Rural livelihood Chapter Notes | Civics Class 6 ICSE PDF Download

Introduction

• Livelihood means the ways people earn money to live.
• Occupations vary based on location, skills, and education.
• Agriculture is the primary occupation in rural areas.
• Other rural livelihoods include animal husbandry, fishing, forest product collection, mining, craft making, and various jobs.

The Agricultural Museum

• SAMETI in Kerala showcases the state's agricultural traditions.
• Reasons for creating SAMETI:
  • To display different crops, soil types, irrigation methods, and farm tools.
  • To trace the evolution of agriculture over centuries.
  • To show environment-friendly traditional farming methods of communities and tribes.
• Implements displayed in the museum:
  • Crude spades, spears, bamboo measures, yokes, sickles, ploughs, bamboo ladders, baskets, toddy tapping equipment, fish nets, and palm leaf umbrellas.
• Exhibits include 25 varieties of paddy, rare tribal species, and spices.
• History of agriculture is presented through audio-visual presentations in English and Malayalam.
• The museum is designed for students, researchers, and the general public.

Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Occupations

• Primary occupations involve working with natural resources, such as agriculture, mining, and animal husbandry.
• Secondary occupations involve transforming raw materials into goods, like turning cotton into cloth in factories.
• Tertiary occupations include services like banking, teaching, trade, communication, medical, and legal services.

Types of Farmers

Case Study: Agricultural Labourers and Landless Peasants

• Lakshmi’s cousins Vishnu and Vani took her to see their village. They went to the fields first, where they met Maya, an agricultural labourer, who was working in the fields. Since Vishnu and Vani knew her, they stopped by to talk to her. Lakshmi asked Maya about her work.
• Maya told her that she worked in the fields every day from 8 in the morning till 4 in the evening. Her husband also worked with her.
• Maya told her that they got work in the fields only at the time of cultivation and harvesting.
• She was paid ₹ 60 a day, while her husband was paid ₹ 80 per day. Since agriculture is a seasonal job, the rest of the time they had to do other jobs to make ends meet. Her husband did things like loading sand from the river while Maya stitched clothes for the rich farmers’ wives.
• Along with all this, she also did the housework.
• She cooked meals, cleaned the house, washed clothes, collected firewood from the nearby forest and got water from the well.
• Maya had two daughters and a son. She sent all of them to school since she wanted them to study hard and get good jobs. To send the children to school, Maya and her husband had taken a loan from the rich farmer on whose fields they were working and gradually repaying the loan.

 The class of farmers mentioned in the case study is that of agricultural labourers or landless peasants. They have no land of their own. They work on land belonging to other farmers in exchange for wages, which is often very low. Most of them are extremely poor and do not earn enough for their daily needs. As their work is seasonal, they have to find other jobs. Thus, many people from rural areas often migrate to urban areas in search of jobs. 

Case Study: Small or Middle Level Farmers 

• Lakshmi and her cousins met Krishnan next.
• He was working on his land along with his wife, Aishwarya. Krishnan told them that his family owned just about 3 acres of land. He, his wife and his two sons worked on the land together.
• Krishnan was dependent on the annual monsoons. If it did not rain, his crops would fail. This had happened the year before and he had to take a loan from a moneylender. He had to repay the loan now. Thus, he was praying that the monsoons do not betray him again.
• In addition, he had also taken a loan for seeds and fertilizers from a trader. In return for the loan, he had to sell some of his produce from the land to the trader at a somewhat lower price than what he would get in the market.
• So, Krishnan was very worried this time.

•  The farmers who own small plots of land are small or middle level farmers. They work on their land with their families. Often several such farming families work together on each other's land. They cannot afford to use modern irrigation systems or farming techniques. Some of these farmers use cattle to till the soil in the fields. 
•  Small farmers are usually able to grow just enough for their needs. Sometimes the produce is a little extra and they sell it in the market. However, they are not able to earn much from their land. They often have to borrow money from moneylenders, traders or rich farmers to buy basic items such as pesticides, seeds and fertilizers. If they cannot repay the loan, they incur heavy debts. This can happen if the crops fail, there is not enough rain, the seeds are not of good quality or if pests attack the crops. At times, they have to sell or mortgage their land in order to repay their loans. 
•  These small farmers try and find some additional sources of income to support themselves in times of need. Sometimes they keep cattle and sell their milk. Some of them keep poultry and sell eggs and meat. 

Case Study: Rich Farmers 

•  Lakshmi and her cousins then visited Suresh, who was a very rich farmer. 
•  Maya and her husband worked on his fields. 
•  Suresh welcomed Lakshmi and her cousins to his house. 
•  He offered them sweets and cold drinks. 
•  He told them that he owned large areas of land and employed many people to work on his fields. 
•  In addition, he also owned a rice mill and a cloth shop. 
•  For his rice mill, he used the unmilled rice that was produced on his land, and also bought unmilled rice from within the village and from the nearby villages. 
•  They processed the rice in their mill and sold it to traders. 
•  They used some of their own money and borrowed some money from the government banks to run their rice mill. 
•  The cloth shop was under the supervision of his wife who managed all its affairs. 

• In India, only 20% of the farmers are rich.
• These rich farmers own large plots of land.
• They employ many people to work on their land and are able to grow a large number of crops on it.
• The amount produced is enough for consumption and sale in the market.
• By selling the excess crops, these farmers earn a good amount of money.
• They are able to buy good quality seeds, fertilizers, insecticides and expensive and modern machinery such as tractors for better farming.
• Rich farmers have their own systems for irrigating their fields by using tube wells, pumps, etc.
• This increases the productivity of their land and makes them less dependent on monsoons.
• Since they do not have to work on their fields, they have time to manage other affairs such as running shops and mills from which they earn even more money.
• They also lend money to small farmers.

Other Sources of Livelihood

• Besides agriculture, some other important occupations of people in rural areas are fishing, collection of forest products, animal husbandry, cottage industries and trading.
• We also find carpenters, blacksmiths, barbers, priests, weavers, potters, cleaners, etc. in a village.

Fishing

• Fishing is a key income source for people near coasts or rivers.
• Fishermen catch fish, crabs, prawns, and lobsters for food, animal feed, bait, or export.
• Most fish is sold fresh, some is sun-dried, and the rest is processed.
• Heavy rains or high tides prevent fishing, leading to financial struggles and borrowing.

Collection of Forest Products

• People collect forest products like firewood, honey, fruits, herbs, tendu leaves (for bidis), and mahua flowers for income.
• In some villages, both farming and forest product collection are important livelihoods.

Animal Husbandry

• Animal husbandry involves rearing animals like cows, goats, and buffaloes for milk.
• Milk is sold to village cooperative societies, which ensure fair prices.
• In mountainous areas, sheep are reared for milk and wool.
• Poultry farming involves rearing chickens, ducks, or geese for eggs and meat.

Cottage Industries and Trade

• Rural people engage in crafts like pottery, carpentry, weaving, leather work, basket making, woodcarving, embroidery, and jewellery making.
• Cottage industries are small-scale businesses run from homes with family members as workers.
• Examples include Dhokra sculpture, kantha garments, and Madhubani paintings.
• These crafts are supplied to other places, though machine-made copies exist in some areas.

Other Jobs

• Villages have jobs like cobblers, tailors, blacksmiths, barbers, priests, weavers, potters, and cleaners.
• Earlier, these jobs were caste-based and considered menial.
• With education, some people have changed jobs or started businesses using their skills and market knowledge.