The Importance of Cash

The important role that cash plays in the lives of the villagers can be better understood when one considers the aged in the area who are illiterate. They cannot sign their own names but they can count

Page 125 and keep an accurate account of cash. For instance, those who receive old age pensions know exactly how auch they get and they make sure that when they hand out money to buy a bus ticket or a cup of tea, they are not shortchanged. Apart from this, they plan their expenses in such a way that the pension lasts an entire month. Even the older women (though they do it less frequently than others) are no longer afraid to commute to the town for purchases. In other words, people (of all ages) are so constantly exposed to cash transactions that there is not a single person in the area who was unable to think in terms of cash. The women visit the town by themselves (usually in groups) and are prepared to bargain with the shopkeepers if they think prices are unfair. Often they seem to know where they can buy things at the cheapest price possible and make sure they get get a good deal for the money they spend.

During the lean season when there is relatively little agricultural activity, groups of men gather regularly to play cards and all gambling is in cash. While in the past only the affluent villagers indulged in gambling (cart races), even the poorer villagers now play cards and prefer cash to settle gambling debts. The economy has become so thoroughly monetized that cash transactions have become the norm and are most preferred. Consider the following case study:

Rajamanikam is aged 27 years and he inherited two thirds of an acre of land from his father. As he felt that he could not manage to lead a decent life cultivating the land, he sold the land to his brother and set up a petty shop. He decided to sell his land because (a) he did not have an inclination for agricultural work and (b) he felt that he could not maintain a decent standard of living with the

land he had. When asked what he meant by a decent standard of living, his reply was that he should be in a position to educate his children as long as they wanted to study, have a few possessions like a wrist watch and a transistor (which he considers necessities), be able to go and 'have a nice time' in the town at least once a month, buy good quality clothes for his wife and his children, and above all, not be permanently in debt like many others around him. He reports that with his wife's help he is able to manage the shop well and business is usually brisk. The income he earns from the shop is more than what he would have got from his land and he is sure of an income every month. He admits that it was risky for him to open a petty shop when there were already two others in the village, but he felt that since his shop (the front part of his house) is located next to the school, he could count on the children to patronize his shop regularly. His reasoning was accurate and he regularly has to stock sweets, marbles and other small toys. But he admitted that though business was good, the margin of profit was not as much as he originally thought would be. Therefore, he decided to invest money on four bicycles and this investment (he had to borrow 650 rupees from a bank) proved to be a tremendous boost to his earnings as the bicycles are in great demand and many times, customers come to hire bicycles and find that they have to wait. The rental charges are 30 paise per hour or two rupees for a whole day. Usually the bicycles are hired out for a whole day and Rajamanikam said that he earns about eight rupees per day from his bicycles. He spends about 50 rupees a month to maintain the bicycles in running condition (this money is spent on replacing tyres) and he does most of the repair work himself. He said that he has no problems in paying 78 rupees a year as interest and was confident that he could

Page 127 repay the entire loan within a year. He has no apprehensions about the success of his business as he is convinced that even if more people decide to open shops like his, there will always be people wanting to buy things and his bicycles will always be in demand. His neighbour has a tea shop but does not sell beedies or cigarettes as he is against smoking. Rajamanikam says that his neighbour’s principles have helped him further as beedies and cigarettes are in good demand. He says that even if people stop smoking, they will never stop chewing and he can be sure that his stock of betel leaves, nut and chewing tobacco will never remain unsold. Our observation of activities in this household revealed that both the husband and the wife help each other out in managing the shop, in domestic work and in taking care of the children. When the husband makes his weekly trips to the town to replenish stocks, the wife manages the shop till he returns. Rajamanikam has two brothers living nearby but they never offer any assistance and he feels it reasonable because he does not help them in their agricultural operations. When asked whether he would (in the future) seek his son's help, Rajamanikam replied that he would never do so and even if his son wanted to help him, he would ask him to go

to school instead.

Coming to the matter of getting his wife sterilized, he reported that both he and his wife had had ' a long chat' when she found that she was pregnant for the second time. They felt that they had to do something about it but deferred taking a decision before the birth of their second child, as the first was a girl. He admitted that he would have reluctantly opted for a third child had the second also been a girl. But, when it turned out to be a male child, he had no hesitation in sending his wife to the hospital for sterilization. He

reported that he was worried about the prospects of having three children as 'the prices of practically all goods were going up'. His statement about depending on the school children for regular business also reveals that children have small amounts of money to buy things. This indicates that children are becoming bolder in demanding money

from parents and more importantly, there has been a change in parental attitudes. Parents are becoming more indulgent than before.

In Rajamanikam's case it is his exposure to the 'good things in life' and the changing consumption patterns of his family that led him to not only change his occupation but also decide to limit his family size. Once the decision was made, getting his wife sterilized was relatively easy as adequate facilities were available at the hospitals. While Rajamanikam is one of the few shopkeepers in the area, the in-depth interview brought out two things clearly. The first is that young parents like him are ambitious and keen to improve their standard of living. The second is that people in the village are not merely producers of agricultural products but consumers of non-agricultural products as well. Consumer aspirations for non-agricultural products is indicated by the fact that 283 households (55.6 percent) owned a radio. Most of these are transistor radios which require a regular supply of batteries. More than half the households (60*9 percent) owned a torch which is considered as a necessity by the menfolk who guard the paddy fields in the night. There were 91 bicycles in the area - a popular form of transport. Possession of stainless steel vessels and plates has become a symbol of social status, especially among the women. 340 (66 percent) households in the area reported (with pride) that they use stainless steel vessels and plates regularly and not ones made of aluminium.

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Another consumer item which most men aspire to possess is a wristwatch. 243 (47 percent) of the households reported owning at least one wristwatch. The interesting thing is that even illiterates want automatic watches made in Japan (an automatic Seiko or Citizen watch with a gold plated strap being most popular). Hobson reports a

similar finding in Karnataka where repondents were interested in buying wristwatches and transistor radios (Hobson, 1979:239). It is co m m on for a farmer to work in the fields in a loincloth and then change into a synthetic shirt, wear a wristwatch, take a bus to the town and go to the movies. However, if purchase of a wristwatch, a radio or a bicycle is usually considered as a one time investment, there are a number of other consumer items which involve a regular recurring expenditure.

Expenses in the study area are determined by a person’s ability to earn an income and by his capacity to borrow money. In the next two sections we will examine income by age and sex, the sources of income and the extent of indebtedness in the area before proceeding to discuss expenditure patterns in the area.