Longman Panorma Civics Solutions for Class 6 Social science Chapter 8 - Rural Livelihoods

Answer:

1. Fishing

2. Dairy

3. Farming

4. Carpentry

5. Blacksmith

6. Weaving

Answer:

This statement is true.

Explanation: Small farmers have to borrow money from traders and big farmers because these are the main money lenders in a village. The traders have enough money earned from trading activities and the large farmers receive good income from the cultivation of their large land holdings.

Answer:

This statement is true.

Explanation: The farming by middle farmers falls in the category of subsistence farming because these farmers have small land holdings and usually grow just enough crops to feed their families. Instead of selling all of their harvest, they keep it for themselves.

Answer:

This statement is false.

Explanation: Large farmers do not cultivate their land because of the large size of the land holdings. They usually hire other people to cultivate their land or rent it out to small farmers.

Answer:

This statement is false.

Explanation: 80% of the rural population finds it difficult to make their ends meet as mostly they are either poor farmers who carry out subsistence farming or landless labourers with very low wages.

Answer:

Ballavpur is a village located in West Bengal where the most important source of earning is agriculture.
Apart from agriculture, a number of other non-farming activities are also carried out. These are as follows:
1. Weaving
2. Fishing
3. Producing dairy products
4. Factory workers or labourers
5. Selling hand-crafted items

The most important non-farming activity in the village is fishing because Ballavpur is a coastal town where fish is an important trade item. They are sold in the local markets and are also transported to the cities.

Answer:

The size of land holdings in a village is not uniform because some of the farmers in the village may be rich with large land holdings while others may be poor with very small ones.

Following are the three categories of farmers in a village:
1. The large farmers: These are rich farmers who own more than five hectares of land and generally hire people for cultivation.
2. Medium farmers/subsistence farmers: They own two to five hectares of land and generally cultivate crops to support their family.
3. Small farmers: They own less than two hectares of land, which is not enough for them to meet their basic needs. Therefore, these farmers borrow money from the moneylenders.

Answer:

The landless labourers are the most exploited labourers in the hands of moneylenders or rich farmers in the village.
Because of financial constraints, they are deprived of a number of basic facilities like food, housing, health, sanitation, education and employment. The landless labourers are unable to afford these as they work only during the harvesting season and mostly remain unemployed for the rest of the year.

Answer:

The small farmers and landless labourers usually end up taking loans from the large farmers, to meet their basic needs. However, instead of helping them, taking loans add to their misery in the following ways:

1. The large farmers give them loans on extremely high interest rates.

2. The small farmers and labourers are not able to collect enough money and end up taking more loans to pay the previous one. Thus, they get caught in a vicious circle.

Thus, the loans benefit the large farmers instead of the small farmers and landless labourers.

Answer:

The most important occupation in a village is farming. The size of land holdings in the village varies from farmer to farmer. Following are three different kinds of farmers in the village:

1. Large Farmers:

• They own more than 5 hectares of land.
• They usually rent their land to others or employ other people to work for them.
• They have a comfortable income and are able to live a life of luxury.

• They own about 2 to 5 hectares of land.
• They grow just enough crops to feed their families. They are, thus, dependent on subsistence farming.

• They own less than 2 acres of land.
• They usually work on others' land to fulfil their basic needs.
• They are poor and have to borrow money from money lenders for survival.

Answer:

To take care of their basic needs, small farmers and landless labourers usually have to borrow money from big money lenders in the village. The loans are given at a high interest rate. The farmers, thus, have to keep borrowing money in order to repay their loans. This leaves very little for the farmers and they often find it difficult to survive.
The government can take the following steps to improve the condition of the farmers who get into debt:

1. The government can create more employment opportunities in the villages. They can undertake developmental work, thereby providing employment to these farmers so that they have enough money to fulfil their basic needs.

2. Banks should be established in every village. These banks should give loans to these farmers at lower rates of interest.