The Shirt in the Market: Class 7 Social Science

• This chapter narrates the journey of a shirt, beginning with cotton production and ending with its sale.
• The narrative highlights a market chain that connects cotton producers to consumers buying shirts in supermarkets
• Buying and selling happens at each stage of this chain.
• The chapter explores whether everyone in this chain benefits equally or if some profit more than others.

A Cotton Farmer in Kurnool

• Swapna, a small farmer in Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh, cultivates cotton on a small plot of land.
• Harvesting cotton bolls takes several days because they don't all burst open simultaneously.
• Swapna takes her harvest to the local trader instead of the Kurnool cotton market.
• Swapna borrowed ₹2,500 from the trader at a high interest rate for cultivation supplies at the start of the season
• The trader made Swapna promise to sell all her cotton to him as a condition for the loan.
• Cultivating cotton requires costly inputs like fertilizers and pesticides, often necessitating loans for small farmers
• The trader's men weigh Swapna's cotton bags with the cotton priced at ₹1,500 per quintal, totaling ₹6,000
• After deducting ₹3,000 for loan repayment and interest, the trader pays Swapna ₹3,000.
• Swapna expresses disappointment with the compensation of only ₹3,000
• The trader defends the price, citing a market surplus of cotton.
• Despite knowing the cotton could sell for ₹1,800 per quintal, Swapna does not argue.
• Farmers often depend on powerful village traders for loans to cover cultivation costs and emergencies.
• Borrowing is often the only means of survival due to seasonal work and income.
• Swapna's income barely exceeds what she could earn as a wage laborer.

The Cloth Market of Erode

• Erode in Tamil Nadu hosts one of the world's largest bi-weekly cloth markets.
• The market offers a wide variety of fabrics.
• Cloth made by local village weavers is sold there.
• Cloth merchants have offices around the market to purchase cloth, and traders from southern India visit the market
• Weavers bring cloth made to order for merchants.
• Merchants supply these cloths on order to garment manufacturers and exporters nationwide.
• Merchants buy material and instruct the weavers on what type of cloth to be made.

Putting-Out System - Weavers Producing Cloth at Home

• Merchants circulate work to weavers based on received cloth orders.
• The weavers receive yarn from the merchant and supply him with the completed cloth.
• Advantages for weavers in this system include not needing to buy yarn or sell finished cloth.
• Dependence on merchants for raw materials and markets puts weavers at a disadvantage
• Merchants dictate the orders and pay low prices for the cloth.
• Weavers are unable to negotiate for better prices.
• Traders have built relationships with clothing companies across the country over time.
• These traders procure yarn from other people.
• Weavers live in the neighboring settlements and take the yarn given by these traders to their homes, where the looms are.
• Most weaving enterprises have roughly 2-8 looms, on which diverse products are made.
• They return the finished cloth to the merchants and get paid after the trader takes account of the given yarn amount.

Weaver’s Cooperative

• Cooperatives provide a way for weavers to reduce reliance on merchants and increase income.
• People with common interests unite and work for their collective gain in a cooperative.
• In a weaver's cooperative, weavers form groups and handle specific tasks together.
• The cooperative sources material from yarn dealers and distributes it among the weavers.
• Weavers get fair prices for their cloths as the cooperative handles the marketing, diminishing the role of the merchant.
• Governments sometimes assist cooperatives by buying cloths at a reasonable cost.
• The Tamil Nadu government runs a Free School Uniform initiative, procuring cloth from powerloom weaver's cooperatives for this purpose.
• The government buys cloths from handloom cooperatives, selling them through Co-optex stores

The Garment Exporting Factory Near Delhi

• The Erode merchant provides cotton cloth to a garment exporting factory near Delhi.
• The garment factory manufactures shirts for export to foreign buyers.
• US and European businesspersons who own chain stores are examples of foreign customers involved.
• These large stores operate on strict terms, demanding low prices, high production quality, and on-time delivery.
• Exporters must meet demands and deal with defects or delays.
• Exporting factories try to keep costs down by getting the most output from employees and spending the least amount of money possible on wages.
• This helps them to make huge profits and give foreign customers garments at a lower price.
• Most of the 70 workers at the Impex garment factory are female
• Most workers are temporarily employed which means they can be fired at any moment.
• Worker pay depends on expertise
• Tailors earn around ₹3,000 monthly, the highest wages.
• Women earn the lowest pay which employed as helpers to do ironing, packaging, thread cutting, and buttoning.

The Shirt in the United States

• Shirts are displayed and priced at $26 in a clothes shop in the United States, about ₹1,800
• The businessperson purchased each shirt from the garment exporter in Delhi for ₹300.
• The businessperson spends ₹400 per shirt on advertising, ₹200 per shirt on all other costs including Storage etc.
• The cost to the businessperson became ₹900 with a profit of ₹900 on one shirt selling for ₹1,800

Market and Equality

• A market chain connects cotton producers to supermarket buyers.
• Buying and selling happens at every stage.
• Not everyone benefits equally.
• Despite their hard work some gain little while others make profits.
• Foreign businesspersons made huge profits compared to moderate profits for garment exporters.
• Workers in garment factories made barely enough to cover their daily needs.
• Small cotton farmers and Erode weavers work hard but did not get fair market prices.
• Traders and merchants lie somewhere in between exporters and weavers with less income than exporters.
• Not everyone gains equally in the market, and democracy is about fair salaries in the market.
• It is still up for debate on whether families can be seen as equals if they are not paid enough.
• Markets provide work opportunities and a place to sell farm or manufactured goods.
• Rich and powerful people make the most from the market.
• They own factories, shops, and land.
• Poor people rely on richer people for loans as in the case of a small Swapna farmer.
• Put-out systems is applicable for raw materials and goods marketing (weavers)
• Work is a result of workers employment (factory employees)
• Because of such circumstances, the poor are utilized in the market.
• There are methods to address this by forming cooperative producers and ensuring there are practices that are followed.