Urban Livelihoods

Q1. Fill in the blanks.

             i.        Nirmala works in a garment factory.

            ii.        There are almost one crore 'street vendors' in the country working in urban areas.

          iii.        Street vending is now recognised as a general benefit and as a right of people to earn their livelihood.

          iv.        A large number of people in the city work on the streets.

           v.        Harpreet and Vandana are businesspersons.

Q2. True/False

           i.        Vandana is a dress designer. True

          ii.        Workers who work in offices, factories, and government departments are called casual workers. False

        iii.        Working in Call Centres is a new form of employment in the big cities. True

        iv.        Street shops are usually permanent structures. False

Q3. Name a new form of employment in the big cities.

Ans. Call centres

Q4. Who is Bachchu Manjhi?

Ans. Bachchu Manjhi is a Cycle-Rickshaw Puller.

Q5. What is mandatory for permanent shops?

Ans. Permanent shops need licence to do business.

Q6. What kind of threat temporary workers go through?

Ans. Temporary workers go through threat of being fired by the employer.

Q7. List some activities that are carried out on the streets?

Ans. Vending, hair cutting, shoe repairing, flower selling, newspaper selling etc.

Q8. How many towns and big cities are there in India?

Ans. There are more than five thousand towns and twenty seven big cities in

India.

Q9. Which authority issues licence to the permanent shops to do business?

Ans. Municipal corporation authority issues licence to the permanent shops to do business.

Q10. What is labour chowk?

Ans. The 'labour chowk' is a place where daily wage labourers wait with their tools for contractors to hire them.

Q11. Who decides on which day of the week the market has to remain closed?

Ans. The Municipal Corporation decides on which day of the week the market has to remain closed.

Q12. Why can't Bachchu Manjhi live with his family?

Ans. Bachchu Manjhi can’t live with his family because he stays with his friends in a rented room.

Q13. How street vending was looked upon recently?

Ans. Street vending was till recently looked upon only as an obstruction to traffic and to people walking.

Q14. What was found in a survey of Ahmedabad city?

Ans. In a survey of Ahmedabad city it was found that 12 per cent of all the workers in the city were people working on the street.

Q15. Why foreign companies set up their call centres in India?

Ans. Foreign companies set up Call Centres in India as they can get people who can speak English and will work for lower wages.

Q16. Name some big cities that have more than a million people living and working there.

Ans. Big cities like Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata etc. have more than a million people living and working there.

Q17. Why do you think small workshops and factories employ casual workers?

Ans. Small workshops and factories employ casual workers because they get large orders only during certain seasons.

Q18. Who are casual workers?

Ans. Casual workers are not part of the permanent workforce, but supply services on an irregular or flexible basis, often to meet a fluctuating demand for work.