Revision Notes

Chapter 1
The Story of Village Palampur

.Village Palampur
Palampur isa small hypothetical village having about 450 families. It is 3 km away from
Raiganj- big village. Shahpur is the nearest town to the village.

The village is well connected with neighbouring villages and towns.The village is well
connected by the road and most of the houses are electrified.

It has two primary schools and one high school.

There is a government primary health Centre and a primary dispensary.

Main Production Activities

Farming is the main production activity in the village Palampur. Most of the people are
dependent on farming for their livelihood. Non-farming activities such as dairy, small-scale
manufacturing (e.g. activities of weavers and potters, etc.), transport, etc., are carried out on
a limited scale.

Factors of Production (Or Requirements for Production of Goods and Services))

Land, labour and capital are the basic requirements for production of goods and services
which are popularly known as factors of production. Land includes all free gits of
nature,e.g., soil, water, forests, minerals, etc. Labour means human effort which of course
includes physical as well as mental labour. Physical capital is the third requirement for
production.Physical capital includes fixed capltal (e.g. tools, machines, building, ete.)

Working capital includes raw materials such as seeds for the farmer, yarn for the weaver.
and money in hand.

Important Changes in Farm Activities

Land area under cultivation is virtually fixed. However, some wastelands in India had been
converted into cultivable land after 1960.

Over the years, there have been important changes in the way of farming, which have
allowed the farmers to produce more crops from the same amount of land.

These changes include:

(a) Multiple cropping farmíng

(b) Use of modern farming methods.

Due to these changes (in the late 1960s) productivity of land has increased substantially
which is known as Green Revolution. Farmers of Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar
Pradesh were the first to try out the modern farming methods in India.

Overuse of fertilizers, pesticides and water is resulting into land degradation. The farmers in
Punjab are facing these problems.

Labour: After land, labour is the next basic factor of production. Small farmers
provide their own labour, whereas medium and large farmers make use of hired
labour to work on their fields.
There are many landless farmilies in Palampur which provide labours. As the work is
less for the number of labourers they are not given minimum wages set by the
government
S o some labourers migrate to the cities.
Capital: After land and labour, capital is another basic factor of production. All
categories of farmers (eg. small, medium and large) require capital. Small farmers
borrow from large farmers or the village moneylenders or the traders who supply
them various inputs for cultivation.

Modern farming requires a great deal of capital.

Sale of Surplus Farm Products

Farmers produce crops on their lands by using the three factors of production, viz. land,
labour and capital. They retain a part of produce for selfconsumption and sell the surplus in
the nearby market. That part of farm produce which is sold in the market is called
marketable surplus. Smal farmers have little surplus output. It is the medium and large
farmers only who have substantial surplus produce for selling in the market.

Non-farm activities
Out of every 100 workers in the rural areas in India, only 24 are engaged in non-farm
activities. There is a variety of non-farm activities in the villages. Dairy, small scale
manufacturing, transport, etc., fall under this category.

Some of the people are engaged in these non farming activities.

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 Revision Notes

Chapter-1
People As Resource

Population of a nation can be its asset rather than liability.

'People as resource' refers to a country's working people in terms of their existing productive
skills and abilities.

When existing human resource is developed by becoming educated and healthy it turns into
human capital.

Human capital is superior to other resources like land and physical capital, as it uses these
capitals and adds value to them.

Investment in human capital via education and medical care can give high returns in the
future. Country like Japan have invested a lot in human resources. They do not have rich
natural resources, but still they are called developed nations.

Human beings perform many activities which can be grouped into economíc and non-
economic.

Economic Activities: Economic activities refer to those activities of man which are
undertaken for a monetary gain or to satisfy his/her wants. The activities of workers,
farmers, shopkeepers, manufacturers, doctors, lawyers, taxi drivers, etc. fall under this
category.

Market Activities and Non-Market Activities

Economic activities are also called as market activities

Non market activities are production for self consumption.

Non-Economic Activities: Non-economic activities are ones that are not undertaken for any
monetary gain. These are also called unpald activities, e.g., Puja-paath, housekeeping
hejping the poor or disabled, etc.
 Classification of Economic Activities. Various economic activities can be classified into

three main sectors, that is primary sector, secondary sector and tertiary sector. The primary
sector includes activities like agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, fishing. poultry,
farming and mining. In this sector, goods are produced by exploiting nature. In the
secondary sector, manufacturing (small and large) and construction activities are included.
The tertiary sector (also called service sector) provides various types of services like
transport, education, banking, insurance, health, tourism, etc.

I n India traditionally there is division of labour between men and women.

Activities of Women. Women generally look after domestic affairs like cooking of
food, washing of clothes, cleaning of utensils, housekeeping and looking after children

Human Capital: Human capital is the stock of skill and productive knowledge
embodied in human beings. Population (human beings) become human capital when
it is provided with better education, training and health care facilities

Quality of Population.

The quality of population depends upon the literacy rate, life expectancy and skills formation
acquired by the people of the country.

Role of Education:

Education is the most important component ot human resource development. It contributes

towards the growth of the society, enhances the national income, cultural richness and
increases efficiency of governance.
In view of its contribution towards the growth of the society, government expenditure on
education as a percentage of GDP rose from 0.64% in 1951-52 to 3.98% in 2002-03.However,
our national goal is 6% of GDP.
Literacy is uneven between males and females. Males are more literate. It also varies with
urban and rural area. Urban population is more literate compared to rural.
There were 7.68 lakh schools by 2004-05. But education is diluted by the poor quality of
schooling and high drop out rates.
'Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan' is a significant step towards providing elementary education to all
children below the age of 14.
Health:

Health is anather very important component of human resource development. Efficiency of

workers largely depends on their health.
There has been considerable improvement in the country's health standard. For instance, the
life expectancy at the time of birth in India rose from 37.2 years in 1951 to 63.9 years in 2001.
Similarly, infant mortality rate has come down from 147 to 47 by 2010.
Infant mortality rate is the death of the child under one year of age.
India has built up a vast health infrastructure but still much more is needed to be done.

Unemployment: Unemployment is said to exist when people who are willing to work at the
prevailing wage rates cannot find jobs. When we talk of unemployed people, we refer to
those in the age group of 15-59 years. Children below 15 years of age and the old people
above 60 are not considered while counting the number of unemployed.

Nature of Unemployment in India:

Seasonal unemployment occurs when people fail to get work during some months of the year
(that is, during off season). Farm labourers usually face this kind of problem.

Disguised unemployment is another kind of unemployment found in rural areas. Such kind
of problem arises due to excessive pressure of population on agriculture. Disguised
unemployment refers to a situation where in the number of workers in a job is more than
actually required to do the job. The extra number of workers are disguisedly unemployed.
Increase in unemployment is an indicator of depressed economy.

Consequences of Unemployment:
) Unemployment leads to wastage of manpower resource.
(i) Unemployment tends to increase the economic overload that is dependence of the
unemployed on the working population.
(ii) Unemployment may lead to increase in social unrest and tension.

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 1

Revision Notes
Chapter-4
FOOD SECURITY IN INDIA

Food security means availability, accessibility and affordability of food to all people at all
times,

Availability: Food production in the country, import offood

Accessibility : Food within the reach of every person

Affordability: To have enough money to buy sufficient amount of food.

Food security

The poorest section of the society remaíns food insecure all the times.People above poverty
line might also feel food insecure in times of natural calamity like earthquake, drought,
flood, tsunami, etc.

Natural calamities may lead to starvation. Starvation in longer run turns into famine.

A famine is characterised by wide spread deaths due to starvation and epidemics caused by
forced use of contaminated water or decaying water or decaying food and losSs of body
resistance due to weakening from starvation.

Food-insecure in rural areas, the worst affected people are: landless and small farmers,
traditional artisans (weavers, potters, blacksmith etc.) providers of services(e-g. barbers,
washer men etc), petty self-employed workers and destitute. In the urban areas.persons
employed in ill-paid occupations and casual labourers are food insecure.

The social composition also plays a role in food insecurity.The SCs, STs and some sections of
OBC(lower castes) who are landless or with low land productivity are prone to be food
insecure.

Large proportion of pregnant and nursing mothers and children under the age of 5 years
constitute an important segment of the food insecure population.
 Hunger: Hunger has chronic and seasonal dimensions. Poor people suffer from
chronic hunger and are food insecure all the times. Seasonal hunger is caused by the
seasonal nature of agricultural activities in rural areas. In urban areas, seasonal
hunger occurs because of the casual type of work. Thus, seasonal hunger exists
when people are unable to get work for the whole year.

Need for self-sufficiency in food grains.

Our government since Independence realised thee need to attain self-sufficiency in

food grains because India experienced acute shortage of food grains after partition of
the country in 1947.

The need for self-sufficiency arises from the following:

(a) to feed rising population

(b) to fight against droughts, floods, cyclone, etc.

(c) to reduce import of food grains 2

(d) to control prices of food grains.

Food Security System in India. Since the advent of the Green Revolution in the 1960s
the country has avoided famine, even during adverse weather conditions.
Punjab and Hryan has shown very impressive growth in food production with 7.23
milion tonnes in 1964-65 to a record 218 milion tonnes in 2009-10.
India has become self-sufficient in food grains during the last 30 years because of the
variety of crops grown all over the country. Also, we have developed a food security
system.
Still a few states have lagged behind in food production.e.-g. Orissa.

Buffer Stock: Buffer stock is the stock of food grains (wheat and rice) procured by the
government through the Food Corporation of India (FCI). The FCI purchases wheat and rice
for the government from the farmers of surplus states at pre-announced prices. This price is
called 'minimum support price'.

The food is distributed to the poorer strata of society at lower price than market place is
known as Issue price.
Public Distribution System (PDS)

PDS refers toa system through which the food procured by the FCI is distributed among the
poor through government regulated ration shops. Ration shops are also called as fair price
shops.The consumers are issued ration cards.

Rationing was introduced in India around 1940 after the Bengal famine.

Kinds of Ration Cards. There are three kinds of ration cards

(a) Antyodaya cards for the poorest of the poor,

(b) BPL cards for those below poverty line and,

(c)APL cards for those above poverty line.

Three Important Food Intervention Programmes.In the wake of high incidence of poverty
levels in mid-1970s, three important food intervention programmes were introduced:

(a) Public Distribution System (in existence earller)

(b) Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) in 1975

() Food for work in 1977-78.

In 2000, two specíal schemes were launched viz. Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and the
Annapurna scheme (APS) with special target groups of the poorest of the poor and indigent
senior citizens, respectively.

PDS has proved to be thee most effective for stabilising prices and making food available to
consumers at affordable prices.

But it has faced criticism on several

severe
grounds
Granaries are full but hunger prevails. Some of the grains gets rotten or eaten by rats.

Excessive Food Stocks: In July 2002, the stock of wheat and rice with FCI was 63 million
tonnes which was much more than the minimum buffer norms of 24.3 million tonnes. The
stock reduced thereafter but always remained higher than the buffer norms.
Paradox of Excess Stocks and Starvation: In fact, India has experíenced a paradoxical
situation in recent years. While the granaries (godowns) of the government are over lowing
with excess stocks of food, we also find people without food. The main reason for this
unfortunate situation is that many poor familles do not have enough money or income to
buy food.Sometimes PDS dealers are resorting to malpractice.

In southern and western parts of the country the cooperatives are playing an important role
in food security.

Mother's dairy, Amul are some of the success stories.

In Maharashtra Academy of Development Science has facilitated a network of NGOs and set
up grain banks.