Class 7 Civics Chapter 8 Question Answers - A Shirt in the Market

Q1. How does the chain of markets play an important role in the story of the shirt?
Ans:

• A chain of markets links the producer of cotton to the buyer of the shirt in the supermarket.
• Buying and selling takes place at every step in the chain.
• Everyone in the chain does not benefit equally from this.
• The retailer benefits the most from this chain.

Q2. Briefly write about Swapna as a farmer in Kuraool?
Ans:
Swapna is a small farmer in Kumool. She grows cotton on a small piece of land.

• Once cotton bolls ripen she picks them
• It takes several days as cotton bolls burst open at different times
• She takes’her harvest to local trader and not to Kurlnool market.
• She had taken Rs 2,500 loan at high interest rate from that trader to grow cotton.
• She had made a promise to sell her produce to him

Q3. Does she get the right price from the trader?
Ans:
No, she does not get the right price.

• Her cotton is weighed and she is paid Rs. 1500/ quintal.
• She gets Rs. 6000/. Out of this Rs. 3000/ were deducted as loan and interest.
• She is told that cotton is selling cheap as there is lot of cotton in the market
• Her efforts of four months and clean and fine cotton also did not change the mind of trader,
• She does not argue. Though her earning is just a little more than a wage labourer.

Q4. Give an account of the cloth market of Erode.
Ans:
The Cloth Market of Erode

• Erode has a bi-weekly cloth market.
• This market is one of the largest cloth markets in the world.
• A large variety of cloth is sold in this market.
• Cloth that is made by weavers in the nearby villages is also brought here for sale.
• Offices of cloth merchants who buy this cloth are around the market.
• Other traders from many south Indian towns also come and purchase cloth here.
• On market days weavers bring cloth that has been made on order from the merchant.
• These merchants supply cloth on order to garment manufacturers and exporters around the country.
• They purchase the yam and give instructions to the weavers about the kind of cloth to be made.

Q5. Write the advantages and disadvantages of the ‘putting out system’.
Ans:
For the weaver it has two advantages:

• They do not have to spend money for purchasing yam and know what and how much cloth they have to make
• They do not face the problem of selling the finished cloth.

Disadvantages for the weaver

• They are dependent on the merchant for raw material as well as market
• They get low wages. They do not know from whom they are making the cloth
• They do not the market price of the cloth.

Q6. Describe the earning of the weavers in a month.
Ans:

• Weavers invest all their savings or borrow money at a high interest rate to buy looms.
• Each loom costs ₹ 20,000.
• Hence, a small weaver with two looms has to invest ₹ 40,000.
• The work on these looms cannot be done by one weaver.
• The weaver and another adult member of his family work up to 12 hours a day to produce cloth.
• For all this work, the weaver’s family earns about ₹ 3500 per month.

Q7. What is Weavers cooperative? How does it work?
Ans:
Weavers are paid very little under the ‘putting-out system. Weaver’s cooperative is a way of reducing their dependence.

• In a cooperative people with common interests come together and work for mutual benefit.
• They take activities collectively like procuring yam, distribution among weavers.
• They do the marketing also.
• The role of merchant is reduced and weavers earn higher income.
• Government also helps the cooperative by buying cloth from them at reasonable rates
• Tamil Nadu government runs a Free School Uniform programme in the state. The cloth is procured from power loom weaver’s cooperatives.’
• Government buys cloth from handloom weaver’s cooperatives and sell it through ‘Co-optex stores.

Q8. Give an account of the Impex garment factory.
Ans:

• The Impex garment factory has 70 workers.
• Most of them are women and are employed on a temporary basis.
• This means that whenever the employer feels that a worker is not needed, the worker is asked to leave.
• Workers’ wages are fixed according to their skills.
• The highest paid among the workers are the tailors who get about ₹ 3,000 per month.
• Women are employed as helpers for thread cutting, buttoning, ironing and packaging.

These jobs have the lowest wages, as mentioned below:

• Payment to workers (per month) –
• Tailoring – ₹ 3,000
• Ironing  – ₹ 1.50
• Checking – ₹ 2,000
• Thread Cutting and buttoning  – ₹1,500

Q9. Establish relationship between market and equality.
Ans:
Market and Equality

• The foreign businessperson made huge profits in the market.
• The garment exporter made only moderate profits.
• On the other hand, the workers at the garment export factory earn barely enough to cover their day-to-day needs.
• In the same way, we saw the small cotton farmer and the weaver at Erode put in long hours of hard work. But they did not get a fair price in the market for their produce.
• The merchants or traders are somewhere in between.
• In comparison to the weavers they have earned more but it is still much less than the exporters.
• Thus, not everyone gains equally in the market.
• Democracy is also about getting a fair wage in the market. Whether it is Kanta or Swapna, if families don’t earn enough then they can’t live with dignity.
• They cannot think of themselves as equal to others.

Q10. What are the problems of the farmers and other producers? How can these be overcome?
Ans:

• On one hand, the market offers people opportunities for work qnd for sale of their products.
• On the other hand, the rich and the powerful get the maximum earnings from the market.
• These are the people who have money and own the factories, the large shops, large land holdings, etc.
• The poor have to depend on the rich and the powerful for various things.
• They have to depend for loans, raw materials and marketing of their goods and most often for employment.
• Because of this dependence, the poor are exploited in the market.
• There are ways to overcome these problems.
• They include forming cooperatives of producers and ensuring that laws are followed strictly.