Do you know that barter system still exists in most villages in uttarakhand, may be true for many other parts of India also
From now on I will publish “Do you know that” posts which could be of just few lines, that will tell you facts that otherwise you might not read anywhere…
barter system still exists in most villages in Himalayan region of India
How the villagers manage work that requires many hands? Do they employ laborers?
No, they don’t.
Instead the culture is villagers help each other to carry out the task. There is age long understanding among them that if he helps now he will be helped tomorrow. The only renumeration for their work they get is food and drink (which is generally few times tea and lunch) for the day of work.
The help generally needed during the cropping times, or for lenter work(concrete roofing) i.e. any work that needs to be completed in a day or two.
lunchtime for villagers cropping in rice field together to help their neighbour
Among the villagers within a village, they don’t sell their products (mostly agricultural) or service. They exchange for something else that the other person can offer. Villagers never have to buy things like milk and vegetables. Mostly they will have cows or buffalo if not they will have small garden around their houses where they grow vegetables. Most villagers in this Himalayan part of India, with their limited land grow cereals, more or less adequate for their family. Beside that they work as laborer or mason or carpenter or sell milk or vegetables or rent mules/horses to earn money to buy other things for their living. I met a vaid (village ayurvedic doctor) in our badrinath trekking. He told me that he never gets money for his service from his own village people. However if he treats somebody from other villages he generally gets money for that.
The villagers are poor from economical point of view but they earn/produce enough to fulfill food, shelter, cloth and educational requirements for their family.
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December 12th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
I like your idea of publishing “Do you know that” articles.
I imagine a life without money could be much easier from some point of view.
January 5th, 2010 at 1:51 pm
Yes this kind of thing can only be seen in villages. I remember in my village alos this type of system was there. One person use to take paddy and give rice flakes in return.