Rural Livelihoods

Introduction
The means by which you earn money is called livelihood. The method you adopt to earn a living is your occupation. Thus, occupation is the means to earn a livelihood.

Types of Occupation
 The various occupations may be classified into three sectors. These are: Primary Sector, Secondary Sector and Tertiary Sector.

Primary Sector
The primary sector consists of those activities concerned with the direct extraction of materials from nature. In this sector, people are engaged in agriculture, fishing, dairy farming and poultry farming, mining, forestry etc. A farmer grows crop in the fields, manages orchards or vineyards; a dairy farmer raises livestock for milk while a poultry farmer keeps hens and chickens to obtain eggs and meat; a fisherman catches fish from a river or pond; and a miner extracts minerals from the earth. All these occupations are related to obtaining raw materials from the earth directly and hence are primary occupations.

Secondary Sector
The secondary sector includes industries that process, transform and assemble raw materials into products. For example, the cotton textile industry makes cloth from the cotton plant; a bakery makes breads, cakes, pizzas and biscuits from wheat; the steel industry converts iron ore found in nature into steel. All manufacturing industries also come in this sector because they manufacture products like automobiles, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals from raw materials .
The secondary sector is dependent on the primary sector for raw material.

Tertiary Sector
This sector provide goods and services to people in exchange of payment. Once the product is ready, it needs to be made available to the people. Thus the secondary and tertiary sectors are also linked. This sector covers activities like trading, banking, healthcare, transportation, communication, insurance, entertainment, security, management and consultancy, among several others.

Rural Livelihoods
Various Types of Livelihood Prevalent in a Village. 
Different types of people live in a village and they have different types of livelihoods. Agriculture is the chief occupation of the villagers. They are mostly farmers. There are, however, other people who follow different occupations. There are shopkeepers, blacksmiths, carpenters, weavers, potters, barbers, etc. All of them form the village community. 

Different Types of Farmers. 
Majority of the people who reside in the village are farmers. But all farmers are not of the same level and position. Many economists have attempted their classification. There are farmers with large farms, farmers with middle-sized farms, small-sized farm owners and landless farmers. Farmers who own land between 2 to 5 hectares are called middle scale farmers, those who own land more than 5 hectares are called large scale farmers, while such farmers who own land less than 2 hectares are called small farmers. Some small farmers have no land of their own; as such they are sometime called landless farmers. Landless farmers are often trapped in debt. They take things on credit and loan and later on thus have to pay more money as interest. 
Large farmers usually do not work as cultivators. They give land to other farmers on contract and share the produce with them. They, at times, engage landless farmers and pay them either in kind or in cash. They live in pucca houses and enjoy a life of luxury. 
Middle farmers mostly work on their lands and grow crops for themselves and their families. This type of farming is called subsistance farming where the main production is consumed by the farmer's household. Such farmers usually use primitive tools but sometimes they hire tractors and harvesters. They grow food crops like wheats, barley, rice, etc.
Small farmers who own land less than 2 hectares can't make both ends meet. Those with no land lead a worse life. They have to work for the large scale farmers though sometimes some of them help the middle farmers as well. Their plight is miserable. A few of them leave their villages and temporarily shift to the nearby towns and cities to earn for themselves and their families whom they have left in their native villages.

Shopkeepers.
Next to the farmers the shopkeepers form an important part of the village folk. They sell different things of daily use, like food items, grocery, stationery, hosiery, etc., and cater to the needs of the villages. People come to their  shops to buy different things. Some customers pay them cash while others buy things on credit. Naturally those who take things on credit have to pay more.

The Blacksmith.
Usually there is one family of a blacksmith in each village. He makes tools and implements of iron for the farming community. Members of his family help him in his work. The assistant keeps the fire burning by working on the bellows. He strikes the iron when it is hot and moulds the iron into desired shapes.

The Carpenter.
The carpenter i also an important member of the village community. He makes different things of wood like door, windows, chairs, tables and stools, etc. He makes the wooden ploughs and the wooden carts.

Urban Livelihoods
    Difference between Primary, Secondary or Tertiary Occupations.
    The work that we do to earn our living is called an occupation. Occupations are generally divided into three main categories -Primary, Secondary and Tertiary.

•   Primary Occupations. 
    Such occupations in which people are engaged in deriving useful goods from natural resources are called primary occupations. Agriculture, forestry, cattle-rearing, dairy farming, fishing, mining, etc., are some such occupations.

•   Secondary Occupations.
    Secondary occupations involve processing of raw material (like agricultural produce, minerals, fish, fowl, etc.) into utility goods by hand or by machines. Textile industries, iron and steel industries, bakeries, leather industry, paper making, etc., all belong to            secondary occupations. Textile industries turn cotton, wool, silk, jute, etc., into cloth. Likewise, iron is used in making a variety of machines, tools, furniture, etc.

•   Tertiary Occupations.
    The third type of occupations are the tertiary occupations in which no goods are produced but people offer their services or expertise. People engaged in leaching, banking, railways, post offices, etc., are all engaged in tertiary occupations.

Rural-Urban Links through Migration
    The act of shifting from one place to the other is called migration. Due to lack of employment facilities in rural areas, many villagers migrate to neighbouring towns and cities. This links rural and urban lives. Such migration of rural folks to urban areas leads to      the over-crowding of cities thereby creating unsanitary conditions there. But it has certain advantages of its own. It leads to the prosperity of both the rural and urban people. The rural people can send their incomes to dependents living in the village and the        urban people can expand their business with the help of rural labour. Thus the rural people save their families from starvation and the urban people increase their production with easily available labour.

Various Types of Livelihoods in Urban Areas
          In urban areas (big cities and towns) different types of people reside and they practise different types of livelihoods. Factory workers, shopkeepers, businessmen, professionals (like teachers, doctors, lawyers, clerks, etc.) are the main people who                    reside  in the cities and towns. There are, however, other people who follow different kinds of professions. They include vegetable vendors, domestic servants, garment workers, and bank employees, etc.
  1.    Factory workers form a substantial part of the urban population. They are employed in different factories where they work day and night and produce various things of daily use such as cloth, hosiery articles, medicines, chemicals, etc.
  2.    Shopkeepers and businessmen are busy in buying and selling different types of things -from bread, butter, vegetables, fruits, food grains, sweets, groceries to books and stationery.
  3.    Professionals like teacher s, doctors, lawyers, bank employees, clerks, postmen, policemen also form a major part of the urban population. They serve the society in their own way.
         Teachers and professors educate the students and enlighten them. Doctors work in hospitals and dispensaries and cure the people of their illness. The bank employees look into various money transaction jobs. The postman and other post office                      employees handle different means of communication and emotionally connect the people living in different parts of the country and abroad. The policeman helps in maintaining law and order in the cities and towns.
  4.    Besides the above people, there are some other people who reside within urban areas such as vegetable vendors, domestic servants, garment workers, bank employees, etc. Vegetable vendors move from street to street and supply fruits and                         vegetables  to citizens at their door-step. As the urban population leads a comfortable life they engage domestic servants who help them in their household duties like cooking, washing, and cleaning their rooms.
        There are scores of other people also who form a part of the urban population. It is not possible to menlion all of them but all of them help each other in the best possible way.

Difference between Self-Employment, Regular Employment and Wage Employment
      Self-Employment. 
      In cities and towns a major part of the people are self-employed who themselves run their own businesses and shops. They are independent to run their show as they like. Their incomes depend on hard work and interaction. Shopkeepers and                          businessmen form a major section of the self-employed.

      Regular Employment.
      There are some employees who are employed on a permanent basis. They are given a regular monthly salary and allowances. All public and private servants are part and parcel of regular employment. 

      Wage Employment.
      People who are not employed on a regular basis and are engaged in day to day employment form a part of the wage employment. They are labourers, carpenters, painters, stone-cutters, sanitary workers, etc.

Animal Husbandry
    A few families in the village are engaged in dairy farming, poultry farming and cattle rearing. Gopal is a dairy farmer. He keeps cows and goats. Gopal's wife Shanti, lakes care of the cattle, she feeds them, bathes them, and milks them. Gopal carries cans     of milk from door to door, to sell the milk.

Fishery
    A small river flows on the outskirts of the village. On the banks of the river is the fishermen's dwelling. Fishermen catch fish and sell them in the fish market. Some fish are also taken to the nearby town and sold at a good price.

Key Terms :
1.    OCCUPATION: means to earn a livelihood
2.    PRIMARY OCCUPATIONS: occupations involving extraction of raw materials from earth 
3.    SECONDARY OCCUPATIONS: occupations in which products are made out of the raw materials obtained
4.    TERTIARY OCCUPATIONS: occupations in which people sell products and offer services
5.    LARGE FARMERS: farmers that own large lands
6.    MEDIUM FARMERS: farmers that own a few acres of land to sustain themselves
7.    LANDLESS FARMERS: farmers who do not own any land and work on other's land as labourers