NOTES
ACADEMIC SESSION 2024 – 2025
GRADE – 7 (SOCIAL AND POLITICAL LIFE)
Chapter 8 A shirt in the market
Student’s Name: Date:
Learning Objectives
Understand the cotton production process and how it transforms into a
finished product like a shirt.
Explore the concept of markets and how they connect producers, sellers,
and buyers in a supply chain.
Develop critical thinking about how markets function and who gains the
most.
Keywords with meanings:
Ginning Mill: It is a factory where seeds are removed from
cotton bolls. The cotton is pressed into bales which are sent for
spinning into thread.
Putting-Out System: In this system, the cloth merchant
supplies the raw material to the weavers and receives the
finished product.
Exporter: One who sells goods in foreign countries.
Profit: The amount left or gained from earnings after deducting
all the costs.
Cotton farmer in Kurnool
1. What made Swapna sell the cotton to the trader
instead of selling it at the Kurnool cotton market? (2
mark)
Ans Swapna borrowed ₹ 2,500 at high interest from the local
trader. The amount was borrowed to buy seeds, fertilisers, and
pesticides for cultivation. The other condition that Swapna had
to agree to was that she would sell all her cotton to traders
only.
2. Why do farmers borrow money from moneylenders?
(2 mark)
Ans Cultivation of cotton requires more inputs like seeds,
fertilisers, and pesticides. Farmers have to incur heavy
expenses on these inputs and need to borrow money to meet
these expenses.
3. Why did Swapna not argue with the trader further? (3
mark)
Ans Swapna knows that cotton will sell for at least Rs 1800 per
quintal instead of Rs1500 per quintal. But she didn't argue
further with the trader because of the following reasons:
1. He is a powerful man in the village.
2. The farmers have to depend on him for loans for
cultivation and to meet other exigencies (urgent work) like
illness and children’s school fees.
3. During no work period of the year, the farmers need to
borrow money for their survival.
3. Briefly write about Swapna as a farmer in Kurnool. (3
mark)
Ans Swapna is a small farmer in Kurnool. She grows cotton on a
small piece of land.
1. Once cotton balls ripen, she picks them.
2. It takes several days as cotton bolls burst open at different
times
3. She takes her harvest to the local trader and not to
the Kurnool market.
4. She had taken Rs 2,500 loan at a high interest rate from
that trader to grow cotton.
5. She had made a promise to sell her produce to him
4. Explain how raw cotton is transformed into a finished
garment. (5 mark)
Ans. Transformation of raw cotton into a finished garment:
1. The farmer sells the cotton to the trader.
2. Trader sells cotton to the ginning mill.
3. The ginning mill cleans the cotton by removing seeds and
making it into bales.
4. The spinning mill buys the bales.
5. Spinning mills spin the cotton into yarn and sell yarn to the
yarn dealers.
6. Yarn dealers or merchants give the yarn to the weavers
7. Weavers return with the cloth.
8. Garment exporters buy the cloth from merchants to make
shirts.
The cloth market of Erode
5. Write a brief note of the cloth market of Erode. (3
mark)
Ans The bi-weekly market of Erode in Tamil Nadu is one of the
biggest cloth markets in the world. A large variety of cloth is
sold in this market. The cloth that is made by weavers in the
nearby villages is also brought here for sale. Offices of cloth
merchants who buy this cloth are around the market.
Merchants and various traders from many south Indian towns
come and purchase cloth here. Merchants purchase the yarn
and give instructions to the weavers about the kind of cloth to
be made. On market days weavers bring cloth that has been
made on order. These merchants supply cloth on order to
garment manufacturers and exporters around the country.
Putting out system
6. Write a brief note on putting out the system. (5 mark)
Ans. The putting-out system is an arrangement between
merchants and weavers, where the merchant supplies yarn to
weavers and collects the finished cloth in return, which he then
sells to garment factories. As per the system, the weavers
weave clothes at home with the help of family members and
charge wages from the merchant. This arrangement offers two
advantages for the weavers:
they avoid spending on raw materials.
they are assured of a buyer for their products.
However, it also places weavers in a dependent position, as
merchants control what is produced (finished cloth) and pay low
wages. Weavers have no insight into the cloth’s final sale price
or its buyer, resulting in a system that heavily favors
merchants, especially in India’s weaving industry.
