Here are important questions from NCERT Class 9 Economics Chapter 1 The Story of Palampur.

1. What is the main production activity in villages across India?

Farming is the main production activity in villages across India.

2. What are the non-farming activities that Indian villagers engage in?

Indian villagers engage in small scale manufacturing, transport, shop keeping etc.

3. What is the aim of production?

Producing goods and services that we need is the aim of production.

4. What are the four requirements of the production of goods and services?

The four requirements are land, labour, physical capital and human capital.

5. What do you mean by labour?

The term labour refers to people who are capable of doing the work involved in producing goods or services. Some production activities require educated workers while others require people who can do manual work.

6. What is physical capital?

The term physical capital refers to the various inputs that are required at every stage of production. Physical capital is further divided into fixed capital and working capital. The tools, machines and buildings used for production come under fixed capital. They are called fixed capital because they are used over many years. The raw materials and money in hand come under working capital. For example, clay is the raw material used by potters. Working capital gets used up in production.

7. What is human capital?

People need knowledge and enterprise to put together land, labour and physical capital to produce goods or services that they can use themselves or sell in the market. This knowledge and enterprise is collectively called human capital.

8. What are the factors of production?

In order to produce goods or services, land, labour, physical capital and human capital need to be put together. These are called the factors of production.

9. What is the main difficulty involved in raising farm production?

The land area under cultivation is practically fixed. This is the main difficulty involved in raising farm production.

10. What is the standard unit of measuring land?

The standard unit of measuring land is hectare.

11. One hectare is the area of a square with one side measuring …………………… metres.

100

12. Crops grown during the rainy season are called ……………………………

Kharif crops

13. Name some kharif crops

Jowar and bajra

14. Name a rabi crop

Wheat

15. What is the importance of a well-developed irrigation system?

A well developed irrigation system allows farmers to stop being dependent on rainfall. Hence, they can grow multiple crops in a year.

16. What is multiple cropping?

The practice of growing more than one crop on a piece of land in a year is called multiple cropping.

17. What is the most common way of increasing production on a piece of land?

Multiple cropping is the most common way of increasing production on a piece of land.

18. Why is it important to increase the area under irrigation?  

Increasing the area under irrigation enables farmers to grow multiple grows in a year. Since it is not practically possible to substantially increase the land area under cultivation, multiple cropping is the only way to increase farm production. Irrigation allows farmers to grow multiple crops in a year.

19. What is yield?

Yield is measured as the quantity of crop produced on a given piece of land during a single season.

20. What facilitated the green revolution of 1960s?

The use of high yielding varieties of wheat and rice brought about the green revolution of 1960s.

21. Distinguish between traditional seeds and high yielding varieties (HYV) of seeds?

Traditional seeds have low yields. They require less water and fertilizers. Farmers only had to use natural fertilizers like cow dung to grow crops using traditional seeds.

High Yielding Varieties (HYV) give much higher yields than traditional seeds. These seeds require plenty of water and chemical fertilizers and pesticides to give good yields.

22. What are the different ways of increasing farm production?

Multiple cropping is one way of increasing farm output. Using modern farming methods is another way. For example, using high yielding varieties of seeds will substantially increase yield per hectare. When HYV seeds are properly irrigated and treated with pesticides and chemical fertilizers, they give much higher yields. Farm machinery like tractors and threshers which make ploughing and threshing easier and more efficient also increase yields.

23. What is the difference between multiple cropping and modern farming method?

Multiple cropping is the practice of growing more than one crop on a piece of land in a year. The seeds used could be traditional or high yielding varieties.  Modern farming methods involve the use of high yielding seeds, irrigation, chemical fertilizers, pesticides and farm machinery like tractors. These methods give much higher yields than using multiple cropping alone.

24. Modern farming methods require the farmer to start with more cash than before. Why?

When farmers used traditional seeds, they did not have to spend money on chemical fertilizers or pesticides. Also, they didn’t have to dig tube wells to irrigate their land because traditional seeds didn’t require much water. Consequently, the cost of farming was considerably low. However, modern farming methods heavily rely on irrigation, chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Farmers have to dig tube well, buy pesticides and fertilizers and invest in farm machinery like tractors. While modern farming methods give much higher yields than traditional farming, the initial cost is also high.

25. What are the harmful effects of modern farming methods?

Modern farming methods often exploit the land. For example, excessive use of chemical fertilizers affects the natural fertility of the soil. Also, tube well irrigation leads to the depletion of groundwater table. Soil fertility and groundwater reserves are built over many years. Exploitation makes it difficult to restore them.

26. What are the harmful effects of chemical fertilizers?

Chemical fertilizers contain minerals which dissolve in water and become immediately available to the plants. However, these minerals are not retained in the soil for long. Also, when they escape the soil, they will reach water sources like lakes, ponds and wells. Here they lead to the excessive growth of algae and microorganisms and thus harm aquatic animals like fish by limiting the amount of oxygen available to them. Chemical fertilizers may also kill the bacteria in the soil. That means the regular application of chemical fertilizers will make the soil less fertile after a while. When soil fertility decreases, farmers are forced to use more and more fertilizers and this increases the cost of farming.

27. Why does being landless affect the livelihood of people?

In rural India, most families depend on farming. Unfortunately, a large percentage of these families do not own land. They work in the farms owned by large or medium sized farmers and are paid only a small wage for the work they do. They do not have rights over the crops grown on the field. As farming becomes more and more mechanized, there will be even fewer jobs for these landless labourers and hence they have to struggle harder to make a living. Also, the minimum wages for a farm labourer set by the government is Rs. 300, but most labourers are paid much less. As there is tough competition for work among labourers, they often work for much lower wages.

28. Why do rural people migrate to urban areas?

Finding a regular source of income in rural areas is difficult because of the non-availability of jobs. Most people in rural areas depend on farming. However, only a small number of them actually own land and can make a decent living from it. Life is hard for landless labourers who work in the farms of landowners for very small wages. They can find work only during the farming season. Mechanisation of farming has further reduced the number of jobs available to them. For example, there are now tractors, harvesters and threshers for ploughing, harvesting and threshing. Earlier landowners used to hire people for performing these jobs. This lack of employment opportunities forces rural people to migrate to urban areas where they can find more stable jobs in factories, shops, mills or offices.

29. What is the most abundant factor of farm production?

Labour is the most abundant factor of farm production.

30. Why is land a scarce factor of production?

Land is a scarce factor of production because the area that can be cultivated is practically fixed.

31. Modern farming methods require a great deal of ………………………….

Capital

32. Why is capital a scarce factor of production for small farmers?

Modern farming methods require a great deal of capital. For example, farmers have to buy high yielding seeds, fertilizers and pesticides. They also have to find water to irrigate their crops. Oftentimes, this requires them to dig wells or tube wells.  Since small farmers are unlikely to have any savings, they are forced to borrow money from rich landlords at high interest rates. If the crop fails or if the harvest is not particularly good, they will fail to repay the loan. This might even force the borrower to work for the lender for no wages. Thus, capital is a scarce factor of production for most small farmers.

33. What are non-farm activities in Indian villages?

Dairy is the most commonly practiced non-farm activity in rural India. Many families own buffalos. They sell the milk in large villages nearby. Collection cum chilling centres are also set up in many villages from where milk can be transported to towns and cities.

Small scale manufacturing is another activity. These are usually carried out at home or in the fields with the help of family labour. Processing sugar cane into jaggery is one such activity.

Shop keeping

Shop keepers buy from wholesale markets in the cities and sell in the villages. There aren’t many shop keepers in villages.

Transport

Ferrying people and goods from one place to another place is a means of living for many villagers.