Kalpattu Village

• Kalpattu is a village close to sea coast in Tamilnadu. Surrounded by hills.
• Paddy is the main crop that grown in irrigated lands.
• Most of the families earn a living through agriculture.
• People do many kinds of work also:
  • Non-form work: making baskets , utensils, pots, bricks,bullock carts. etc.
  • Services like work: blacksmiths, nurses, teachers , washermen, weavers, barbers, cycle repair mechanics and so on..
  • Street bazaar  with variety of shops like tea shops, grocery shops , barber shops. cloth shops, seed shopes, tailor shops etc..
  • Traders and shopkeepers.
• Coconut, cotton, sugar cane and plantain also grown here.
• Mango orchards also there.

Thulasi

• An agricultural labourer work on Ramalungam's land ( 20 acres of paddy fields)
• Her husband  Raman is also a labourer.
• They don't own any land.
• Her husband sprays pesticides.
• When there is no work on the farm, he finds work outside, load sand from the river or stone from the quarry nearby.
• She cooks food at home for her family and collect firewood from nearby forest and also she fetch water from borewell.
• She borrowed money from Ramalingam for her daughter treatment when her daughter fell ill and had to be taken to the hospital in town.
• She belongs to a poor families in rural areas often spend  a lot of time everyday collecting firewood, getting water and grazing their cattle.
• Nearly two-fifth of all rural families are agricultural labourers in our country.
• Every five rural families are agricultural labourer families.

Sekar 

• A small farmer own don't much land but only 2 acres. His land is barely enough to meet their needs. 80% famers belong to this group.
• He manage all work by himself.
• traders gave him seeds and fertilisers as a loan.To payback his loan, he has to sell his paddy to traders  at lower price than what he would get in the market.
• He gets 60 bags of paddy from his field.
• He work in Ramalingam's rice mill. here he collects paddy from other farmers in the neighboring villages.
• He has a hybrid cow,whose milk he sell in the local milk cooperative to earn extra money.

Debt

• Farmers like Sekar need to borrow money to purchase basic things like seed, fertilisers and pesticides.
• Sometimes they are unable to pay back their loans due to :
  • major crop failure due to pests attack on their crop ( reason seeds are not of good quality)
• Sometimes they may have to borrow more money to survive with family.

Ramalingam and Karuthamma

• A big farmer owns 20 acer land , a rice mill , a shop selling seeds, pesticides etc. 20 % of India's farmers belongs to this group.
• He borrowed money from government back to setup rice mill.
• He sells rice to traders produced from mill.
• A large part of their produce is sold in the market.
• Many of them like him start other businesses such as shops, money lending , trading , small factories.

Aruna and Paarivelan

• Aruna and his husband Paarivelan lives in a village Pudupet.
• They earn their living by fishing.
• There houses are close to the sea.
• They keep some fish for the family and rest fish they will auction.
• Auction money is divided into 4 parts. one for each person who went fishing and the fouther one is for the equipment : catamaran, engine and nets.
• They have taken loan from back to buy engine which is fixed with catamaran.

Rural Livelihoods

• There are different ways in which people earn their living in villages.
• Village people are engaged in both farm activities and non-farm works, such as making utensils, baskets etc.
• There are agricultural labourers as well as big farmers.
• Working on farms involves operations such as preparing the land, sowing, weeding and harvesting of crops.
• In India, nearly two out of every five rural families are agricultural labourer families.
• Blacksmith A person engaged in making iron goods, tools, instruments etc.
• Villagers People who reside in villages and occupy with agriculture.
• Catamaran It is a small boat used for catching fishes.
• Migration Movement of people from one place to another, in search of jobs and better livelihood.
• Pesticide: A chemical used for killing pests, especially insects.
• Harvest: The act of cutting and gathering crops.
• Terrace Farming: This is a type of farming in which the land on a hill slope is made into flat plots and carved out in steps. The sides of each plot are raised in order to retain water. This allows water to stand in the field, which is suitable for rice cultivation. this is popular in Nagaland.
• Many people in rural areas depend upon collection from the forest, animal husbandry, dairy produce, fishing etc.