Page 161 - Journeys Through Society-7

several days to harvest the cotton. Once the cotton is On market days, you
collected, instead of selling it at Kurnool cotton would also find
market, Neelam and her husband take the harvest to weavers bringing cloth
the local trader. She had borrowed `2,500 from the that has been made on
trader at a very high interest rate to buy seeds, order from the
fertilisers, pesticides for cultivation. merchants. These
merchants supply cloth
on order to garment
manufacturers and
exporters around the
country. They purchase
the yarn and give
instructions to the
weavers about the kind
A cloth market in Tamil Nadu
of cloth that is to be
made. Since weavers do not know the price of the
Cotton crop
cloth, they are at a loss and get a very small amount.
In return for this, the local trader made Neelam agree
to a condition that she had to sell all her cotton to him. AI Fact
In the end, she received `3000 only. Technology Literacy
Artificial intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)
• Trader sells the cotton at the Kurnool cotton can help textile manufacturers optimise production,
market. increase efficiency and reduce costs. Textile mills can
• Ginning mill buys the cotton. use AI powered robots to automate repetitive tasks like
material handling and cutting to improve precision and
• Ginning mill removes the seeds and presses the accuracy, leading to higher productivity.
cotton into bales.
• Spinning mill buys the bales.

• Spinning mill spins the cotton into yarn.
• Spinning mill sells the yarn to yarn dealers.

Wow Fact

Man has been cultivating and processing
fabrics from cotton fibres since at least 3000
A woman weaving to make fabric handloom weaver
BC, making it the oldest known textile but the
very oldest found cotton dates back twice as Putting-out System
far to 6000 BCE in Peru. For the weavers, this arrangement seemingly has two
advantages.
The Cloth Market of Erode 1. The weavers do not have to spend their money on

Erode's bi-weekly cloth market in Tamil Nadu is one of purchase of yarn. Also, the problem of selling the
the biggest cloth markets in the world. A large variety finished cloth is taken care of.
of cloth is sold in this market. Cloth that is made by 2. Weavers know from the outset what cloth they
weavers in the villages around is also brought here for should make and how much of it is to be woven.
sale. Around the market are offices of cloth merchants On the other side, there are a few disadvantages for
who buy this cloth. Other traders from many south the weaves.
Indian towns also come and purchase cloth in this
1. Dependency on raw materials and workers make
market.
merchants more powerful.
154