INTRODUCTION
- Palampur: well-connected, all-weather road to Raiganj (3 km) → Shahpur
- Transport: bullock carts, tongas, bogeys (w/ gur), bikes, jeeps, tractors, trucks
- Population: ~450 families
- Upper caste: 80 families, own most land, brick houses
- SCs (dalits): ⅓ pop., live in 1 corner, mud/straw houses
- Electricity: most houses, tubewells, small biz
- Education: 2 primary schools + 1 high school
- Health: 1 govt PHC + 1 pvt dispensary
- Facilities: roads, transport, power, irrigation, edu, health = well-developed
- Main activity: farming
- Non-farm: small mfg, transport, shops
Organization of production
Aim: Produce goods & services
4 Requirements (Factors of Production):
1. Land: incl. water, forests, minerals
2. Labour: skilled & unskilled workers
3. Physical Capital:
(a) Fixed Capital: tools, machines, buildings (used for yrs)
(b) Working Capital: raw materials + money (used up)
4. Human Capital: knowledge + enterprise (organises 1,2,3)
All 4 = Essential for production
Farming in Palampur
1. Land Fixed
- Farming = main activity (75% ppl)
- Land under cultivation = fixed since 1960
- No scope to expand land
2. Multiple Cropping
- All land cultivated, no idle land
- Kharif: jowar + bajra (cattle feed)
- Oct–Dec: potato
- Rabi: wheat (own use + sell @ Raiganj)
- Sugarcane (1/yr) → sold raw/jaggery @ Shahpur
- Reason: Irrigation + Electricity
- Persian wheel → Electric tubewells (Govt + Pvt)
- By 1970s: all 200 ha irrigated
Modern Farming Methods
- Before 1960s:
- Traditional seeds → low yield
- Natural manure, less water
- Green Revolution (late 1960s):
- HYV seeds (need more water, chem fert + pesticides)
- ↑ Production (Punjab, Haryana, W. UP)
- Tractors, threshers used
- Palampur:
- Traditional wheat: 1300 kg/ha
- HYV wheat: 3200 kg/ha
- Result: ↑ surplus for market
3. Will the land sustain?
- Land = natural resource → use carefully
- Modern methods = overuse of resources
- Green Rev → ↓ soil fertility (↑ chem fert)
- ↓ Water-table (↑ tubewell use)
- Soil & groundwater = hard to restore once damaged
- Need: enviro care for future farming
4. Land Distribution in Palampur
- Total families: 450
- 150 (⅓) = landless (mostly dalits)
- 240 = <2 ha → small plots, low income
- 60 = >2 ha (medium & large farmers)
- Some >10 ha
5. Who provides labour?
- Next factor = labour
- Small farmers → self + family labour
- Med/large farmers → hire farm labourers
- From landless/small land families
- No crop rights → wages (cash/kind/meals)
- Wages vary: crop, task, duration
- Work = daily, seasonal, or yearly
- Dala: landless, daily wage labourer
- Govt min wage (2019) = ₹300, gets only ₹160
- High competition → low wages
6. Capital Needed in Farming
- Modern farming = high capital need
- Small farmers
- Borrow from big farmers/moneylenders/traders
- High interest → repayment stress
- Savita (1 ha): needs ₹3,000 → borrows @24% (4 mo) from Tejpal
- Also works for Tejpal @ ₹100/day (low wage) during harvest
- Med/Large farmers
- Use own savings from past yields → arrange capital easily
7. Sale of Surplus Farm Products
- After harvest:
- Part = self-use
- Rest = surplus → sold
- Small farmers: low surplus
- Med/Large farmers: sell surplus @ market
- Tejpal: 350 quintals → sells @ Raiganj
- Uses earnings to:
- Save in bank
- Lend to others (e.g. Savita)
- Buy inputs / tractor (fixed capital)
- Savings used for:
- Next season’s capital
- Buy cattle/trucks/shops → non-farm capital
Non-Farm Activities (25%)
1. Dairy
- Common activity
- Buffaloes fed on grass, jowar, bajra
- Milk sold @ Raiganj
- 2 traders (Shahpur) → milk chilling & transport
2. Small-scale Manufacturing
- <50 ppl involved
- Done @ home/fields
- Family labour, no hired workers
- Simple tools/processes
3. Shopkeepers (Trade)
- Few traders/shopkeepers
- Buy from city wholesalers → sell in village
- Sell: grains, tea, oil, soaps, pens, clothes, etc.
- Shops near bus stand → eatables
4. Transport
- Jobs: rickshaw, tonga, jeep, truck, tractor, bullock cart
- Ferry people/goods for money
- Growing sector in recent years