CBSE Notes Class 7 Social Science Civics Chapter 8 - A Shirt in the Market

Chapter 8 of Class 7 Civics examines how markets provide varied chances to people. The' story of a shirt' and the chain of marketplaces involved in the process enable you fully comprehend this chapter. With each step of the manufacturing and distribution of a shirt, you will notice that some people profit from market transactions, while others do not profit and are often not even paid for their work. You are aware that the market's opportunities are tremendously unequal. After reading CBSE Notes Class 7 Social Science Civics Chapter 8 - A Shirt in the Market, you conclude that we require a far more realistic strategy to equitable market distribution.

This chapter begins with the production of cotton and ends with the sale of the shirt. You will see that a chain of markets links the producer of cotton to the buyer of the shirt in the supermarket. Buying and selling take place at every step in the chain. Does everyone benefit equally from this? Or do some people benefit more than others? You will find the answer to this question at the end of the chapter.

A Cotton Farmer in Kurnool 

Swapna is a modest farmer from Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh, who grows cotton on her little plot of land. The cotton harvesting process takes several days. Instead of selling the cotton immediately at the market, Swapna and her husband carried the harvested cotton to a local dealer. She requests Rs. 2,500 from the trader as a loan with a very high interest rate in order to purchase more cotton seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides. In exchange, the local dealer gave Swapna another condition: she must sell all of her cotton to him. In the end, she only received 3,000 rupees. 

The Cloth Market of Erode

One of the biggest textile markets in the world, Erode's is a fairly well-known biweekly cloth market in Tamil Nadu. In this market, a wide variety of cloth is sold. Village weavers produce clothing, which is then taken to the market for sale. Clothes are created after the merchant receives an order. These traders provide fabric to the nation's exporters and clothing manufacturers. They buy the yarn from the shopkeepers, are sent on their way, and are given instructions regarding the type of fabric that needs to be woven.

Putting-out system

For the weavers, this type of arrangement has two advantages:

• The weavers do not have to spend money by purchasing the yarn.
• Weavers don’t have to think about the selling of finished cloth as they work on contract basis.
• Whereas there are a few disadvantages also  the weavers:
• Dependency of weavers on raw materials and markets makes merchants more powerful.
• Weavers are paid little less wages for making the cloth.

The market works in favour of the merchants instead of weavers. This arrangement between the weavers and the merchants is an instance of a putting-out system, in which the merchant supplies the raw material to the weaver and in return receives the finished product from the weavers.

The merchant supplies the cotton cloth to the weavers for weaving and further to a garment exporting factory or cloth factory. The garment exporting factory now uses the cloth to make shirts. These shirts are further exported to foreign buyers. Foreign buyers are generally businessman from either US or Europe who run a chain of stores and do business strictly on their own terms as given:

1. Demanding the lowest prices from the supplier.
2. Set high standards for quality of production and timely delivery of the product.
3. Any sort of defects or delay in delivery is dealt strictly.

The Shirt in the United States

A number of shirts are displayed at a large clothes shop in the United States and are priced at $26. That is, each shirt sells for $26 or around 1,800 rupees.

Market and Equality

The international businessman has profited greatly from the market. as contrasted with the exporter of clothing who only generated modest revenues. The wages of the employees at the garment export industry, however, are extremely meager, stay constant, and can only be used to meet their basic needs.

When compared to weavers, merchants or traders made good money, but significantly less than exporters. As a result, not everyone in the market received an equal profit. Powerful people typically benefit the most financially from the market.