Class 6 NCERT Solutions Civics Chapter 7: Rural Livelihoods

The people of Kalpattu are engaged in a variety of non-farm work. These are

● Making baskets, utensils, pots, bricks, bullock carts etc.

● Selling tea, snacks, tiffin and grocery

● Washing clothes

● Cycle hiring and repairing

● Working as construction workers and lorry drivers

The different types of people who depend on farming are

● Large farmers

● Small farmers

● Farm labourers

The large farmers are well to do. They cultivate most of the land in the village and sell most of their produce in the market. Many of them have other businesses such as shops, money lending, trading, small factories etc. Hence, they have additional sources of income apart from farming.

The land of small farmers is only enough to meet their ends. Therefore, they sometimes have to work for the big farmers. However, their condition is still better as compared to farm labourers who are landless.

Farm labourers entirely depend upon the work they do on other people's farms, and go without any work for most part of the year.

Hence, among the different categories, farm labourers like Thulasi are the poorest. 

Taking a loan from the bank can be beneficial. The bank has a fixed interest rate that needs to be given from time to time along with the principal amount. Also, the bank would not ask for its share in the fish caught by you and force you to sell your fish to the traders of its choice.

However, if the loan is taken, it would put an additional burden on the family.

Also, people whose livelihoods depend on fishing typically cannot go fishing for four months during the monsoon season, which is the month when fish breed. These months are extremely difficult for fishing families as most of them have to survive on the money borrowed. Thus, one has to ensure that the catch is maximum and sold at the best prices so that the loan can be paid off as soon as possible. 

It is difficult to term a situation as fair or not because there could be several reasons for a person to be in a good position and for another person to be in an unequal position. It is the government's responsibility to accomplish equality and justice for all the citizens of the country, in urban or rural areas, and it is their duty to check that inequality is not being addressed. Ways in which the problem of inequality can be solved are

● To ensure that the lower class people are not exploited.

● A minimum wage policy is followed for all the labourers.

● Bank loans in place of loans from moneylenders

● To set up a scheme so that the labourers have work all round the year

● Electricity at cheaper rates

● Safe drinking water

● Supply of seeds, fertilisers and pesticides at reasonable prices

When small farmers like Sekar get into debt, the government can do the following:

• The government should set up some kind of employment guarantee scheme, whereby the debt-ridden farmers can have the guarantee of a definite source of income and can work to repay their loans.
• The government should guide the farmers on ways to increase the yield from their lands.
• The government should provide loans at a lower rate of interest, so that they can repay the loans they have against the moneylenders.
• Subsidies should be provided on the purchase of seeds, fertilisers and pesticides.