up a part of their land to the poor peasantry. This helped many people who were engaged in agriculture to own land. It improved their living conditions. (e) Local crafts are important because they help to preserve age-old art forms. They provide a source of income to artisans. They help to preserve our heritage. Local resources are wellutilized, if an area has a thriving cottage industry. HINTS FOR FUN WITH SPL SECTION A. Be artistic: Technique: Drawing Tool for assessment: Checklist/portfolio Key skills: Creative thinking

5 Let the students colour the picture in any way that they choose. Hints about typical colours can be provided green, black, red, yellow, blue, and red. B. Make a report: Technique: Multimedia Tool for assessment: Checklist/portfolio Key skills: Creative thinking, critical thinking, self-awareness, communication, interpersonal relations Divide the students into pairs. Let them visit the website and present the report together. What did they learn about the cooperative system? Why was Amul a success? How has it improved the life of people? C. Debate: Technique: Debate Tool for assessment: Checklist Key skills: Creative thinking, critical thinking, self-awareness, empathy, communication, interpersonal relations It is better to live in the city than in the village Yes, because Life in the city is more fun. The city gives better jobs and income than a village. There are better education and medical facilities in the city. D. Diary entry: No, because The city is overpopulated and crowded. There is too much pollution in the city. People in the village are safer than in the city. Technique: Diary entry Tool for assessment: Checklist/portfolio Key skills: Creative thinking, critical thinking, self-awareness, empathy, communication Hints Today I had to work again on Babulal s farm. I get paid a small wage for my hard work in the sun. I toil hard to till the fields and harvest the crops. I have no option because I have no land. There are many landless labourers like me. I hope I can save some money and buy a small piece of land. E. Find out: Technique: Research Tool for assessment: Checklist/portfolio Key skills: Self-awareness, communication Children can be asked to locate articles in newspapers and magazines in the library that contain information on these banks and read up these articles to find out the work they do. F. Website: The teacher can use the website to source additional information while teaching the relevant section in class. ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Summative assessment Technique: Questions and answers Tools for assessment: Questions Key skills: Self-awareness, critical thinking, communication A. Answer the following questions in one or two sentences. 1. Who started the Bhoodan Movement? Ans. The Bhoodan Movement was started by Acharya Vinoba Bhave. 2. List some of the local handicrafts of India. Ans. Some of the local handicrafts of India are madhubani, ikkat, bandhini, kantha work, glasswork, etc. B. Answer the following questions in four or five sentences. 1. Why are rich farmers able to use tractors? Ans. Rich farmers own large plots of land. They largely grow cash crops. They have lots of money. They use their money to buy tractors, fertilizers, and agricultural tools to increase agricultural production. 5

6 6 2. What are some of the features of landholdings which are small? Ans. In small landholdings, farmers cultivate the land themselves. They usually consume what they produce. They produce a variety of food crops. They generally do not use modern methods of agriculture. Their work on the land is seasonal.

7 Rural Livelihoods Name:... Class:... Date:... Teacher s signature: Fill in the blanks: (a) is the main occupation of people in villages. (b) farmers own a large portion of land. (c) is a cash crop. (d) Small farmers are always to moneylenders. (e) is the main source of water for small farmers. 2. Choose the correct answer: (a) get work only during the sowing and harvesting season. (i) Students (ii) Landless labourers (iii) Doctor (iv) Teachers (b) Which one of the following is a unit of land? (i) Road (ii) Stadium (iii) Bigha (iv) Furlong (c) Which one of the following is not a handicraft? (i) Kantha work (ii) Madhubani (iii) Ikkat (iv) Nylon (d) Which one of the following is not a rural occupation? (i) Pottery (ii) Carpentry (iii) Driving (iv) Weaving (e) Which one of the following farming practice is not adopted by small farmers? (i) Ploughing (ii) Irrigation (iii) Harvesting (iv) Sowing 3. State whether true or false: (a) Opportunities to get work in a village are many. (b) Some villagers are engaged in fishing. WORKSHEET Oxford University Press Landmark

8 (c) Artistic traditions help people to find jobs. (d) Buttermilk is the favourite drink of villagers. (e) Plough is made of steel. 4. Answer the following: (a) What are the advantages of farming large landholdings? (b) Describe the difficulties faced by landless farmers? (c) Mention five limitations that the small farmers suffer from. (d) What are cottage industries? List the popular products that are in great demand. (e) What does seasonal employment mean? Name two problems faced by labourers who do not get regular employment. Oxford University Press Landmark