CBSE Class 9th Economics Notes

Vidyakul CBSE Grade 9 Economics Notes make it possible for students to comprehend the environment around them. It equips people to identify businesses, markets, and governments, allowing them to respond more successfully to both opportunities and dangers that come about when things change. For 9th Grade students, Economics is a noteworthy topic that necessitates an appropriate grasp of the themes. When getting ready for their assessment, students can consult Vidyakul CBSE notes for Course 9 Economics composed by our subject matter experts. These notes are given in chapter-wise format so that students can completely comprehend the subject and recall the ideas without difficulty.

Vidyakul CBSE Course 9 Economics notes serve as an incredible reference point and will help students do quick revisions of all the chapters before assessments. These notes are designed in accordance with the NCERT syllabus of Course 9 Economics. With the help of these CBSE Notes, students can study intelligently and have a full revision of the chapters prior to the tests.

Benefits of Studying CBSE Class 9 Economics Notes

Chapter 1 - The Story of Village Palampur

The agricultural sector is the primary industry in India, accounting for 18% of the nation's total GDP and employing fifty percent of the population. India is the largest producer of rice, wheat, pulses, spices, and spice products in the world. Our Vidyakul CBSE Class 9 Economics notes on Chapter 1: The Story of Village Palampur discuss the organization of production, labor, capital, crop production, transportation, and more. Our subject experts have compiled Vidyakul CBSE Class 9 Social Science Notes to make learning Economics simple and effective. These notes for Vidyakul CBSE Class 9 Economics Chapter 1 contain all the essential concepts for mastering the chapter.

Overview

An introduction to some basic concepts related to production through a hypothetical village called Palampur where farming is the main activity. The village also has several other activities such as small-scale manufacturing, dairy, transport, etc, carried out on a limited scale.

Introduction

Palampur is fairly connected with a well-developed system of roads, transport, electricity, irrigation, schools, and health centers. The story of Palampur takes us through the different types of production activities in the village. In India, farming is the main production activity across villages.

Organisation of Production

The main aim of production is to produce goods and services, which require four essential components.

Land and other natural resources such as water, forests, and minerals

Labor

Physical Capital such as tools, machines, buildings, raw materials, and money

A variety of raw materials are required during the process of production, such as the yarn used by the weaver and clay used by the potter. Money is also essential during production and both of them in hand is called working capital. The fourth requirement is knowledge and enterprise to be able to put together land, labor, and physical capital and produce an output. The factors of production are combining land, labor, physical capital, and human capital.

Farming in Palampur

1. The land is fixed

For Palampur, village farming is their main production and the well-being of these people is related to production on the farms. But, there is a basic constraint in raising farm production. The land area under cultivation is practically fixed.

2. Is there a way one can grow more from the same land?

In the rainy season, Kharif farmers grow jowar and bajra followed by the cultivation of potatoes between October and December. In winter, farmers grow wheat and a part of the land is devoted to sugarcane harvested once every year. Due to well-developed irrigation, farmers can grow three different crops. 

Electricity transformed the system of irrigation. Multiple cropping means growing more than one crop on a piece of land. Another way for higher yield is modern farming. In the later 1960s, the Green Revolution introduced the Indian farmer to the cultivation of wheat and rice using high-yielding varieties (HYVs) of seeds.

3. Will the land sustain?

Modern farming methods have overused the natural resource base. Due to the increased use of chemical fertilizers, the soil lost its fertility. Natural resources like soil fertility and groundwater are destroyed and it is very difficult to restore them.

4. How is land distributed between the farmers of Palampur?

The land is important for any kind of farming. In Palampur, about one-third of the 450 families are landless. Dalits have no land for cultivation. 240 families cultivate small plots of land less than 2 hectares in size. In Palampur, there are 60 families of medium and large farmers who cultivate more than 2 hectares of land.

5. Who will provide the labor?

Small farmers cultivate their own lands. Medium and large farmers hire laborers to cultivate their fields who come either from landless families or families cultivating small plots of land. Farm laborers will not have any right over the crops grown on the land. They will be paid wages for their work which can be cash or in-kind, e.g. crop. Sometimes laborers get meals also. Wages vary from region to region, crop to crop, and from one farm activity to another. Farm laborers are employed on a daily basis, for one particular farm activity like harvesting, or for the whole year.

6. Capital needed in farming

Modern farming methods require a great deal of capital.

(1) Most small farmers borrow money from large farmers or village moneylenders or traders who supply various inputs for cultivation. The rate of interest on such loans is very high.

(2) The medium and large farmers have their own savings from farming. They are thus able to arrange for the capital needed.

7. Sale of Surplus Farm Products

The wheat the farmers produce from the land is retained in part for their family consumption and they sell the surplus wheat. Only the medium and large farmers supply wheat to the market.

Non-Farm Activities in Palampur

25 percent of the people working in Palampur are engaged in activities other than agriculture.

1. Dairy — the other common activity

Other than agriculture, some people are engaged in dairy and the milk is sold in the nearby village.

2. An example of small-scale manufacturing in Palampur

People are engaged in small-scale manufacturing which is carried out at home or in the fields. This manufacturing involves very simple production methods.

3. The shopkeepers of Palampur

Traders of Palampur buy various goods from wholesale markets in the cities and sell them in the village. General stores in the village sell a wide range of items like rice, wheat, sugar, tea, oil, biscuits, soap, toothpaste, batteries, candles, notebooks, pens, pencils, and even some types of cloth.

4. Transport: a fast developing sector

Transport services include rickshaws, tongs, jeeps, tractors, truck drivers, traditional bullock carts, and a bogey. They transport people and goods from one place to another and in return get paid for it.

Exercise 

1. Every village in India is surveyed once in ten years during the Census and some of the details are presented in the following format. Fill up the following based on information on Palampur.

LOCATION:

TOTAL AREA OF THE VILLAGE:

LAND USE (in hectares):

d) FACILITIES:

Answer:

LOCATION: Bulandshahr District, Western Uttar Pradesh

TOTAL AREA OF THE VILLAGE: 226 hectares

LAND USE (in hectares):

FACILITIES:

2. Modern farming methods require more inputs which are manufactured in industries. Do you agree?

Answer: Yes, it is correct to say that modern farming methods require more inputs that are manufactured in industries. It is because modern farming methods use high-yielding varieties of seeds. These seeds require both chemical fertilizers and pesticides, agricultural implementations like tractors, and proper irrigation facilities like electric tube wells, and all these elements are manufactured in industries. However, on the other hand, traditional farming methods use a relatively low-yielding variety of seeds and use cow dung and other natural manures as fertilizer, which is why they are less dependent on industrial outputs.

3. How did the spread of electricity help farmers in Palampur?

Answer: The spread of electricity helped the farmers of Palampur as it aided in the transformation of the irrigation system of the village. The farmers earlier used Persian wheels to draw water from wells and irrigate small fields. But after the spread of electricity, electric tube wells replaced these Persian wheels. The first tube well was installed by the Government, but later, private tube wells were also set up by the farmers, resulting in the cultivation of the entire 200 hectares of irrigated land by the 1970s.

4. Is it important to increase the area under irrigation? Why?

Answer: It is important to increase the land under irrigation because farming is the main source of income for the maximum part of the population in India and only less than 40 percent of the land is cultivable in the country. Farmers are dependent on the erratic monsoon season, and if the rainfall is less, farmers are bound to suffer a major loss. So if the water is provided for irrigation to the farmers for a larger portion of land, it would give better output and make more land cultivable in India and also encourage farmers to take up newer farming methods without the fear of suffering loss.

5. Construct a table on the distribution of land among the 450 families of Palampur.

Answer: The distribution of land among the 450 families of Palampur is as given below:

6. Why are the wages for farm laborers in Palampur less than the minimum wage?

Answer: There are many landless farm laborers who are paid less than the minimum wage in Palampur. The Government-declared wage for a farm laborer is Rs 300 per day, but the competition for work among the farm laborers is very high, which is why people agree to work for lower wages.

7. In your region, talk to two laborers. Choose either farm laborers or laborers working at construction sites. What wages do they get? Are they paid in cash or in kind? Do they get to work regularly? Are they in debt?

Answer: Students must do this activity themselves and answer the question based on their survey.

8. What are the different ways of increasing production on the same piece of land? Use examples to explain.

Answer: To grow more than one crop on a piece of land during the year is known as multiple cropping. It is the most common way of increasing production on a given piece of land. The best example of this is cultivation in Palampur. In Palampur, jowar and bajra grow during the rainy season, followed by potatoes between October and December, and during the winter season, wheat is sown in the fields. The main reason for this is the well-developed system of irrigation.

9. Describe the work of a farmer with 1 hectare of land.

Answer: A farmer with 1 hectare of land will be called a small farmer. Since the area for cultivation is small, the outcome may also not be high. So, in order to be able to get the best possible yield, the farmer needs money. This money is borrowed from a moneylender at a high-interest rate and at times may also have to work as a farm laborer for the moneylender. Once the farm is cultivated, the product has to be divided for personal use and for selling in the market. Whatever profit is earned, the farmer has to usually give it away to the moneylender, and little money is left for the use of the farmer himself. The only help a small farmer gets is that of his family members.

10. How do medium and large farmers obtain capital for farming? How is it different from the small farmers?

Answer: Large and medium farmers sell surplus farm products from a part of their produce. A part of the earnings is saved and kept for buying capital for the next season. A few of them give away their savings to small farmers and loans at high-interest rates and get back the amount by the next season. Thus, they are able to arrange for the capital for farming from their own savings. Some farmers might also use the savings to buy cattle, and trucks, or to set up shops.

11. On what terms did Savita get a loan from Tejpal Singh? Would Savita’s condition be different if she could get a loan from the bank at a low rate of interest?

Answer: Savita got a loan from Tejpal Singh at the rate of interest of 24 percent for four months and also had to work for Tejpal Singh as a farm laborer at a wage of Rs 100 per day during the harvest season.

The case would have been different if Savita had taken the loan from a bank. The rate of interest would have been lesser than what was asked by Tejpal Singh and also she would have been able to pay complete attention to her own field during the time of harvest.

12. Talk to some old residents in your region and write a short report on the changes in irrigation and changes in production methods during the last 30 years.

Answer: Students must do this activity and write an answer based on their own observations.

13. What are the non-farm production activities taking place in your region? Make a shortlist.

Answer: The non-farm production activities taking place in our region are as follows:

Dairy

Transportation

General Stores

Fishing

Mining

14. What can be done so that more non-farm production activities can be started in villages?

Answer: To promote more non-farm production activities in villages, the following steps can be taken:

Loans must be available for people at lower interest rates so that they can start non-farm production activities.

Proper markets should be set up so that the produced goods can be sold.

The concerned authorities must set up better transportation between cities and villages so that the produced goods can be transported to cities and more money can be earned through non-farming activities.

Frequently Asked Questions....

Where is Palampur located?

Palampur is a hill station and a municipal corporation situated in the Kangra District in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.

What are the products of the dairy industry?

The dairy industry processes raw milk into an array of products including butter, cheese, cream, yogurt, ghee, condensed milk, dried milk, ice cream, etc.

What is ‘Physical capital’?

Physical capital consists of human-made objects that a company buys or invests in and uses to produce goods.