This lesson introduces economics through a story. Mohan, an economics teacher, sees the city children tease his nephew Kavin as a "villager". He then explains to them where our food comes from, what a Sandhai is, how the barter system led to the invention of money, and how our economy rests on primary, secondary and tertiary activities. His message: both cities and villages are important on their own.
1. Villages, Farmers and Food
- We buy rice and pulses from shops; the shopkeepers get them from those who grow crops.
- People who raise crops are called farmers. Farming is the main occupation in villages.
- Farmers grow crops like pulses, grains and vegetables and send them to the shops in cities, where we buy and consume them.
What a Village Looks Like
- Agriculture is the primary occupation. There are no facilities like those of cities, yet villagers get their basic needs fulfilled easily.
- There are small shops. Vegetables are grown in abundance, just like rice and pulses.
- The sugar added to milk, coffee and tea is produced in sugar mills, but its raw material, sugarcane, is cultivated in villages.
- From chilies to mustard, the provisions used for food are grown in villages.