The varieties of work in kalpattu village are:
1. Making basket
2. Making utensils
3. Making pots
4. Making bricks
5. Bullock carts
Landless Farmers or Agricultural labors and small Landowners do not own land and are poor.
Different types of people who depend on farming in kalpattu village are small and big farmers, agricultural labors and traders.
Landless farmers and agricultural labors like Thulasi are the poorest among them, since they do not own any land and work on others land. Their daily wage is very less and have to depend on landowners for the farming job. Mercers farming is a seasonal job. Hence, during the non- farming season, they have to go in search of other low- income job when waves like someone in the family fall ill, all their saving and earning are lost.
A fisherman takes a loan from a bank to purchase an engine and not from a moneylender. Banks loan interest is lower and the time period for the payment of loan will be long, where a family can get enough time to repay the loan. The banks are the reliable source of the loan that may not fall into the dept trap.
All are equal in the eyes of constitution. It is the duty of the government to provide basic facilities to the villagers. The government should make sure that there is no lack of education and there should be educated teachers because in some cases teachers are not interested in teaching students and do not pay attention on students. The rich people send their children to school because they have enough money whereas poor people cannot because they are poor; and secondly if they send them to school then, the rich people’s kids discriminate and criticize or bully them on the basis of their poorty.
What do you think the government can do to help farmers like Sekar when they get into debt? Discuss.
(1) By providing subsides on the purchase of seeds, fertilizers and pesticides etc.
(2) By providing low rate interest loan, so that they can repay their debt.
(3) Provide minimum support price for crops.
| Sekar | Ramlingam | |
| Land cultivated | 2 acres | 20 acres |
| Labour required | He do not requires | He requires |
| Loans required | He requires | He also requires the loan for rice mills |
| Selling of harvest | He pays paddy to back the loan | Sell to the traders |
| Other work done by them | He has | He owns |
Sekar owns only 2 acres of land whereas Ramlingam owns 20 acres of land. Sekar is poor and he has to work on other’s land and in addition he has to do other works also; as he is poor and that’s why he does not requires any labour. Ramlingam is a rich person and he has a big land so, he cannot work on that land alone i.e. he requires labours to work on his land. They both requires loans because Sekar has to buy seeds, pesticides and fertilizers whereas Ramlingam requires loans for the rice mill. Sekar has not enough money to pay loan back to the bank so, he has to give some amount of his harvest to the bank as loan on the other hand Ramlingam sell his harvest to the traders and he earns a lot of money for his harvest. Sekar is poor so one work is not enough for him so, he has to do some other works also and Ramlingam has a rice mill as well as 20 acres of land.
