A Shirt in the Market

JAC Board Class 7th Social Science Solutions Civics Chapter 8 A Shirt in the Market

JAC Class 7th Civics A Shirt in the Market InText Questions and Answers

Page 93

Question 1.
Did Swapna get a fair price on the cotton?
Answer:
No, Swapna didn’t get a fair price on the cotton. She was paid a very low price by the local trader.

Question 2.
Why did the trader pay Swapna a low price?
Answer:
The trader paid Swapna a low price because he lent money to Swapna at the beginning of the cropping season on a particular condition that she will sell her cottons to him only. The local trader took the advantage of this position and paid her low price.

Question 3.
Where do you think large farmers would sell their cotton? How is their situation different from Swapna?
Answer:
Large farmers would sell their cotton in the market. Their situation is very much different from Swapna as she had a constraint to sell her cotton to the local trader but those farmers can sell their cotton anywhere they want.

Page 95

Question 4.
What are the following people doing at the Erode cloth market—merchants, weavers, exporters?
Answer:
The following people are doing at the Erode cloth markeL

Merchants:
They purchase the yam and give directions to the weavers about what kind of cloth has to be made. They supply cloth on order to garment manufacturers and exporters around the country.

Weavers:
The make cloth and bring this to the Erode cloth market for sale. They also make cloth on orders which they get from merchants

Exporters:
They use the cloth to make shirts to export them to the foreign buyers.

Question 5.
In what ways are weavers dependent on cloth merchants?
Answer:
Forraw materials and markets, the weavers are dependent on cloth merchants.

Page 96

Question 6.
If the weavers were to buy yarn on their own and sell cloth, they would probably earn three times more. Do you think this is possible? How? Discuss.
Answer:
Yes, this is possible. If the weavers were to buy yam on their own and sell cloth, they would probably earn three times’ more. They would buy yam at the lowest price and sell it at the highest possible price. Of their own choice, they would select the market for better price.

Question 7.
Do you find similar ‘putting-out’ arrangements in making papads, masalas, beedis ?
Answer:
Find out about this in your area and discuss in class.
Students need to do it by their own.

Question 8.
You might have heard of cooperatives in your area. It could be in milk, provisions, paddy, etc. Find out for whose benefit they were set up?
Answer:
They were set up for the benefit for those who were in want of capital.

Question 9.
What are the demands foreign buyers make on the garment exporters? Why do the garment exporters agree to these demands?
Answer:

1. The demands foreign buyers make on the garment exporters are:
2. Lowest prices from the garment exporters.
3. High standards for quality product. Timely delivery.
4. The garment exporters agree to these demands because they are likely to have maximum profit even after that.

Question 10.
HowHow do the garment exporters meet the conditions set by the foreign buyers?
Answer:
The garment exporters meet the conditions set by the foreign buyers by getting the most of the work done by the weavers at the minimum wage.

Page 98

Question 11.
Why do you think more women are employed in the Impex garment factory? Discuss.
Answer:
More women are employed in the Impex garment factory because they are ready to work even at the lowest possible wage.

Question 12.
Write a letter to the Minister asking for what you think would be proper payment to the workers.
Answer:
Students need to do it on their own.

Question 13.
The shirt below shows the profit made by the businessperson, and the various costs that he had to pay. Find out from the diagram below, what the cost price includes.

Answer:
Students need to do it on their own.

Page 99

Question 14.
Compare the earnings per shirt of the worker in the garment factory, the garment exporter and the businessperson in the market abroad. What do you find?
Answer:
The business person in foreign makes profit of? 600 and the garment exporter makes a profit of ? 100 on one shirt. As far as the workers are concerned they get only ? 15 for one shirt.

Question 15.
What are the reasons that the businessperson is able to make a huge profit in the market?
Answer:
The reasons that the businessperson is able to make a huge profit in the market are: He knows the method as how to get the work done at the lowest possible rate from the garment exporter.He is able to sell shirts in large quantity. He sells his shirt to the high income group.

Question 16.
You have read the chapter on advertising. Why does the businessperson spend ? 300 per shirt on advertising? Discuss.
Answer:
Students need to do it on their own.

JAC Class 7th Civics A Shirt in the Market Textbook Questions and Answers

Question 1.
What made Swapna sell the cotton to the trader instead of selling at the Kurnool cotton market?
Answer:
Swapna sold the cotton to the trader instead of selling at the Kumool cotton market because she had taken a loan from the local trader at the beginning of the cropping season. The local trader lent the money in one condition that she will sell the cotton to him only. Swapna had no other option but to agree on the trader’s terms and condition.

Question 2.
Describe the conditions of employment as well as the wages of workers in the garment exporting factory. Do you think the workers get a fair deal?
Answer:
The conditions of employment, as well as the wages of workers in the garment exporting factory, are very pitiful. They work in an unhygienic conditions. They work for long hours everyday around 10 to 12 hours a day. They are the temporary workers and doesn’t have job security. I don’t think the workers get a fair deal. They are exploited at every steps of the work.

Question 3.
Think of something common that we use. It could be sugar, tea, milk, pen, paper, pencil, etc. Discuss through what chain of markets this reaches you. Can you think of the people that help in the production or trade?
Answer:
We can take the example of sugar. Producers are the farmers who grows sugarcane. After the harvest is ready, they sell it to the traders who have the sugar mills. They produce sugar with the help of other workers. The sugar is then sold the wholesale trader in bulk. The retailers buy the sugar from the wholesale trader. Finally, the consumer gets the sugar from the retailer when required. Thus, a chain of market is created:

Producer → local trader → wholesaler retailers → consumers. The people who help in the production of sugar are producers/ farmers, traders/ sugar-mill owners, workers, wholesalers, retailers and consumers finally.

Question 4.
Arrange the statements given alongside in the correct order and then fill in the numbers in the cotton bolls accordingly. The first two have already been done for you.

1. Swapna sells the cotton to the trader.
2. Customers buy these shirts in a supermarket.
3. Trader sells cotton to the Ginning Mill.
4. Garment exporters buy the cloth from merchants for making shirts.
5. Yarn dealers or merchants give the yam to the weavers.
6. The exporter sells shirts to the businessperson from the USA.
7. Spinning mill buys the cotton and sells yam to the yam dealers.
8. Weavers return with the cloth.
9. Ginning mill cleans the cotton and makes it into bales.

Answer:
The statements in correct order are:

JAC Class 7thCivics A Shirt in the Market Important Questions and Answers

Multiple Choice Questions

Question 1.
Swapna sold her cotton to local trader at
(a) low rate
(b) high rate
(c) moderate rate
(d) fair rate
Answer:
(a) low rate

Question 2.
Cotton cultivation requires
(a) fertilisers
(b) pesticides
(c) seeds
(d) All of these
Answer:
(d) All of these

Question 3.
The price of things and items can be
(a) flexible
(b) fixed
(c) Either (a) or (b)
(d) Both (a) and (b)
Answer:
(c) Either (a) or (b)

Question 4.
A person who sells item in foreign countries are known as
(a) Retailer
(b) Importer
(c) Exporter
(d) Manufacturer
Answer:
(c) Exporter

Question 5.
Erode is famous for
(a) spice market
(b) cloth market
(c) woollen market
(d) jewellery market
Answer:
(b) cloth market

Question 6.
The work of the women workers at the Impex garment factory is/ was
(a) ironing and packaging
(b) buttoning
(c) thread cutting
(d) All of these
Answer:
(d) All of these

Question 7.
Weaver’s cooperatives are helpful in providing
(a) raw materials to the weavers
(b) loans to the weavers
(c) midday meals to the weavers
(d) taking care of their kids
Answer:
(a) raw materials to the weavers

Question 8.
An arrangement between weavers and merchants is known as
(a) going out system
(b) putting-out system
(c) incoming System
(d) None of these
Answer:
(b) putting-out system

Very Short Answer Type Questions

Question 1.
What do you mean by trade?
Answer:
Trade is the sale, transfer or exchange of goods and services for a fixed price.

Question 2.
In which state Erode is located?
Answer:
Erode is located in Tamil Nadu.

Question 3.
Which people earn the minimum wage in Erode?
Answer:
The weaves earns the minimum wage in Erode.

Question 4.
Who was Swapna?
Answer:
Swapna was a small farmer in Kumool which is in Andhra Pradesh and grows cotton on her small piece of land.

Question 5.
Why did Swapna borrow money from the local trader?
Answer:
Swapna had borrowed money from thetrader to buy seeds, fertilisers, pesticides for cultivation of cotton.

Question 6.
What was the condition that the trader agree to give loan to Swapna?
Answer:
The trader agreed to give loan to Swapna on a condition that she would sell all her cotton to him.

Question 7.
Garment exporting factories maximise their own profit. How?
Answer:
Garment exporting factories maximise their own profits by getting maximum work from workers at lowest price and supply the foreign buyers at cheap rates.

Question 8.
What is the reason that more women are employed in the Impex garment factory?
Answer:
The reason that more women are employed in the Impex garment factory as they agree to work even at the lowest possible wages.

Short Answer Type Questions

Question 1.
What do you mean by putting-out system?
Answer:
Putting-out system is an arrangement between the merchant and the weavers whereby the merchant supplies the raw material and receives the finished product. It is prevalent in the weaving industry in most regions of India

Question 2.
Explain how merchants hold lot of power.
Answer:
The merchant distributes work among the weavers based on the orders he has received for cloth. The weavers get the yam from the merchant and supply him the cloth. However, this dependence on the merchants both for raw materials and markets means that the merchants have a lot of power.

Question 3.
What do you mean by the following terms: Ginning mill, Exporter and Profit.
Answer:
Ginning mill: Ginning mill is a factory where seeds are removed from cotton bolls. Then the cotton is pressed into bales to be sent for spinning into thread.

Exporter:
Exporter is a person who sells goods in foreign countries.

Profit:
Profit is the amount that is left or gained from earnings after deducting all the expenses and costs. If the costs are more than the earnings, it would lead to a loss.

Question 4.
In what ways small farmers are dependent on local traders?
Answer:
The local trader is a powerful man in the village and small farmers have to depend on him not only for loans for cultivation but also to meet other urgent needs such as illnesses, children’s school fees. Also, there are times in the year when there is no work and no income for the farmers so borrowing money is the only means of survival. In this way small farmers are dependent on local traders.

Question 5.
List the advantages of the putting-out system to the weavers.
Answer:

• The advantages of the putting-out system to the weavers:
• The weavers do not have to spend the money for the purchase of the yam.
• The selling of finished cloth is also taken care of by the traders.
• From the outset, weavers know what cloth to be made and how much quantity to be woven.

Question 6.
How do weaver’s cooperatives minimise the dependence of weavers on the cloth merchants?
Answer:
In a weaver’s cooperative, the weavers form a group and take up certain activities collectively. As we know in a cooperative, people with common interests come together and work for their mutual benefit. In the weaver’s cooperative, they procure yam from the yam dealer and distribute it among the weavers. The cooperative also does the marketing. Hence, the role of the cloth merchant is reduced and weavers get a fair price on the cloth.

Question 7.
List the disadvantages of the putting- out system for the weavers.
Answer:
The disadvantages of the putting-out system for the weavers are:

• For raw materials and markets, the weavers have to depend on the merchants.
• The merchants have a lot of power under this arrangement. They give orders for what is to be made and pay a very low price for making the cloth.
• The weavers have no way of knowing for whom they are making the cloth or at what price it will be sold.

Long Answer Type Questions

Question 1.
How does the market work in favour of the rich and powerful merchants? What are the ways to overcome them?
Answer:
The market work in favour of the rich and powerful merchants in . different ways. It is usually the rich and the powerful merchants that get the maximum profit from the market. These are the people who have money and own the factories, the large shops, large land holdings, etc.

The poor people have to depend on the rich and the powerful for various things. They have to depend for loans, for raw materials and marketing of their goods and mostly for employment. Due to this dependency, the poor are exploited in the market. There are ways to overcome these such as forming cooperatives of producers and ensuring that laws are followed strictly.

Question 2.
Discuss briefly about the cloth market of Erode.
Answer:
Erode’s bi-weekly cloth market is in Tamil Nadu. It is one of the largest cloth markets in the world. A huge variety of cloth is sold in this market. People come from far and nearby places. Cloth that is made by weavers in the villages is also brought here for sale. Cloth merchants have the offices around the market who buy this cloth. Other traders from many south Indian towns also come and purchase cloth in this market.

On the market days, weavers brings the cloth that has been made on order from the merchant. These merchants supply cloth on order to garment manufacturers and exporters around the country. The cloth merchants purchase the yam and give instructions to the weavers about the kind of cloth that is to be made.

JAC Class 7 Social Science Solutions