A Shirt in the Market

Q16. 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?

Ans. The businessperson in the market abroad makes profit of Rs. 600 on one shirt, the garment exporter gains Rs. 100 on one shirt and worker gets only Rs. 15 per shirt.

Q17. Explain the following term: Ginning mill, Exporter and Profit.

Ans. Ginning mill: A factory where seeds are removed from cotton bolls. The cotton is pressed into bales to be sent for spinning into thread.

Exporter: A person who sells goods abroad.

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

Q18. 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.

Ans.  If the weavers were to buy yarn on their own and sell cloth, they would probably earn three times more. Yes this is possible because they would buy yarn at lowest possible price and sell in the market of their choice at the highest possible price.

Q19. How do exporters cut down the cost of manufacturing garments?
Or
How do the garment exporters meet the conditions set by the foreign buyers?

Ans. Faced with such pressures from the buyers, the garment exporting factories, in turn, try to cut costs. They get the maximum work out of the workers at the lowest possible wages. This way they can maximise their own profits and also supply the garments to foreign buyers at a cheap price.

Q20. How are small farmers dependent on local traders?
Or
How are small farmers in the grip of the local trader?

Ans. The trader is a powerful man in the village and small farmers have to depend on him for loans not only for cultivation, but also to meet other exigencies 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.

Q21. Where do you think large farmers would sell their cotton? How is their situation different from Swapna?

Ans. Large farmers would sell their cotton in the market. Their situation is different from Swapna. Unlike Swapna, they do not have to depend on traders for loans for raw materials and to meet other exigencies such as illnesses, children’s school fees etc. Thus they are free to sell their produce anywhere they wish.

Q22. What are the following people doing at the Erode cloth market– merchants, weavers, exporters?

Ans. Merchants - They supply cloth on order to garment manufacturers and exporters around the country. They purchase the yarn and give instructions to the weavers about the kind of cloth that is to be made.

Weavers – The weavers get the yarn from the merchant and supply him the cloth.

Exporters - The garment exporting factory will use the cloth to make shirts.

Q23. What made Swapna sell the cotton to the trader instead of selling at the Kurnool cotton market?

Ans. At the beginning of the cropping season, Swapna had borrowed

Rs 2,500 from the trader at a very high interest rate to buy seeds, fertilisers, pesticides for cultivation. At that time, the local trader made Swapna agree to another condition. He made her promise to sell all her cotton to him. Thus Swapna had to sell the cotton to the trader instead of selling at the Kurnool cotton market.

Q24. How do weaver’s cooperatives reduce the dependence of weavers on the cloth merchants?

Ans. In a cooperative, people with common interests come together and work for their mutual benefit. In a weaver’s cooperative, the weavers form a group and take up certain activities collectively. They procure yarn from the yarn dealer and distribute it among the weavers. The cooperative also does the marketing. So, the role of the merchant is reduced, and weavers get a fair price on the cloth.