Page 162 - Journeys Through Society-7

2. Weavers are paid much less for making the cloth. dollars in the US. These exporters buy the shirts at
The arrangement between the merchant and the cheaper price and sold at higher price in the US. Thus,
weavers is an example of putting-out system, whereby a chain of markets links the producers of cotton to the
the merchant supplies the raw material and receives buyers at the supermarket.
the finished product. It is prevalent in the weaving
industry in most regions of India. Market and Equality
The foreign businesspersons made huge profits in the
market. Compared to this, the garment exporter made
only moderate profits. On the other hand, the
earnings of the workers at the garment export factory
are so small that they can only cover their day-to-day
needs. Compared to the weavers, merchants or
traders earned more but it is still much less than the
exporter. Thus, everyone did not get equal profit in the
market.
Usually the rich and the powerful people get the
maximum earnings from the market. These are the
people who have money and own the factories, the
large shops, large landholdings, etc. The poor have to
Workers sewing buttons in a garment factory depend on the rich and the powerful for various
things. They have to depend for loans (as in the case of
The merchant supplies the cotton cloth produced by
Neelam, the small farmer), for raw materials and
the weavers to a garment exporting factory. The
marketing of their goods (weavers in the putting-out
garment exporting factory uses the cloth to make
system), and most often for employment (workers at
shirts. The shirts are exported to foreign buyers.
the garment factory). Because of this dependence, the
Foreign buyers are businesspersons from the US and
poor are exploited in the market. There are ways to
Europe who run a chain of stores and do business
overcome these such as forming cooperatives of
strictly on their own terms.
producers and ensuring that laws are followed strictly.
1. They demand the lowest prices from the supplier.
2. They set high standards for quality of production
and timely delivery. Any defects or delay in
delivery is dealt with strictly.
3. So, the exporter tries his best to meet the
conditions set by these powerful buyers.
Faced with such pressures from the buyers, the
garment exporting factories, in turn, try to cut costs.
They get the maximum work out of the workers at the
lowest possible wages. This way they can maximise
their own profits and also supply the garments to
foreign buyers at a cheap price.

The Shirt in the United States A balanced showroom of readymade clothes

The shirts sent from garment exporters are sold in

155