6/28/23, 10:57 PM Summary Notes for class 9th Economics NCERT
NCERT 9th Economics
— NCERT 9th : (Chapter — 1)
• In villages across India, farming is the main production activity. The other production
activities, referred to as non- farm activities include small manufacturing, transport, shop-
keeping, etc.
• During the rainy season (kharif) farmers grow jowar and bajra. (These plants are used as
cattle feed. It is followed by cultivation of potato between October and December.)
• In the winter season (rabi), fields are sown with wheat.
• Persian wheels were used by farmers to draw water from the wells and irrigate small
fields. Electric-run tube-wells can irrigate much larger areas of land more effectively.
• Not all villages in India have such high levels of irrigation. Apart from the riverine plains,
coastal regions in our country are well-irrigated. In contrast, plateau regions such as the
Deccan plateau have low levels of irrigation. Of the total cultivated area in the country a
little less than 40 per cent is irrigated even today. In the remaining areas, farming is
largely dependent on rainfall.
• To grow more than one crop on a piece of land during the year is known as multiple
cropping. It is the most common way of increasing production on a given piece of land.
Till the mid- 1960s, the seeds used in cultivation were traditional ones with relatively low
yields. Traditional seeds needed less irrigation. Farmers used cow-dung and other natural
manure as fertilizers. All these were readily available with the farmers who did not have
to buy them.
• The Green Revolution in the late 1960s introduced the Indian farmer to cultivation of
wheat and rice using high yielding varieties (HYVs) of seeds. Compared to the traditional
seeds, the HYV seeds promised to produce much greater amounts of grain on a single
plant. However, higher yields were possible only from a combination of HYV seeds,
irrigation, chemical fertilisers, pesticides, etc.
• Impact on Land with modern farming methods :
— Scientific reports indicate that the modern farming methods have overused the natural
resource base.
— In many areas, Green Revolution is associated with the loss of soil fertility due to
increased use of chemical fertilisers. Also, continuous use of groundwater for tube-well
irrigation has led to the depletion of the water-table.
• The Capital needed in farming :
— Most small farmers have to borrow money to arrange for the capital. They borrow
from large farmers or the village moneylenders or the traders who supply various inputs
for cultivation. The rate of interest on such loans is very high. They are put to great
distress to repay the loan.
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,6/28/23, 10:57 PM Summary Notes for class 9th Economics NCERT
NCERT 9th Economics
Summary — 9th NCERT (Chapter - 1)
• Farming is the main production activity in the village. Over the years there have been
many important changes in the way farming is practiced. These have allowed the farmers
to produce more crops from the same amount of land. This is an important achievement,
since land is fixed and scarce. But in raising production a great deal of pressure has been
put on land and other natural resources.
• The new ways of farming need less land, but much more of capital. The medium and
large farmers are able to use their own savings from production to arrange for capital
during the next season. On the other hand, the small farmers who constitute about 80
per cent of total farmers in India, find it difficult to obtain capital. Because of the small
size of their plots, their production is not enough. The lack of surplus means that they
are unable to obtain capital from their own savings, and have to borrow. Besides the
debt, many of the small farmers have to do additional work as farm labourers to feed
themselves and their families.
• Labour being the most abundant factor of production, it would be ideal if new ways of
farming used much more labour. Unfortunately, such a thing has not happened. The use
of labour on farms is limited. The labour, looking for opportunities is thus migrating to
neighbouring villages, towns and cities. Some labour has entered the non-farm sector in
the village.
• At present, the non-farm sector in the village is not very large. Out of every 100
workers in the rural areas in India, only 24 are engaged in non-farm activities. Though
there is a variety of non-farm activities in the villages (we have only seen a few
examples), the number of people employed in each is quite small.
• In the future, one would like to see more non-farm production activities in the village.
Unlike farming, non-farm activities require little land. People with some amount of
capital can set up non-farm activities. How does one obtain this capital? One can either
use his own savings, but more often has to take a loan. It is important that loan be
available at low rate of interest so that even people without savings can start some non-
farm activity. Another thing which is essential for expansion of non-farm activities is to
have markets where the goods and services produced can be sold. In Palampur, we saw
the neighbouring villages, towns and cities provide the markets for milk, jaggery,
wheat, etc. As more villages get connected to towns and cities through good roads,
transport and telephone, it is possible that the opportunities for non-farm activities in
the village would increase in the coming years.
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, 6/28/23, 10:57 PM Summary Notes for class 9th Economics NCERT
NCERT 9th Economics
— NCERT 9th : (Chapter - 2)
• India’s Green Revolution is a dramatic example of how the input of greater
knowledge in the form of improved production technologies can rapidly
increase the productivity of scarce land resources. India’s IT revolution is a
striking instance of how the importance of human capital has come to acquire a
higher position than that of material, plant and machinery.
• For many decades in India, a large population has been considered a liability
rather than an asset. But a large population need not be a burden for the
economy. It can be turned into a productive asset by investment in human
capital (for example, by spending resources on education and health for all,
training of industrial and agricultural workers in the use of modern technology,
useful scientific researches and so on).
• Countries, like Japan, have invested in human resource. They did not have any
natural resource. These countries are developed/rich. They import the natural
resource needed in their country. How did they become rich/developed? They
have invested on people, especially in the field of education and health. These
people have made efficient use of other resources, like land and capital.
Efficiency and the technology evolved by people have made these countries
rich/developed.
• — Primary sector includes agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, fishing,
poultry farming, mining and quarrying.
— Manufacturing is included in the secondary sector.
— Trade, transport, communication, banking, education, health, tourism,
services, insurance, etc. are included in the tertiary sector. The activities in this
sector result in the production of goods and services.
Economic activities have two parts — market activities and non-market activities.
— Market activities involve remuneration to anyone who performs i.e., activity
performed for pay or profit. These include production of goods or services,
including government service.
— Non-market activities are the production for self-consumption. These can be
consumption and processing of primary product and own account production of
fixed assets.
• Women are not paid for their service delivered in the family. The household
work done by women is not recognised in the National Income.
— Women are paid for their work when they enter the labour market. Their
earning like that of their male counterpart is determined on the basis of
education and skill.
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